5 ms·

I think it's a psychological effect of having / not having options. in normal times, I prefer to spend most of my evenings playing games, making music, etc. alo

I think it's a psychological effect of having / not having options. in normal times, I prefer to spend most of my evenings playing games, making music, etc. alone in my apartment. I knew that if I felt unusually social, I could go out and eat dinner at the bar and talk to some strangers. before quarantine, I would do that a couple times a month and it mostly satisfied my desire to talk to new people. it was never a major part of my life, but I miss it a lot now that it's not available.

techsupporter 6y ago
> I think it's a psychological effect of having / not having options. Exactly. This, for me, is a perfect summary. I am perfectly fine with working from home but the mental toll of having virtually nowhere to go outside of my four walls is starting to wear on me. It makes me upset and frustrated and I start projecting those emotions onto the actions of others and it becomes a downward cycle. I'm not particularly social. In fact, I'm almost anti-social (I do not like the interactions like "how are you doing?" in the shops / "hello there!" while walking in a park / "how's your day going?" entering a takeaway place, and I will absolutely never strike up a conversation at the bus stop or on a train), but this is starting to feel suffocating. Yet I'm still going to avoid unnecessary trips and minimize contact because until we have some effective shots to go around, that's how I avoid the consequences of this stupid virus.
- ketzo 6y ago
  Yeah. We gotta do what we gotta do, even if it sucks. That’s one small consolation — despite all the anti-maskers and so on, I know that you, and lots of people everywhere, are working really hard to protect others from the virus. Makes it a little easier to do my part.
phobosanomaly 6y ago
One of my favorite things when working from home pre-pandemic used to be to go to a quiet bar with only a couple other patrons and sip a beer while working, or to go to the public library and work quietly in the group study room. Even without being 'social' it was my way of being social. Now, even though I wake up without an alarm, eat clean, and exercise every day my productivity has tanked. There's some deep, human alarm buried somewhere in the reptile part of my brain that is saying 'things are not right...you are not ok...things are not right,' and it's been doing it since March. I can't seem to find a breaker to switch it off. There's only so many times you can walk around the block.

techsupporter 6y ago

> I think it's a psychological effect of having / not having options. Exactly. This, for me, is a perfect summary. I am perfectly fine with working from home but the mental toll of having virtually nowhere to go outside of my four walls is starting to wear on me. It makes me upset and frustrated and I start projecting those emotions onto the actions of others and it becomes a downward cycle. I'm not particularly social. In fact, I'm almost anti-social (I do not like the interactions like "how are you doing?" in the shops / "hello there!" while walking in a park / "how's your day going?" entering a takeaway place, and I will absolutely never strike up a conversation at the bus stop or on a train), but this is starting to feel suffocating. Yet I'm still going to avoid unnecessary trips and minimize contact because until we have some effective shots to go around, that's how I avoid the consequences of this stupid virus.

ketzo 6y ago
Yeah. We gotta do what we gotta do, even if it sucks. That’s one small consolation — despite all the anti-maskers and so on, I know that you, and lots of people everywhere, are working really hard to protect others from the virus. Makes it a little easier to do my part.

phobosanomaly 6y ago

One of my favorite things when working from home pre-pandemic used to be to go to a quiet bar with only a couple other patrons and sip a beer while working, or to go to the public library and work quietly in the group study room. Even without being 'social' it was my way of being social. Now, even though I wake up without an alarm, eat clean, and exercise every day my productivity has tanked. There's some deep, human alarm buried somewhere in the reptile part of my brain that is saying 'things are not right...you are not ok...things are not right,' and it's been doing it since March. I can't seem to find a breaker to switch it off. There's only so many times you can walk around the block.