I hear you. Although I visit this site every day, even this is not as interesting as it is when liners are planning and reporting on WDW. It should pick up next month. 
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On my walk tonight, I thought to myself, “I think I’m going crazy…legit crazy.” My emotions are all over the place. I was listening to some Disney podcasts and they were talking about Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party (which my kids and I attended the last two years but had no plans to attend this year), and I found myself feeling so sad about the possibility of the event not happening or the key elements (fireworks, parade, meet-and-greets, candy handout) possibly not happening. Y’all…we weren’t even planning to go, and I feel sad about what will no doubt be a cancelled or modified party. I think I would feel better if I could go sit on Mainstreet and just weep for a bit.
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It’s like when I go to France. I utter a single sentence in flawless French — and they reply in sneering English.
That’s very true. But, as I said, I’m worried that I’ll be tempted when I hear how wonderful everything is at WDW!
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Haha yes very much like that.
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You can do what I’m doing. I decided to plan a vacation for summer of 2021. It may not happen, but right now it’s on the docket. I don’t have firm dates yet, but we know where we are going. We are going to go to Biltmore Estates in Asheville NC then stop by Great Wolf Lodge in Atlanta, GA for a couple of days or so.
It’s something to look forward to, and if it doesn’t happen then fine. But, I am like what it appears you are - someone who needs something to look forward to. After our trip to WDW in 2016, I needed another trip. Didn’t know when, but I finally talked my wife into letting us go over Thanksgiving week last year, which we did. It was always something to look forward to, despite the fact that we didn’t have firm dates. I fell in love with Disney on that trip in 2016, (really it was the planning). I needed a return trip. I always had it in my mind we were going back. Literally, almost the day we got back, I started buying gift cards to get the tickets, etc.
So my advice is don’t let this thing beat you. You beat it instead. Plan a trip somewhere. If it’s Disney, then great. If not, there are several other places too. Plan one for one of those places. If you have to postpone or cancel, then fine. But at least it’s something to look forward to.
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I feel you 100%. I don’t socialize much so staying at home isn’t a big deal to me. I usually do anyways. But what I do throughout the year is go to a couple of cons and in turn travel. Well all cons are cancelled this year, rightfully so and therefore so is my travel. Which I think is the reason why I really don’t want to cancel my mini Disney vacation in July even if it really doesn’t make sense to go. It’s the only thing I have. Everything else is just work, 10 minute commute, go home. rush to the grocery store as early as possible, avoid people, go home. It’s definitely not easy
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This is me 100%. I feel so much sadness about all the cancelled things in my kid’s life that I enjoy- concerts, sports, band trip to Disney - and cancellation of our family trips, especially Disney and our Alaska trip that was to be in July. Thinking of school just makes me sad. The joy they had with learning was not there during virtual learning. And now my daughter’s DEC camp has been cancelled since the state is not allowing sleep away camps this summer.
I go back and forth between feeling like this is all going away, and that the worst is to come. Fighting something that is invisible is tough. And exhausts my mind. Even my husband who has been a news channel freak, has been turing to other channels lately. I think my family is just feeling done with all this.
That is why we went right out and booked a cabin when the state parks opened reservations last week. We need something on the table.
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I totally get this. We were in this position the last couple of years. We had an aging furbaby and my parents, (who are really my only trustworthy option to take care of her while we are away) refused to take her in as she was 17 and they did not want anything to happen on their watch. We tried taking her camping with us, but at her age it was giving her too much anxiety. So we did not do much traveling for a couple of years. Enjoy the time you have at home with Calvin. You won’t regret it.
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This is really brilliant advice, and I think nails the funk I’ve been in.
We have a Texas-to-Colorado road trip planned for end of July, and if Texas really is going to ride the infection rate to max hospital capacity to maximize economic activity, I’m not sure we’ll go. Houston already is calling their status “significant and uncontrolled“ spread. I can’t figure out if it will help me mentally to plan it or would be too disappointing.
We visit my parents in Minnesota EVERY year for Christmas, but my stepdad has multiple risk factors so even that might not happen.
My DS15 started attending cross country camp last week. We felt like that was fairly low risk. But when the coach told us yesterday the first meet is in 2 months, I couldn’t help wondering 1) If that will really happen 2) If it does, is it really responsible to participate? I think it’s multiple schools from the region.
And my brain just dead ends every time I start to think about the school year.
Maybe I need to plan a big trip for 2022, when things will likely have stabilized in some fashion.
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It seems that we all are feeling a sense of loss and I personally have zero routine right now. With no general purpose for the day, I often find myself doing absolutely nothing productive. I’m in education so I haven’t physically been at my job in the school system since March 13. Working from home and doing virtual meetings with parents and teachers is weird and difficult. Now that the school year is over, I don’t have any real plans. I’ve found that if I make even a small to-do list, even if its just things like call this person, pay this bill, it gives me a bigger sense of purpose. The unknowns are killing me–can we go back to school in August, can I plan a fall break vacation, when will it be safe to take a vacation, etc. Those unknowns make it difficult to plan and it is driving me crazy and making me feel overwhelmed. I think we are all feeling the way you do as well.
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This is my DS11 as well. He sits in a glider in his room all day and I need to coax him out. He doesn’t seem unhappy, so maybe I need to accept that he can be happy and healthy in different ways than I am, but it’s very difficult for me.
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Sounds like an amazing trip @Julianne_fki! Of those, I have only been to Crater Lake and it is beautiful. I have heard nothing but amazing things about the others. We started planning a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier, but the rest of my wife’s family wasn’t on board, so we switched it up, then Covid happened.
For me, it’s really ramped up my anxiety. I have T2 diabetes and am overweight, so I am high-risk. Add to that, I was asked to help approve the SBA PPP loans for the bank I work for - and I have never worked on the loan side before. All that added stress landed me in urgent care with chest pains. My blood pressure, which is usually rock solid, had skyrocketed. We are done with PPP and my BP is back to normal (with meds), but with everyone being so restless and venturing out because they are just DONE with all of this, my anxiety remains high. My kids see their friends playing with each other and want to join in, but I’m the bad guy for wanting them to stay safe. It kills me, but I feel it is best for them.
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Wow! I could have written this! Same first name, first last initial, last date for teaching. I feel the same way!
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Thank you for sharing this. It really lifted me up to see so many people being depressed too 
ok, maybe more that I wasn’t alone.
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I know everyone else has said it already but it’s worth repeating. We are all feeling this. You are not alone.
This is what hits me the hardest personally right now and I do have family, kids, and all that jazz. I think it’s personal and finding whatever makes you happiest as cliche as that is. For a lot of us here that’s gone for a while so there’s a huge hole, a loss, and it’s just weird. Really it’s not normal and it came out of nowhere. Pre-covid I had plans to move to Fl this summer. Lots to look forward to. I had the perfect house hunting trip set (cancelled) and I was looking forward to having an AP by Aug. Fast forward - still moving forward and putting in an offer on a house this week that we haven’t seen in person, I have no motivation to even think about packing, and who knows when I can purchase an AP or enjoy anything Disney. I should be excited but instead I’m also feeling a lack of purpose or anything to look forward to which seems ridiculous. So I get it wholeheartedly. I feel sorry for everyone feeling the same right now. It’s hard.
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My dad had heart surgery in January and had between hospitals and rehab facilities from then until March. When they were going to send him from the hospital to another rehab facility, they told my mom she couldn’t go due to Covid. So they went home instead. They haven’t been out of the house.
I visited him in the hospital in March, and at the time I thought it would be the last time I ever saw him. I still might be, but he is doing much better. He couldn’t even sit up then, but now he is walking around the house, even just a little bit. He is even climbing a few stairs. I can tell he is depressed about it because I told him he was doing really good and he said that he wasn’t.
I try to make the most of it by doing 2 things: 1 - planning a trip somewhere and 2- going through old photos of other places.
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My dad went through a bad spell last fall and then fell into a depression. We visited over Christmas as did my brother and DIL, and my niece and her kids. So my dad saw his children, grandchildren (except my nephew in Chicago), and great-grandchildren within a week. I think it was the littles (great-grandchildren) that really perked him up. I’m sad I can’t go see him now, but he sounds great on the phone - much better than before. I hope your dad continues to get better and that his spirits improve as well!
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If I watch the news, read the news, read news aggregators, or spend time on Twitter, it affects me physically. I have to really keep that stuff to a minimum.
Enough to have general ideas of what’s going on and the rest I have to put on mute.
Even the Disney groups I have to be careful because of so much covid talk.
You’re not alone.
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When DH had his first knee replacement at 75, he felt old. Felt sorry for himself. His pt took twice as long because he wasn’t trying.
He was sitting in a waiting room at some doctor’s office, talking to a guy who had way more health problems, couldn’t walk from the parking lot to the waiting room easily, needed oxygen, etc etc. DH was amazed to discover this guy was 68.
Hopefully your dad will encounter someone like this to help him put into perspective that, while there are some things not working like they used to, there might be plenty that is working ok. Not to mention that it can take up to a full year to recover from major surgery. It takes more out of a person than they realize.
Climbing stairs, even a little, is huge.
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