Has your life gotten better or worse since the Pandemic began?

[DarthMetalliCube]

Ooh, I can go on and on with this one, but I'll try to keep it fairly brief. In summation, a mixed bag but generally negative..

On the plus side: I've been able to focus on my work more and not be distracted by social occasions and such. My student loan interest accruals were paused for over a year which has saved me probably in the range of 5-6 grand. I've had more time catching up on my backlog of games, TV shows, films. More quality time with the fam at home. Work remotely so I wasn't really affected on this front in terms of the work experience (though this last one is more neutral I s'pose).

Negative? Ohh, as I'm sure many have experienced to some degree, first there's the drastically increased isolation (and this is coming from an introvert generally speaking, but even I've gotten increasingly lonely and stir-crazy). Then there's just the general negative outlook on a societal/cultural level in various aspects which has been rather demoralizing (I'll just leave it at that).. I've read/heard about and witnessed some, shall we say, unappealing human behavior/attitudes that I very much disapprove of during this time. Again, leave it at that.

Seeing so many small businesses crumble, mental health of many deteriorate in the wake of this just sucks and irks me immensely, things like that.. I frankly despise masks, too.. Pay rates for the outlet I primarily write for decreased by a decent chunk for several months as advertisers had to spend more cautiously during this time. It's thankfully gone back to the usual rates though but it did take quite awhile. Increasingly sedentary lifestyle, more drinking, generally the conditions sort of invite a more unhealthy lifestyle - bringing the inevitable weight gain. Though I guess you can say I'm somewhat to blame for this one.

I do feel like I was already sort of teetering on the borderline of at least a mild depression before the pandemic but I felt like I was progressively, slowly but surely getting my life on track, pushing myself to be more social, being more productive, etc.. Improving my physical and mental well-being at least a bit. But this past 12-15 months has largely derailed that and pretty much sealed the deal in sinking me into a depression, and I'm finding it hard to pull myself out of it. It's not at a dire level or anything, but I do tend to feel like I'm in a lethargic, almost zombified state at times, and I feel like this past year contributed towards that quite a bit.