the epidemic of being a teenage girl in your 20s

[@hazaubel6532]

as a super introverted person who have a lot of activities and hobbies to do at home i really loved and enjoyed the lockdown but once it ended i realized how much damage it caused me not only did my social anxiety increase significantly i started displaying withdrawal behavior and became super insecure overall , i used to be in highschool when the lockdown started and now that i'm in uni i feel so lost and my lack of social experience is really affecting my academics like i used to have friend groups and what not back then but now i couldn't make a single friend the entire YEAR it's really concerning

[@talistheintrovert]

I too am introverted and love being on my own but I did not enjoy learning that there's such thing as TOO MUCH alone time 😭😭

[@FMFF_]

I'm curious how much time do/did you spend on campus around people outside of class time? As an introvert that graduated fall 2019, looking back the #1 reason I don't have friends after uni is I took any chance to be off campus and have as much freetime for myself. I didn't realize all that extra time between/before classes I spent during primary schools was so vital to making actual friends. I genuinely regret not trying out clubs or inviting people I clicked with to study together.

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Honestly, the pandemic made life outside more hostile overall. Not only were you isolated against your will (the whole joy of introversion is choosing when to be alone) , but the world you came back out to was not the same as the one when you went indoors. Also, this happened to you at such a crucial time of development. Apparently a lot of people your age are resporting lack of social skills because being social needs practice. If possible, contact your campus and ask what sort of buddy systems they have or find a club that caters to introverts. You might have to be the chattiest person at first, but trust me, everyone is desperate to socialise, even if they dont know how

[@celia1888]

I generally apply the "everybody goes through things differently and we have no right to judge how other ppl experience events" method. Like I'm one of the rare ppl who felt better before having to work again. It wouldn't even cross my mind to judge other ppl bc they lived it differently. I was starting to have both a normal burnout AND an autistic burnout around the time we first started quarantining (march 16th for me). I was alone in a relatively small but nowhere near the concept of a shoebox apartment, I still had classes which I never listened to even when I was there IRL 'cause I couldn't focus anyway but at least I could mute+record to watch them at my own speed and just binge watched shows or did whatever art project I had the energy for. Or scrolled on tumblr... The hardest part was that I mostly stopped masking 'ad going back to work as one of the early "almost essential worker but not really it depends" (optician) and both burnouts were just delayed and within a month of working I ended up on antidepressants and stopped working. Plus most of my friends are extroverts and needed their socialization so I was still socializing too much for me XD. And honestly everything I hear post pandemic here...is literally just how my life's been trying to live in a NT world. So I personally mostly felt happy during the quarantine, my mask was already dropping before and it just made the burnout harsher but it would still have happened anyway (probably earlier). Like I literally kept hoping it'd last longer. Every single time. But most of my friends were negatively impacted. I'd never dream to tell them their feelings aren't valid. Because they are. Half of my friends have ADHD and were the type to travel constantly on WE (they'd sleep in their cars) and they needed to call me to help their mental health. By Week 2 I had a time table created for those calls only. My BFF's anxiety went through the roof. Her mental health got worse because she didn't go back to work until September and she was like a lion in a cage (my burnout was really useful to her 'cause I was available and since most of the quarantine orders were done by June we could spend time together at the park or her house and I'm very good at having 1001 new arts and crafts ideas she can grumble her way through). Especially since her parents are pretty toxic and have no concept of personal space. We were 27-28 in 2020.

[@weatherreport15yearsago8]

honestly same for me, i was about to graduate middle school when the pandemic happened, and now im getting ready to apply for college- its been so hard to connect with others after quarentine

[@giuliab8484]

Seriously, why is everyone pretending that the lockdowns and pandemic never happened or affected us?? It’s so frustrating!

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@thijsjong]

I live in the Netherlands and there were no strict lockdowns. COUNTRIES THAT HAD LAX LOCKDOWNS OR NO LOCKFOWNS AT ALL DID NOT HAVE HIGHER DEATHTOLLS! I never use capslock. This was a rare exception. I met friends outside. In parks. In the forest. On cafe terrasses zipping capecinos. In meadows. Almost al infection were in buildings or enclosed spaces like cars, busses traines and planes. The lockdowns were utterly stupid. Restaurants, hotels and clubs were closed here as well as many shops. The fear of coov has caused more damage than the virus itself. In case you are wondering I am duoble vaxxed and one boostet. Skipped the secomd booster because I caught the Omicron variant so I was good to go.. My parents who were almost 80 had it once. No aftereffect at all. You xan say I am lucky. Well here we go 1. Dont be fat. 2. Most people have vit D deficiency. Guess what lockdown does. It makes it worse. Amd D is very importamt for you immune system. 3 risk factors diabetes. Many peopke have diabetes without havong a diagnosis. 4 go fukking outside and move! Get some cardio if you can. If you cant just stroll a few miles. 5 Eat healthy. 6 Luck is also involved. You can get it anyway. 7 fear and stress is damaging to your immunesystem. So the guy girl who lives without a care who did not get covid. Could be luck. Could be not having his immunesystem wrecked by cortisol. 8 Talk to people. 5 6 feet distance. 9 Some other things I forgot to mention. What is crucial is that you live in the same city. If you wanted to visit family or friends abroad. Travel by train and plane were claustrofobic. Long distance travel had the most risk of catching the coov.

[@desuretard8654]

Idk I guess it just didn't affect normal people that much to begin with aside from business owners.

[@giuliab8484]

@@desuretard8654 Maybe it didn’t affect you but it sure as hell affected me. My mental health was at an all time low

[@BuckerydogSchmuckeryDog]

​@@desuretard8654What? How? Schools sent everybody home for the rest of the spring semester. Colleges too. People were barred from working. Stores ran out of basic supplies in cities, and in small towns people were coming to their stores and buying all the stock and selling them in the cities in a weird black market. People were at each others throats ALL the time. Yeah it kind of affected everyone, ESPECIALLY the common man

[@onlyonezenn6037]

I cried to my therapist about being behind as a 27 year old and she kept coming back to “you lost 3 years of your prime twenties to pandemic. Give yourself grace for feeling both too old and too young at the same time”. I love how the world expects us all to be okay when the reality is, we are not at all okay.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@namia1557]

Thank you 😢

[@Aurischoice]

This 😅and I’m 29. Was turning 25 when the pandemic hit

[@user-tx7rr7xe4m]

Thank you. I’m 27 too and I feel so behind. sometimes I forget that this stole years from my life

[@bkstandard882]

Fuck it. I'm 31 then lol

[@magenta9757]

It’s very silly to say that big world events DON’T affect people’s mental health. I hate that “that’s how adult life is” attitude. It’s not. Me and my siblings are always tired. We were talking to our father the other day and he couldn’t relate. He said he is not and has never been tired all the time. Sure, he was tired when he worked a lot, but not this endless spin of being tired all the time. IT’S NOT NORMAL. This is not normal.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@creatrixZBD]

Lol we actually hadn’t even quite recovered from WW2, let alone a few pretty major events in between 😮

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

That tiredness is depression take care of yourself and look at what can b changed for the better

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

damn

[@daniellecowan459]

Low-key people say it’s depression and all this shit which like yeah I’m depressed so kind of but also honestly it’s just that there’s so so much more information or at least maybe it feels like it because of the Internet that affects our life and that we have to reflect on and make decisions based on and care about, and just shit man I love debates and deep stuff but it’s a lot. like not downplaying, no wars, or growing up with that or whatever, but they wasn’t hearing about it every single day and what immediately affected you was what was going on in your town or city or family/community and everything else you could kind of cut out. Today my partner and I went to see a movie in this tiny little in the theater and he said at some point if they start shooting all these exits sus. Like that’s not really something you had to think about 30 something years ago but now it’s am I safe from Covid. Is someone going to shoot us up? Is Putin going to decide some Fuckery and it’s all there right in front of you in the news to doom Scroll if you wish. Fucking exhausting. I need a nap thinking about it. Lol.

[@wilhelmhedin8845]

"everyone feels like that sometimes" wankers. This is also a standard thing to say to any and all of us atypical and depressed and anxiety ridden...

[@talistheintrovert]

oof, yeah, it just gets boring hearing it after a while, like, can't they come u peith anything original to say?

[@kalka1l]

A similar feel happened to those of us who buried half our friends/family during the AIDS epidemic. We were so entrenched in the cycle of care, bury, fundraise, repeat that by the time meds stabilized we all seemingly forgot how to do things just for the joy of it - nevermind the crushing survivor’s guilt. All of the empathy to your generation, it’s not easy and just like in my teen years the social effects of surviving a plague won’t be acknowledged or understood for at least another decade. We all deserve more empathy and love, especially those who never stopped isolating for health reasons.

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

@@kalka1l thank you for sharing that with us. I hear a lot of older gays say this, and you were right on every point. There's a reason why the slogan was "Silence=Death" and whats more, the psychological stress of what you experienced will linger in your DNA and express itself as disability. I recently watched a video that said when fruit flies see other dead fruitflies, they stop producing dopamine and serotonin and effectively die from "depression". Now, if something as simple as a fly can be affected by death, why are us humans just told to suck it up and what? Turn into emotionless zombies? *sigh* thank you again though for your reply

[@zoguy6988]

If "everyone feels like that sometimes" then how come they have no fucking empathy for when we're fooling like that?

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

@@zoguy6988 Because after living a decade or more people tend do work through some of their struggles and begin to understand that’s part of the process. It takes time and you just keep on trying. If you want to disconnect from the internet listen to that voice and take breaks from the internet

[@HiHi-lt1cb]

It was crazy being a senior in high school when the pandemic started and now a senior in college who still feels 18 💀

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

You were't able to celebrate your growth so your brain doesnt know how old it is because its been a while since anything telling it time has passed has happened

[@talistheintrovert]

that's so rough, I'm sorry 💛💛

[@alexrose20]

I'm the same as you. It's rough out here

[@nerdatello]

same 😞

[@1080benny]

same here. you're definitely not alone.

[@KristineDeAnna]

I was 25 and living alone IN CHINA following my dream of teaching abroad. I broke my contracts and fled back home to the US with my cat after being stuck in my tiny apartment for months without work. Little did I know I jumped straight outta the frying pan into the fire. Now it’s like waking up from a really strange dream where my career is destroyed, my money is gone, I have multiple jobs to make enough money, my country is constantly making a mockery of itself, and I’m a year away from being 30. And the thing is… I don’t even want to go teach abroad anymore. I’m not sure what I want.

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry that happened to you, you didn't deserve any of that and I hope things pick up for you 💛💛💛

[@KristineDeAnna]

@@talistheintrovert Thank you for your kindness 🤍🤍🤍 Always looking ahead!

[@moonlite8260]

Feel that don’t even know what I want anymore .

[@moonlite8260]

Pre pandemic I also had one job and was on a different trajectory now I’m 28 with 3 jobs burnt out in more than one way and unsure what is going on anymore

[@edwardlovrr]

I taught abroad in South Korea and came back to the US and I’m having a huge life crisis right now…. I have walked out of 3 jobs because i didn’t like it and it sucks that I don’t have it figured it out. You’re not alone ❤❤

[@ali773n]

Yes, I thought I was the only one feeling this. It breaks my heart because people are like “GROW UP you old person” but why when you hit 23, 24, 25 does society start calling you old? And expecting you to have it all together? That and add the pandemic pause. mentally I’m just not there yet. Highschool felt like yesterday to me. Mentally im still in college even though that was 3 years ago.

[@talistheintrovert]

exactlyyyy 👏👏

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Firstly, you're right, our brains aren't even done developing by that time! Secondly, the years of 23 to 25 was when the pandemic happened, and I was in my final year of uni in 2020 so I wrote my dissertation during the bulk of lockdown; I couldn't see my supervisor, I couldn't review my work with anyone. On top of that, my disability was causing me to have very heavy periods during this time and I wasn't able to see my gyno or a GP until I went private. I didnt get a graduation, I got my diploma in the mail; it sits in a pile of paper work under some books in a cupboard. So two things: how can people grow up when they cant even measure their age through achievements? Weddings, baby showers, graduations, funerals; these are all ways for us to process and memorialise our emotions and make a reasonable timeline of our existence. Almost everyone hasnt been able to have any of these events because of the pandemic and we are supposed to pretend that we didnt go through that? also, how can we expect someone who grow up and feel like a grown up when the most crucial years of their life are taken up battling abnormal circumstances? War can't be the worst thing that can happen to a person to justify a mental break because that means that all the people who break before that are somehow "weak" and thats not true; we're just people. Soft, fleshy, dumplings of emotions T_T

[@justacat869]

I don't know, I'm afraid that I may never really feel like a "real" adult. I'm 25 going on 26, and I spend most of the time in communities where most people are teens and young adults, and I'm wondering what should I do to feel more like my age? Mindlessly scroll on social media, watching everyone get married and have kids and feel like someone's telling me, "Your biological clock is ticking, just find someone and settle down already." But then again, when I think of marriage and children, it gives me more dread than excitement, and it's frustrating that society tells me that I'm at the age where I should already focus on these things when I still don't know if I want them in the first place. Maybe it's because I'm still trying to figure things out. Maybe I am just not made for these things. I just wish life wasn't so confusing with all these arbitrary milestones that you feel pressured to accomplish at a certain age.

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

I just want to point out that every generation has been told to grow up at 23. When I was that age Blink 182 released What’s my age again. A song about being 23 and doing immature dumb things. Hope that helps some

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

23, 24, 25, is still so very young, I can't believe people start expecting ppl to be a boring grown up at that age, there are people in their early 30's who still act like teenagers

[@willowisaperson2807]

I'm 17 but between horrific mental illness, undiagnosed chronic illness and the pandemic I feel like I've missed all that 'growing up'. like I live in a small village, I've never been to a town or city without my parents, I spend almost all my time on the sofa in physical and psychic pain and I feel like the same 11 year old that got ill. I'm almost legally an adult and it's terrifying

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm sorry you're dealing with all of that, I'm sending you so much love 💛💛💛

[@willowisaperson2807]

@@talistheintrovert thank you so much. I'm in recovery for my ed, which kept me in hospital a lot so things are moving forwards; I just don't know if I feel ready for that movement yet?

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

As someone who developed their disability around the same age (12) and wasn't diagnosed until I was 25, I really really feel for you. I know impending adulthood feels like hell, but in terms of mental and physical illness its actually easier when you're not a child to receive care. That being said, the system isnt the same now as it was when I was your age, GPs should stand for Gate keePer because these dudes refuse for anyone to see a specialist. Where do you live? because if you're UK based, Citizens Advice, local council centers, and Turn2Us are good resources to get you started on accessing mental and financial help if needed

[@jumies4056]

🤝 i get u… we were barely teenagers when it all started, i feel like i’ve been playing catchup for ages and physical/mental illness did not help. i’m so not ready for college but i can’t wait to not be in high school anymore after how miserable it was yk?

[@Fairygoblet]

​@willowisaperson2807 having these circumstances in my teens messed me up too. When covid came around my routine hardly changed at all. It's very hard. Try to be gentle with yourself. Your right time will come, it just might not be on everybody else's time table. And that's okay.

[@rockinrobin1117]

My therapist has been in the practice for over 40 years, he specializes in children, adolescents, and young adults with Autism. Its the same story over and over again. An autistic patient will come into his office, and tell him "I don't have any friends because I don't want to." Then over the next several sessions it will become apparant that this person has a profound sense of isolation and is desperate for human connection. Prior to the pandemic. I stayed home, I didn't go out, didn't make friends, didn't have friends. Then the pandemic hit, and though my life was not significantly different I took it very hard. Before lockdown, I could at least tell myself that I was alone because I like it that way. It was only when that choice had been taken from me that I realized that I don't. I don't like it that way. As soon as lockdown lifted I began seeking out connection practically non-stop. I joined clubs, social groups, community centers. I used to be relieved when plans got cancled and now I get antsy if I stay in the house for too many days in a row.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@piratkabasia9550]

That’s so relatable, I struggled with fomo before but last year was when I sort of put my fomo into action? I worked myself to death doing everything that I could not to skip any activities and opportunities. When I came back to my therapist this year and told her I cannot push myself to do everything I want to do she asked me what I was doing on the daily basis. We counted that. It turned out I had around 65 h of planned activities per week. I was so afraid not to do something because I couldn’t do things for so long that I did everything that seemed even mildly appealing. I dreaded and still dread free time because free time makes me feel as lost as during lockdown.

[@racool911]

I was basically the opposite. The pandemic just proved I really loved being alone. Been a lot less outgoing in college

[@phosspatharios9680]

My case is precisely the opposite. I went to the therapist because I wanted to get better at socializing, realized that I never cared about people enough to put up with the work, the performance and the energy drain, and also it was absolutely destroying my finances, so I stopped. And it was one year before the pandemic. And I didn't begin to seek out connections afterwards. What you say doesn't make a shred of sense to me. Maybe I'm an exception.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

This makes a lot of sense to me. I'm also pretty introverted, but I'm starting to realize how much of my avoidance of social situations has been from feeling a lack of control, a lack of consent in these situations. I used to absolutely _hate_ being hugged, being touched in general, but once I started hanging out with people who respected my boundaries I suddenly found myself yearning for physical touch, because now I had the option of experiencing that as a mutual human connection, instead of as having this obligation to perform forced on me. The pandemic was in some ways a tremendously isolating experience for me, and counterintuitively a big part of that was how much time I ended up quarantining with lots of people who really wanted to interact with me while absolutely ignoring any boundaries I tried to maintain. So if you were happier avoiding social contact because you also felt like you were being forced into things (conversations you can't escape, having to perform certain behaviors) and wanted to feel some level of control and autonomy in. your life, it makes absolute sense that you'd also hate having that control ripped away from you and being forced to self-isolate.

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Lockdown was interesting as a mentally ill and disabled person (interesting in a morbid way), because I had spent years living in "lockdown" before the pandemic, self isolating because agoraphobia, and this situation has almost justified to me why I feel so broken and why my mental health never improves. I have no friends, and I'm estranged from my abusive family, so I don't leave the house and I have no one to talk to; lockdown was the first time most people experienced this situation, and it was shattering! So, yes, lockdown ruined our mental health and has messed up our experience of time, and for those of us who have to live like this; our suffering is just a normal response to our circumstances and not a personal failure.

[@Heidi2003]

I'm sorry ❤

[@talistheintrovert]

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm sorry you've been going through that alone 💛

[@dl2725]

I weathered this pandemic in my late 40s as a single childless person and I got the same feeling… that this kind of isolation isn’t wholly unique, and in fact this is probably a preview of what I could be experiencing when I’m a senior. Lots of people get isolated in “normal” times, and I hope we don’t forget that now. I haven’t forgotten because I haven’t recovered yet

[@reahallu]

reading this felt like i wrote it holy shit

[@TheShaleco]

God I relate so hard to all of this. I was 23 when covid hit. I felt like I had so much momentum in my life and things were finally slotting into place. I was becoming so confident, doing language classes, making plans to go live abroad. I felt so hopeful and now I've spent the last 3 years living with so much anxiety and stress and just pessimism. I feel like a completely different person. And I'm sure some of those changes would have happened regardless of covid. But i'm nearly 27 now and I feel more lost than I did at 23. I don't know what I want anymore and I feel like the uncertainty of covid fucked up my long term planning ability.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

I'm so sorry, that sounds like it feels so disappointing, and it can't be helped by the amount of pressure being placed on you now to settle down and make a decision. But also, the world is so uncertain now that it feels no amount of planning or working hard will matter if your business will get shut down because the government refuses to give you a tax break while billionaires enjoy their third on this year, or that your business might be destroyed by a freak weather event and theres no insurance to cover it. There no security, and so how can you make decisions and choices when there's no plan B? :/ be gentle with yourself, these are unprecendented times!

[@bonniecrossing]

I feel the so hard. I was 23 too when COVID and finally for once felt like things were falling into place for me. And now after all the lockdowns and turning 27 in 2 months (therefore getting closer to my 30s) i just feel so helpless and entirely lost. All that work I did before COVID just gone in an instant and now I'm just expected to be a fully-functioning completely realized adult which not only terrifies me but is the complete opposite of what I am now. I just feel physically and emotionally exhausted at this point

[@hotarubinariko]

I super relate to this too. I was also 23 when the lockdowns started. I focused my education on living in Japan and was for 8 months until the pandemic hit. I thought my future would be in Japan for a few years but I had to decide whether to be potentially stuck for those years (what happened to my roommate, she ended up not seeing family or visiting home for 3 years and last I heard from her, she was really not doing well) or come home. I decided to come home because my dad was diagnosed with COPD just a couple weeks before headlines started talking about covid and I'd started a relationship with my partner the Christmas before and the idea of never being able to see them in person for years sounded awful. But when I came back, I was living in my childhood home until my grandparents kicked me out so they could rent it out and I was forced to try to sustain myself on my own, even though I couldn't exchange what little money I brought back into US dollars. I took a job that was remote and paid ok, but ended up being extremely bad for my mental health, completely burning me out and damaging my self-esteem after 2 years. I also found out that my Anxiety and Depression I was on medication for was actually undiagnosed ADHD (now diagnosed) around this time, and I began developing chronic health issues that are still plaguing me to this day despite doctors never finding anything concert for the past two and half years. I've also had COVID twice despite being vaccinated which I'm sure didn't help my health issues (not that my doctors seem to think it's related). I recently got a cold that I tested negative for COVID for twice but it will have been a month in 3 days since I first got sick and it hasn't let up. I feel completely lost. In the past three years, I've mourned the life I thought I would have in Japan, and again now my imaginary career, with all my health issues. I'm turning 27 soon too and I feel like I'm running out of time. My partner and I want to be parents but between ever increasing inflation in out state, housing instability and affordability, and my health issues limiting my ability to work, we just can't manage it now and it doesn't feel like it's going to improve in the next 3 years. I was hoping to start trying before I'm 30 but that might just be another life I'll end up mourning. When we were growing up, we were taught so much America propaganda about our pick fence futures and bootstrap idealism, but then we grow up and realize it's a lie. The pandemic made that so aggressively apparent, I think the way things are going are continuing to be psychologically damaging.

[@spiralali]

Even though I was 40 when the pandemic started, I totally feel the same way as you do regarding long term planning. Long term planning only feels theoretical now. I suppose that it always was, but I no longer feel like I have any real way to influence how my future will unfold. Beyond learning new things today, that I can carry with me into the future.

[@pastelpixelp]

yeah, as someone with DID covid fucked me over really bad, i’ve lost 70% of my memories pre covid and people act like i can just keep going like normal. like people act like covid was not a majorly traumatic event, especially for people who are in transitional periods.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@cervidae3291]

oh my gosh, i'm so glad i stumbled upon your comment because i have DID as well and experienced something really similar- my/our memories are like swiss cheese except with way more holes than cheese. i actually had to start keeping a journal again just to remember basic things after each switch, something we haven't had to do in like, years and years. i'm shaking your hand so damn hard in solidarity right now. i think the pandemic and lockdown hit systems/plural folks in ways that are kind of hard to describe just because of how specific they are, but what we experienced is absolutely real and tangible. amnesia is pretty wacky to live with in general, yknow? and constant stress just makes everything worse

[@soup331emd5]

I don't feel like the pandemic was traumatic for me but I also only remember 3 minutes of 2021 soooo, I guess I can't judge. 🤷‍♂️

[@conspiracypanda1200]

I lost memories when suffering from undiagnosed Lyme Disease between 2008-2013. That's the entirety of my highschool years! Now when I think back to when Covid hit and lockdowns began, I realise that I suffered memory loss _again_ even without the brain fog and intense chronic fatigue that pre-treatment Lyme gave me! I'm certain that anyone who has a time-distorting neurodivergence like ADHD, DID, Depression ect. surely felt time warp and dissapear at an incredible intensity. And yet just because we don't remember all of it doesn't mean it didn't affect us.

[@deen4305]

I was 26, just came to terms with my sexuality, was finally living away from my homophobic and extremely controlling parents, had found the perfect job for myself that made me feel fulfilled and happy for once in my life, went to a therapist for my anxiety disorder and then the pandemic hit. I lost my job, there was mass downsizing so no one would hire anyone, I lost my flat, had to move back in with my parents, go back into the closet, had a full on relapse into my disorder. Now I'm pushing 30, my parents and every breathing entity is trying to force me to get married to some guy or another, the recession means I am working for actual peanuts for a job that Im overqualified for, i do not see myself being able to move out from my parent's house at all unless I manage to find a job that actually pays me a decent living wage but the wages are so low that it wont even cover rent and they also want work experience which we dont have cause we got kicked out of our jobs anyway. And I am absolutely sick of people sending 170+ messages to me on social media and getting mad that I did not read each one of them exactly as they drop. We got fucked over bad and people who tell us to get over ourselves need to maybe get their heads out of their asses for one damn minute.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@maximillienrobespierre7262]

Why can’t people accept that not everyone’s experience is the same? I personally was pretty happy in lockdown, learnt another language, went on long walks in the forest with my family, but I can very clearly see how that wouldn’t be the case if I was isolated and completely alone.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@tomsmith6513]

I was already quite socially isolated before the pandemic and lockdowns. I had already experienced years of depression and anxiety. The pandemic and lockdowns didn't change much for me. I was already used to it. When the pandemic ended, I would have expected most people to have bounced back, leaving me back where I was before it started. I did have silent moments of celebration in my head, that haha, all these people living relatively normal lives now have to put their lives on hold, giving me a chance to catch up.

[@midwintersymph]

Cause other people are acting like the pandemic could only affect you negatively and that many negative thing wouldn't have happened to them if the pandemic had never happened, they'll tear you apart if you dare to say that you liked what the pandemic gave you

[@BuizelCream]

@@midwintersymph I feel the same too. I was generally happy during the pandemic. Very active on socials and offline. I don't share my positive experience during the lockdowns because of how many people were affected by it.

[@StarryNightxx]

I personally enjoyed the lockdown as well, honestly best time of my life, but we shouldn't ignore the major effect that pausing peoples lives can have. I had an amazing time but also I never got to finish school, never went to prom, never got to finish growing up.

[@emilyjo2158]

When I went into COVID lockdown I was 16. When school finally went to in person again I was 18. And let me tell you the mindfuck of being in the middle of your teen years, then life seems to go on pause because of a world tragedy, then life unpauses and you are a legal adult was fucking wild

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@dearmarss]

same here!! i had my 15th birthday just as lockdown started. now i'm 18, emotionally and intelectually (online classes suck so bad) stunted and am supposed to study for SATs and go to college while not feeling anywhere near mature enough for these things :/

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

I can't believe I'm going to be considered a legal adult in 3 months when I never even got to be a teenager first

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

@@dearmarss I'm almost 18 and still feel 15

[@kingofhearts3185]

I'm 20 and somedays I forget it's not 2020 and wake up looking for my school computer to get on google classroom.

[@nervousbreakdown711]

I just turned 28 but I feel a lot closer to 23 mentally and emotionally. Don’t know how much of that is autism and how much of it is living in the US during COVID. I also have, like, no empathy anymore. It’s gone. And I suspect COVID stole it.

[@talistheintrovert]

that's so real too, my empathy has taken a significant dip in the last few years

[@marogmartz]

Same, I feel like my empathy has been replaced by cynicism

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Its hard to feel empathic when A. No one is showing you any level of emotional care such that you have the energy to put yourself in someone else's shoes and B. There is almost too much to be empathic about, which sounds horrible, but it is very emotionally taxing to sit helplessly and watch the world burn because anything you can actually do might end up costing you your material and physical life *hugs*

[@MissMoontree]

Honestly, if you tell anyone "those years didn't count" most people agree. I did a lot of stuff during the pandemic but still

[@alexrose20]

I'm turning 20 but I feel like a jaded 18 year old with no life skills

[@simsbrosia]

i was 18 when lockdown started, i was a new adult who moved country for university, who started to gain independence to get shoved back into my abusive family household and have to manage a degree and THAT. Now im 22, im disabled with fibro and so anxious and still struggle to leave the house because it feels so unsafe. i dont feel ready to be an adult with responsibilities, im supposed to still be 18 and going ham on discovering everything, or even younger and being a teenager safe and happy. it sucks man

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with that, I'm sending you so much love 💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

*hugs* oof thats so hard! And stress makes fibro even worse, so you need to change your life to feel better, but you need to feel better to change your life! I would recommend finding a fibro advocacy group because it is a little understood condition and its so isolating not having support to deal with it while you pass for "normal"

[@dolphin7282]

Omg being disabled w a chronic illness in a stressfull environment u cant leave bc u cant live alone ... Its like a loop im so sorry about that

[@amethystimagination3332]

I’m 23, I turned 20 during the first week of the pandemic and in a lot of ways I still feel like I parts of my brain are frozen at 20. It’s gotten a bit better now that I’ve gone back to school but I still have this time blindness where 2016 was only four years ago. I still miss 2018 and some parts of 2019, I had graduated from high school but all my friends were still in the same town, we could just go out on a whim in the middle of a work week because we all either had part time jobs, big gaps in our university schedules or in my case both. But then people started moving away, shortly after that 2020 happened making it impossible to meet new friends. I wish I could go back to going to the trampoline park with my friends on a Tuesday afternoon, or getting McDonalds in the middle of the night. And starting another degree has meant trying to socialize with people four years younger than me, which I just can’t do anymore. The pandemic made me lonely but it also made me jaded despite my best efforts to have hope, and the worst part is that it’s not baseless cynicism. I’ve seen time and again that the system has failed and everyone who has the power to change it are politicians and corporations who are inherently untrustworthy. And being exposed to the worst of humanity 24/7 on social media has made that worse than it would’ve been for the cynics of the past. This is all just to say that my brain is just all over the place and life is way more complicated than it should be. Even older adults tell me they’re glad they aren’t my age right now. It’s tiring and aggravating and it’s no wonder we’ve all given up on the idea that we’re going to have good lives.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

*hugs* you hit every nail on the head so there's nothing more I can say, I'm so sorry its like this right now! You deserve more , we all do

[@taychrissy9273]

I feel crazy to say that I have had the same exact experience to you. I turned 20 the week before the pandemic started. Went to school, had to stop during the pandemic for reasons and then went back two years later. Trying to befriend someone 4 years younger than you is baffling. You wouldn’t think it would be that different as a 23 year old and them being 18-19, but it really is. I feel for you and hopefully the world can get better.

[@Breathefreemylove]

Same, I turned 21 during the first lockdowns. I’m so pissed that I missed out on my early 20s. I was supposed to be young and dumb partying, instead I was scared and anxious for three years. And now I’m 24, and I have a career and I can’t party or be crazy because I have fucking responsibilities. I only had my freshman year of college to have fun and the rest of my college was miserable and depressing. And I graduated just when COVID let up so now I can party except I have a career now and have to be a functional human being at all times.

[@MariaSantos-uo3pb]

@@taychrissy9273 if it makes you feel better, I've been that 19 year old with 23+ aged friends. I don't think it's all that drastic of a maturity difference, especially when you're all in college. Maybe it's more in your own head than you think? Either way though, you shouldn't have issue finding 20+ aged college students to talk to, as that makes up the vast majority

[@thecolorjune]

This! This is what I’ve been feeling! I entered lockdown at age 18, about to graduate high school and move off to college. Instead I spent another year and a half at home, NEVER seeing friends, and stuck in a state of existential dread. I dissociated so badly that I had to cover my mirrors since I didn’t recognize myself anymore. It took a full year of living on campus to begin to feel safe talking to and being around people again. Only 2.5 years after the pandemic started was I able to return to anywhere near the headspace I had at 18: ready to socialize and take on college. And even now at age 20/21 I am still recovering from the lasting mental health damage and social loss.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@alakrysztoforska9690]

I did the same with my mirrors

[@eloiseharrison8574]

oh my god I did the same thing with my mirrors! I don't think I looked at my reflection for almost a full year 😅 I never made the connection that that mind Faq could have been part caused by the lockdown 🤯

[@nakis_naka]

Same, except for me at 19 and a year into Uni. It hurt a lot because I was/am a very shy person and I was learning to get out of my shell, and I felt like I was doing so well. I was growing as a person! I feel like I regressed really badly and it’s a daily struggle to push myself to be where I was pre-covid.

[@extrasupercoolbeans]

I was in the 5th grade when the epidemic hit. I am going into freshman this year, only 4 years from being an adult, but I still feel like a 5th grader. I feel like the past 3 years just floated by.

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

trust me 4 years is a long time lol, I'm 3 months from being an adult and don't feel like one at all, I never got to step one foot into high school

[@miss1of2]

I was in real lockdown for only a month because I was a receptionist in an orthotics office/sleep apnea clinic. So essential wroker. And I only realized how terrified I was to go to work while watching an "essential workers tribute" a show did in late 2022, after changing job for a work from home job. Minimizing the impact of the pendemic is such bullshit... And yes, COVID's not gone... My partner is getting back on his feet from COVID as we speak! (We're vaccinated it wasn't to bad, cought, loss of smell and taste a bit and a little fever and brain fog)

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@fenrir3934]

I'm 23 now but i still feel like I'm a 19-20 year old. Like Bro, I already had severe social anxiety and now it's even worse. IE, panic attacks at stores far more than I used to have and in general I can't go anywhere except for work without someone chaperoning me or at least on the phone with me. We aren't thriving and lmao I keep thinking I'm freaking 21 and then I look at the year and just "Oh."

[@talistheintrovert]

SO REAL 😭

[@rachel_dawn_amber]

FINALLY someone is addressing this… it fells weird how suddenly everybody seems to ignore what happened, and the severe impacts it brought. it’s like i’m supposed to move on and feel normal, like nothing happened at all. but i am not the same anymore. my whole life has been changed by the pandemic, and i have to (re)learn to live again, even though i’m scared, tired and traumatized.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@piratkabasia9550]

As someone whose country was affected by WWII in a major way (Poland) believe me, most people here in their 20s live with generational trauma caused by the war and their grandparents and great grandparents were affected psychologically and emotionally in many ways.

[@brokebanshee92]

I was 20 in 2012 and 30 in 2022. I don’t know how much will change by the time I’m 40 but I find it more terrifying to contemplate than I can handle dwelling on. I think the surge in nostalgia for the early 2000s is a kind of collective delirium seeking comfort in the predictive nature of history. I notice myself feeling increased anxiety without a podcast or a video essay on in the background since the pandemic and as a poor person looking back at the 2000s and 2010s, the struggle to afford to be alive was as prescient then as it is now. Reality television becomes a soothing balm to the the ache of actual reality. The struggle to survive under capitalism in a post pandemic world is more fatiguing. In a decade I’ve had to go from journalism school to working in medical reception and yet no closer to securing a future that I feel i want to whole heartedly embrace. I feel like it takes way more effort to maintain friendships post pandemic. No, we’re not making it out okay and there’s no silver lining. We’re just surviving.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@gemaster14]

I feel this so hard. I’m 29 and everyone expects me to have my life together, move forward with my career, have those kids that I always talked about when I was younger, achieve my dreams and crap. But I don’t feel like I can. I don’t feel like I’m ready, I don’t feel like I can afford to, I don’t feel like I have the mental and physical capacity to. I feel immature and overwhelmed. I thought I was the only one.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@dylanthompson5421]

I was catching up with a friend who I haven’t seen since BEFORE COVID yesterday and we were literally talking about how living through COVID felt like we were in a dystopian YA novel. Like, it was giving Hunger Games, but without the slay

[@talistheintrovert]

EXACTLYYYYY SO TRUE 👏👏👏

[@DeadlyNyghtShayde]

I turned 26 a week before lockdown, my life felt like it had JUST found a trajectory, and since lockdowns have been "over" I've had and lost my first "real" job thanks to the company wanting to pay fewer people and I am just.. floating. I feel so broken, like I dont know how to function, I finally got to stop the charade of being a person and I dont know how to start again. All entries in my industry seem to have been boarded up with signs saying keep out, and I'm scared. Terrified, because i spent 15-26 working retail, getting my degree, moving country and finally getting my foot in the door, then it stopped. What if it never picks back up? What if by the time it has I'm too late because I'm too old? It always seemed like I fell through some kind of cracks and now its just worse and I've been completely buried.

[@talistheintrovert]

I completely understand this, and I'm sorry you're going through it 💛💛💛💛

[@minveraz2843]

I am the same age as you. I almost couldn’t listen to this video because of how much I hate thinking about the lockdown bc of how traumatic it was. I know for a fact that I lost a year of my education to covid-things took longer as a direct result, even though I didn’t stop school, even though I did everything ‘right.’ My parents do not understand what my sibling and I lost. Their lives hardly changed. Ours were destroyed.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@esterelina]

I'll be honest, when I first saw someone describe themselves as "a teenage girl in their 20's" I thought they meant that they were rejecting the idea of having to grow up and start being an adult, and were instead embracing the carefree and curious teenager mindset where it's okay to fool around and search for yourself. At least I interpreted it that way because I have so much pressure to not "be behind". It didn't even cross my mind that this phenomenon might be post-pandemic related but it makes total sense. I was 19 and had just started university when covid started, now I'm 22 and delaying writing my master's thesis so I can enjoy the university life I lost to the pandemic.

[@AnonPanOn]

I turned 30 in the lockdown and even at that age it really josted my brain. Like it just didn't feel real ai couldn't comprehend it and still cant comprehend it. I'm 32 now and just feel frozen in time so I can't imagine how bad it was for highschool seniors who missed all the life events that come with that age. You'd think a worldwide pandemic and long-term isolation would make us lean into having mor compassion for one another but it feels like it had the completely opposite effect.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

"I can't imagine how bad it was for highschool seniors who missed all the life events that come with that age" and then there's me who missed out on all 4 years because my parents wanted me to continue doing online school even after the pandemic 😂😂

[@witchcharming792]

I was 14 when the lockdown hit and i thought ‘wow cool extended vacation’, but now i feel physically sick at the thought of going out and i need like 2-3 days of preparation time to mentally get myself ready. With so much time for introspection, i figured out im trans and then got hit with all the things i’ve been repressing, not just about being trans but also about how kinda fucked up my family is. Communication is the key to relationships working out so i have to talk to my family about it but to do that i would have to make them acknowledge how much they’ve hurt me and i don’t want them to feel too bad about that or else it will be awkward. Add to that the fact i want to isolate myself even more now. My sensory issues have gotten to a point where i have to have my earphones with me at all times or i’ll get overwhelmed. My attention span is bad enough that it’s hard for me to pay attention to movies, shows, or even just videos that i do want to watch. And I have to think about college now?

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

I guess I should start by counting myself lucky that I spent Lockdown in a community-based setting- and genuinely I think looking back that I had that decent communication time- because of it I cannot fathom how painful it must have been to be stuck in that tiny shoebox for weeks. I'm actually thinking of writing a piece about Lockdowns breaking everyone's brains because my god- you're right, it's broken EVERYONE's brains.

[@talistheintrovert]

🩷🩷🩷

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Oh my goodness please do that! I think if people see more of themselves and their pain they will be able to accept and actually start processing their traumas. Theres a reason DV and self annhilation went up during the pandemic, and I hate making things about men, but men are especially in need to processing emotions because theyre expected to be providers and the pandemic has stolen most's ability to provide (and women and children end up being victims of this rage)

[@virginievandemoortele4326]

I spent my sixteen and seventeen birthday in lockdown now I’m nineteen and I still feel like I’m seventeen

[@Acorn905]

Same i feel mentaly and moraly confused :I

[@raithiainbreaker4999]

Are we the same person 😭. I’ll be twenty in a few months and I would give anything to not feel seventeen. I know that no one ever feel entirely grown up no matter how old they are, but this feel more like an inability to move on. Like I’m trapped being a slightly less mature version of the person I was before lockdown.

[@virginievandemoortele4326]

@@raithiainbreaker4999 I’m at the university and the gap between the level of expectation and my level of maturity is so big 🥲

[@prettystupid3509]

@@raithiainbreaker4999 fucking same i hope we all get through this

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

I spent my 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and now what is about to be my 18th birthday in "lockdown" because I haven't left my house nor done ANYTHING with these past years despite lockdown having ended 2 years ago, I can't believe people are going to start considering me a grown man when I haven't even gotten to be a teenager first, its like DON'T U DARE CALL ME A GROWN MAN lol, I still feel like a 15 yr old boy 😂😂

[@dylanthompson5421]

Not enough people talk about the TERROR that came with the anxiety during the first few years of this decade. It’s literally been since THIS YEAR when I went to work in Brum that the terror FINALLY began to subside 😳

[@talistheintrovert]

EXACTLY!!!

[@sailorenthusiast]

When I first turned 20, I still felt like I was 16. Even before Covid, I felt like my life had kinda hit a wall as I had flunked out of college after only attending a single semester. I was in a terrible mental state and generally felt unprepared to move on to higher education. When the pandemic initially started, it really didn’t end up changing much about my day to day life outside providing further reason for me to isolate myself away in my room for days on end. It wasn’t until I was finally able to start going to college again last year that I’ve felt like an actual adult for once.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@dianadoraen7864]

I couldn't relate more! I started uni at 17 y.o. in 2020, absolutely drained from finals. I barely finished the first year, the anxiety was just nightmarish - even taking a bus was scary! I could not have taken gap year due to the terms, on which I got my place at uni, so the next two years I had to power through. Things got better at some point, I even got the job last year but after few nice months the employer started basically exploiting us, so I had to quit. I spiraled down again, got very ill and now have to pass resceduled exams before new semester starts. It amazes me how people do it all at the same time: work, college, friendships, romantic relationships - everything is a full-time job on its own! Hope it will get better now and STAYS alright.

[@VivekPatel-ze6jy]

22:45 I'm pretty scared for the babies and toddlers who missed out on that early socialisation in 2020 as well. We uave no idea what affect that'll have on the generation as they grow up, but primary school teachers are already sounding the alarm online about the dysfunctional behaviour of so many 4-6 year olds

[@averyboredhumanoid8418]

I still swear the class of 2024 got it some of the hardest with missing the transition from middle school to high school. There are so many people still socially isolated and don’t know how to make friends. My grandma, the only person who truly understood me, died during the pandemic and it was so hard. Every one was expecting me to still get all my schoolwork done even though it felt like the world was ending.

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

I swear bro I'm 17 and I still kinda feel like a middle schooler or 14 yr old, I never got to go to irl high school and have that high school experience because of the pandemic and online classes, so now I feel like I'm not even a freshman yet but I'm going to be 18 in 3 months, I can't believe I'm going to be considered a grown ass adult when I haven't even gotten to be a teenager first

[@twinkincarnate]

@@iiCounted-op5jx as a nearly 25 year old, i can safely say 18 isn’t really a “grown ass adult”. legally, yes you are, but in the eyes of literally everyone above 21 you’re still veryyy young. you’re still a teenager for a bit longer! it does suck that a chunk of your teen years were robbed from you of course, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying what you have left. easier said than done yeah ik, but don’t count yourself out just yet

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

@@twinkincarnate so at 21 I will be a grown adult? ngl that still kinda bothers me because it just seems so close, with how fast time is going it feels like I'll be 21 in absolutely no time, I basically have only 2 teen years left now and it doesn't feel like enough time to fulfill the teen life I wanted, and I also just cannot imagine myself being a grown man, it just seems so impossible, being a kid/boy is all I'll ever known, I mean being physically an adult is one thing but I cannot possibly imagine what it must feel like to not mentally be a teenager anymore, its like, will my 21 year old self be COMPLETELY different than my 17 yr old self? I mean, what makes the difference between an adult and a teenager do your brain waves change or something? btw sorry for asking so many questions lol

[@EmL-kg5gn]

I’m pretty sure brain development doesn’t finish until like 25. And even after that people continue to grow and change! I felt like I lost a lot of my teen years due to personal stuff, and while it’s nothing compared to what people your age have experienced, I think it’s worth questioning the expectations we put on different ages. You did miss out on things, it will affect you for a very long time. But in saying that, you never know what life has for you. For some people their 70s are way more fun than their teen years ever were, even though that’s not what we expect. Your brain is being negatively impacted by all this, but it will still continue to develop. Just differently. You’ll be 25 the way someone who’s childhood was disrupted by the pandemic is, not the way other generations were, and that’s okay even though it’s sad. Every tragedy and every life is distinct, I know there’s a lot of pressure on your youth but so much of it is unreasonable or irrelevant. You’re doing your best with what you got and I’m proud of you for that no matter what expectations you break

[@apersonwhohasnothing]

I was 12 when lockdown happened, now I am nearly 16 and I just can't get myself to go to school still. I am still stuck in the lockdown.

[@alakrysztoforska9690]

When we came back to school for our senior year the entire class acted like kids. For the entire year it was a Kinder garden full of 18 year olds learning how to talk to eachother and play togehter. It was really cute and at the same time terrifying

[@procrastinationismyspecial9162]

About the online talk stuff, THANK YOU. Some people really just can’t comprehend that I feel overwhelmed having to respond to people 24/7. I love people. I love hanging out with people. But my introverted ass CANNOT just constantly be on my phone responding to people it feels like a chore. I seriously prefer FaceTime to texting because there’s a set limit on that too. Texting exhausts me and some people need to realize that not being accessible 24/7 isn’t inherently selfish or being a shady person, it’s giving your brain a break.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@HarperT513]

I was in the middle of college when the pandemic hit. I also turned 21 while in lockdown. Since I have also always been introverted, I think I handled it better than my more extroverted family members, but I know I have and probably will continue to have lasting effects from it. Right now I am 24. I have a full time job and I live on my own. I haven't felt his broken in a long time. My mental health is only getting worse and now my physical health has also taken several hits. Stress and anxiety show up in physical ways like they never did before. I feel so so sensitive to stimuli/the public. I am exhausted all the time. A recent hand/arm injury has left me unable to do my hobbies (crafting, crochet, knitting, etc.), which is how I would normally help process things. I feel like I am drowning even though I can put food on the table and pay my bills. I moved about an hour away from friends and family for work and cheaper housing. While I do try to visit when I can, day to day my socializing is online. And like what you said, it's become much harder to keep up with it and stay connected. I worry over losing my friends, but I am just so exhausted all the time that I never feel like I have the energy for it. I want to ask other older adults if this is what they experienced, even just part of it? But I feel like I'll just be told to push through and work things out. I am currently trying to move to an area with more job and social opportunities, so I hope that will help. Thanks to whoever read this rant/word vomit.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

*hugs* you're entirely right and justified in feeling the way you do, you can't even afford to be close to your loved ones, thats so fucked! and even us strangers on the internet cannot fulfil the innate human need to be able to sit with real humans around a table by candle fire and share a meal, and to share stories and build understandings of ourselves through others. You're expected to be a whole person in a fragmented world and thats not possible. No amount of anyone telling you to get it together can change the fact that at the moment, there doesnt even seem to be anything TO get together. I hope you find what you need, but also be gentle with yourself and advocate for your desires! Dreaming of safety and financial security doesnt make you selfish, it makes you human! the only selfish people at the ones taking these opportunities away from us!

[@HarperT513]

Thank you! It's a relief to hear this. I hope you are also gentle with yourself and find what you are looking for. @@GirlsLoveEmo

[@really-quite-exhausted]

I entered my 20s about 5 months into lockdown, when the cabin fever was starting to be replaced by depression. This is so real 😢

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@LoraK31]

I was 22 when the pandemic started, and I received a life-changing disability diagnosis literally two months in. I ABSOLUTELY feel like this time period has altered my brain chemistry. It's so much harder to feel safe doing everyday things like going out to get groceries or driving because I spent more than a year doing those things as little as possible (plus my disability makes them harder now). I also moved cross-country during the pandemic, and now that I'm able to go out again and try to make new friends, I've realized my social skills have taken a dip. I definitely feel more like I should be in my early 20s still than my mid 20s. Anyone who thinks the pandemic had no effect on mental health needs to do some serious internal reflection.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

I also got my disability diagnosis during the pandemic *hugs* I think the reason people don't want to admit the pandemic affected us is because it means things need to change. The thing about change is that it happens whether youre aware of it or not, and whether you like it or not. Keep practicing, you're a social animal so it will come back to you. Also, socialising is so different now that you might need to learn at new skills, so be kind to yourself

[@austin.lewis77]

covid began when i was 13 and in eighth grade. i’m now 17 and graduating this year, feeling like i missed out on many important teenage experiences. i’m having to squeeze them all in while i still have time before adulthood. it’s such an odd feeling that many people my age can relate to.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

bro I swear I'm 17 aboutta be 18 but I still feel like I'm 13 or 15 because I never got to go to irl high school, I can't believe I'm not going to be considered a minor in 3 months, I'm not ready to be a grown man because I don't feel like one at all

[@austin.lewis77]

@@iiCounted-op5jx yea that’s crazy

[@casatlas1965]

God this is so relatable. I was 25 when it started and then when it 'ended' I was almost 30. Career took a step back, trying to catch back up to that trajectory, inflation wiped out any financial progress I achieved before the pandemic. I still feel like I'm 25, but in an older body where I get to see miniscule changes in my strength and mobility that tell me that I'm aging without having been conscious of that process until now. Had other health issues that made me go to the hospital a LOT more than I had when I was younger. Like, yes. It does feel like some f'd up form of time travel. + everything you talked about with being 'plugged in' online constantly to a point where it's brain numbing but ALSO it's so incredibly lonely. I remember college when I was able to meet friends in person so easily, I rarely used social media and it was happiest I'd ever been. Now the pandemic + generally growing up and people moving on + our current invasive digital society, it's lonelier than ever and idk if our world will even ALLOW us to form those kinds of communities easily anymore. And hell, even online spaces are eventually taken over by corporations shoving ads down our throats in every way possible. Sending you good thoughts for you and your health. Your vids are my fav.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@LanaClara]

I can totally relate! I'm approaching 30 and these tiny changes in my body are making me so upset and hopeless. It's like the beginning of the end (sorry). I know that being 30 is a ~wonderful time~, every life stage has its benefits, but I feel like I'm getting old without having been young properly?? And I'm feeling 20 at best (sometimes it's closer to 12 lol) Good luck to us, we'll have to be fine ❤️‍🩹

[@katzenkind6835]

@@LanaClara "I feel like I'm getting old without having been young properly." - That's it. That's what I feel too. And I wager that I'd be a lot more chill about this, if we didn't live in a fucked up society that basically tells people: "No fun after 30, after 30 you're dead. No hobbies, no interests anymore, duh."

[@Lili-ey1nd]

@@katzenkind6835that obviously isn’t true , especially with all the 30, 40,50 year olds flexing their lives to us younger people on social media 😂

[@katzenkind6835]

@@Lili-ey1nd Haha, true :). What I meant is, that too many people think that certain hobbies aren't "appropriate" anymore at a certain age, for example writing (fan)fiction for fun or going to conventions. No one bats an eye when my almost sixty year old father watches soccer games regularly or plays soccer himself - but I think it would be different if he liked to write for fun or dress up for conventions. But maybe society will slowly become more accepting of these hobbies in older age too.

[@tymondabrowski12]

It's interesting how you can watch a whole video thinking "#relatable" and then suddenly stumble on a cultural difference. I was SO CONFUSED when you said "it's ridiculous, because in ww2 you weren't actually personally in danger" and how people only got newspapers.. and then I realised that not everyone lives in Warsaw, which was mostly bombed to the ground, with civillians living in the basements among the ruins (getting married and writing cookbooks on how to cook from scraps! humans are so humans sometimes), and at some point all of those civillians were ordered to leave the city because Germans decided to remove it entirely from existence (tough luck, nazis - still thriving today, rebuilding was one of the priorities after the war). Also such trauma does make things to human psychology, I wouldn't be surprised if people after the war felt younger or even much older than they actually were (especially considering all the child soldiers we had (recruited from scouts), mostly messengers and helpers but still).

[@StealthAddict]

I hate how social media has created this idea that we have to constantly work on relationships. Like, if I’m not texting someone every week, they’re not my friend. I personally can’t function well online as a friend. It’s too impersonal and removes any physical boundaries. Every time I text someone it feels like I’m barging into their house unannounced. And online conversations are hard to read because I can’t read someone’s body language or tone or facial expressions , things that are vital for me direct and continue a conversation. I simply don’t want to feel like I have to constantly be communicating with someone online. I’m perfectly fine with not seeing someone in months and then suddenly getting the opportunity to hang out together in person. I don’t feel like our friendship has dwindled, now there’s just more to talk about.

[@talistheintrovert]

👏👏👏

[@CatQueenOfPluto]

I'm an introvert and the pandemic made me just shy of begging people to come visit me. Got told to join a "mommy group" since I have a toddler. Those groups scared me during the pandemic.

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

I volunteer at a center with a creche and then activities for mums to do without worrying about their kids, but the kids are close to their mums. Most people report that the problem with mummy groups is that the only thing people want to talk about is their children and their partners. but at least its human contact and the potential for friends? I would try local facebook groups too! Being a mum atm is so isolating and you need to be taken care of yourself emotionally so you can care for baby

[@CatQueenOfPluto]

The local group I looked into was anti-mask /antivax, and in the gamers terms, no DnD is better than bad DnD. Once things started letting up, I had close trusted friends over to keep me sane

[@sarahlpw]

​@@CatQueenOfPlutoaah, so they were smart!

[@alexandramaclachlan7597]

​@@sarahlpw They're probably dead with motherless children left behind. Masks and vaccines are proven safe, so selfish and useless to breed then not trust scientific research?

[@minngael]

@@GirlsLoveEmo Honestly if I became a parent, I'd look for parent groups geared towards particular subcultures/hobbies, because basic parenting groups often seem to have a slant towards perfect stay at home conservative moms that are super obnoxious & preachy. This is an exaggeration & varies by region, in some places it's annoying preachy crunchy moms! I'd go find the geeky/alternative/radical/queer/neurodivergent/disabled parents!

[@dotunderscore]

I saw a video about how we’re losing our “third places” - the places that aren’t work or home. Physical spaces that aren’t bank-breaking. And this is killing the concept of community.

[@talistheintrovert]

👏👏👏👏

[@antidotebrain69]

I think I sort of shut off my ability to care as a coping mechanism. I was always pretty self-isolating, but nowadays I barely keep track of the days. I didn't speak to a single person outside of work for 3 weeks and eventually my parents literally showed up on my doorstep to see if I was alive. Thing is therapy isn't covered by insurance.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@Karishma_Unspecified]

I have not watched the whole video yet, I just wanted to nention that the tweet... the tweet hit hard. I'm going to be 25 soon, and I still feel like I'm 15. Part of it is probably the C-PTSD and autism and physical disabilities I already had pre-pandemic... but I feel like I never got to grow up, and I'm here figueing out tax and insurance bills.

[@talistheintrovert]

god, this is so real, having to pay bills while existing in 2023 after getting stomped on all the way through the pandemic is so bizarre

[@iiCounted-op5jx]

you really feel like your 15? like actually 15 or did u just pick a random number?

[@Karishma_Unspecified]

@@iiCounted-op5jx Honest answer? I feel like my sense of identity is warped, and that my childhood was lost over all the trauma from my parents. Emotionally, I sometimes feel like a child "I want hugs", "why won't mommy love me?", "why is everyone shouting - make it stop!"; sometimes I feel like a teenager "REBELLION! FUCK THE RULES! FUCK EVERYONE!"; and sometimes I feel like an old person "I wish I could die already, haven't I suffered enough?" etc. I have been informed that teenagers tend to feel all of these emotions - I know I did when I was a teenager - so I went with 15. 15 was also right before the trauma hit the fan and everything went to absolute shit in my life, so it seems correct. I feel all the feelings I used to as a teen, only now, I rationally know that where they are coming from and why. But that doesn't stop me from feeling them. So I feel like I'm 15 stuck in a 20-somethings body. I have all the impulses of an emo 15 year old, but all the wisdom and killjoy-ness of an adult. And that makes me feel like I can never let my inner child out and be free. The pandemic didn't help, because it took away the few years I had between adolescence and adulthood. But I guess that is true for most people my age. Oh well.

[@gingerbreadpop7068]

I was thirteen when lockdown started. I used to beg my mom to just let me ride in the car on her grocery runs. I spent so much time in my room I started talking at the mirror. On top of everything, I longed for the teenage experience. I mean, we didn’t know how long the pandemic would last. And most of my peers were robbed of that. It’s odd. Myself and people I knew back then are almost done with highschool, now, and they’re still the exact same people I knew in seventh grade.

[@KKMfan60]

I was 27 when it started. I spent three years living ALONE, IN JAPAN, in a tiny 370sq ft apartment working remote. I loved the lockdown when it began since I’m an introvert but very quickly did it start taking a toll on me. The only reason I could hang in there for so long was because I adopted two rescue cats. After the third year I finally couldn’t take it anymore. I left my job in Japan, grabbed my two kitties, and went back to america. My social skills plummeted and I’m still working to regain myself more than a year out.

[@auklett]

I was 24 pre-pandemic, turning 28 this year. My mind has repressed the memories but I still have journal accounts of just how traumatic it was for me. It’s like I paused a video game for a few months, came back to it, and no longer remember any of the mechanics nor the plot itself.

[@geektrash180]

The lockdown coincided with me finishing a degree and looking for jobs. I spent 4 months in a new city living with two colleagues. In those 4 months, each other was the only company we had. Then I spent next 6 months at home, living with parents after living on my own for nearly a decade. My mental health took a hit in that time. But it also allowed me enough time to introspect and figure some things out. The lockdown pivoted my career path in a direction Im absolutely in love with now.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

thats good to hear

[@Jyzelle16]

I graduated high school in 2020 at the age 17 I was stuck at home with my toxic family I’m now 21 and I feel like I can barely function and don’t know how to be an adult and can’t even ask my parents about it

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry you're stuck in such a bad situation, I'm sending you so much love 💛💛💛💛💛

[@pablosuarez7602]

The whole China town to eat thing really got me, I feel this similar paradoxical social anxiety that I crave IRL interactions with others but the only social thing to do in my town is to go out and eat or drink. And after I spent all of covid indulging, I'm actively trying to eat better which is not conducive to eating out

[@deszeldra]

There have been studies about the impact of trying to enter the workforce during an economic downturn. Such cohorts historically have poor employment their whole lives because they're "too old" for entry level jobs by the time those are more available again. And that's just one aspect of what happened in the pandemic.

[@talistheintrovert]

👏👏👏

[@SpinningSideKick9000]

I've already seen this. I can tell that I'm not getting jobs because the big gap in my job history and lack of job experience. I don't blame them. Why would they take a chance on me. It just sucks

[@deszeldra]

@@SpinningSideKick9000 I’m so sorry. It’s not okay. I hope you find something that pays the bills and satisfies your interests!

[@hananiatacorelis2152]

Way more people should watch this.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

Agreed

[@morpheus3140]

When people say grow up, I'm like your never will think I'm grown why does it matter what they think?

[@talistheintrovert]

👏👏👏

[@magic_harmony]

I was 18 going into lockdown. This week I just turned 22. Going to university as a freshman in the middle of lockdown was a surreal experience and I ended up developing chronic fatigue and some other health issues during it which still effect me today, so much so that I had to take a semester break. Going back this fall, school and life seem like they're going back to "normal", but I still feel broken and guilty sometimes for my mental and physical health still being in bad shape. I feel behind and I don't feel like my age at all. It's weirdly comforting to know I'm not alone in this, but it's also sad that a lot of people in their 20s are having a similar experience.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@Haferkoko]

As someone with mental illness who lives alone, I hate that I was finally starting to feel better again and like my life was going the right direction, before covid hit... and set me back years in my progress. But honestly, now in retrospect, I think a lot of people can understand me better now. As a chronic trauma survivor, with all those years I missed to dissociation, long before covid... I now have people who understand what it's like to feel like your youth has been taken from you. But yeah, still not everyone does. There will always be those who think they're better than everyone else and put themselves above, simply because they got lucky and it didn't affect them as much.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@nerdoftheatre]

I turned 22 a few months into the pandemic. I'm now 25. I don't feel like I should be 25. My sophomore year of college, I was at a CC. My mental health was so bad that I ended up in therapy. I didn't think I'd be alive to see myself graduate CC. I did. I had no future plans, so I just threw myself into my 4-year blind. By the time I hit senior year of college, my mental health was starting to improve.... Then, the pandemic hit. It destroyed every bit of progress I had made. I didn't apply to any jobs for months because there was no jobs to apply to. I felt trapped. I needed to do shit that I couldn't possibly do. I got my first job interview over a year after I graduated. The rejection email came the morning of my grandma's visitation. I stopped applying to jobs for several months. My mental health got worse. I cried randomly. I couldn't stop crying. It was frustrating. I was frustrated that my mental health had gotten so bad and I was frustrated at the world for taking my grandma so suddenly and without reason. It was sudden. It happened the day after my job interview. My next job interview wouldn't be until 6 months later. I didn't get that one, the next, or the next. I turned 25 a little over two months ago. My mental health is the best its been. I am working part-time. I've never held a full-time job because of my social anxiety. My sister had a house by now. I have been at my job for a little over a year. I feel like everyone around me is trying to force me to hit specific milestones. I'm behind, I'm behind, I'm behind. I don't remember much of my life from ages 22-24. I am TWENTY FIVE. I constantly feel like I'm not doing enough. That I'm behind. I'm not living up to what I need to be. I got my first job at age 24. I am 25. I'm frustrated. People telling me that I need to do more and do more for my future. I'm just getting adjusted to the now. It's frustrating when I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not behind..... Honestly, my boss mentioned about how people my age probably are going to struggle a lot more with being a young adult because we lost out on those very early adult years.... It's relieving to hear someone older than me like, validate me without me even talking about that struggle.

[@Residentevil1.5]

Thank you for sharing this. I have really bad social anxiety too and I’ve been feeling so behind. I’m embarrassed, and I sometimes feel kind of angry about it, honestly. It helps knowing that I’m not alone.

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry you've been through all of that, i hope things improve for you and I'm sending you all the love 💛💛💛

[@weremermaid]

Emails have become the same as messages that I don't have the energy to interact with anymore. I'm in my 30's and have the same general experience. I'd returned to university shortly before the pandemic. I liked work from home at first, but now I have the hardest time with it because it's literally all email and messages. I haven't had a birthday party in a long time. I know a lot of people from a lot of different contexts. Last time I tried to invite friends to just ice cream on my actual birthday, no one would/could. I wanted to do a cute silly thing and go to Baskin Robins (31) for my 31st. And I spent it alone with convenience store ice cream and birthday messages.

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm sorry that happened to you, I hope you get to spend the rest of your birthdays how you want 💛💛💛

[@weremermaid]

@ why does this read like the suffering olympics. This isn't a contest. The video stated things I resonated with and so I shared similar experiences. I'm not here to say I have it worse than anyone, so why try and one up me??

@@weremermaid I am so sorry, that was never my intention. Stay strong everyone

[@cantantenoel]

I turned 35 during the first summer in lockdown, but I feel a lot of this. I happened to be already going through a mental health crisis (unrelated to covid, just shit timing) when the lockdowns started, had just left my job because of it, and ended up sitting alone in my apartment with no other humans around and very little to occupy my time for almost eight months. My memories of 2020 are like a bizarre fever dream and I still have some lingering effects from the experience. And I'm sure if I'd been younger when this all happened it would have been exponentially worse. I cannot fathom what's going through the minds of anyone who thinks we weren't collectively traumatized by this.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@Residentevil1.5]

I spent 14 to almost 18 homeschooled and totally isolated. I didn’t go outside except for 10 minutes once a week to turn my homework in. After that, I had a few years of being ‘normal’, but a lot of that time was spent trying to catch up with my peers. Then the pandemic hit right after my 21st birthday. I ended up reverting back to totally isolating myself. I’m still trying to get out of it, and I’m 24 now. I don’t feel 24. I feel embarrassed. I work from home and don’t leave the house unless it’s absolutely necessary, which is usually less than every month or so. I’ve completely wasted around 6 years of my life. I kept telling myself it’d get better, I just needed to keep trying, but I’m not even going to have much of my ‘youth’ left to live at this point. Any time I see that someone is younger than me, I feel almost sick to my stomach. I have the opportunity to change everything in my life by the end of the year, and I’m going to. I can’t keep living like this. It’s so painful. I’m sad for all of us, honestly.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@StriderStarfall]

I was 14 when lockdown happened, I just turned 17. I can't comprehend how old I am, i still feel like I'm 15, but I'll be 18 next year, I'm almost an adult and I feel like I missed so much, I'm rewatching one of my favorite animes right now, the main characters are 14 year olds who go to school, and get in to funny situations, being friends, and it sounds pathetic, but I feel jealous when I watch it, I wish I got to do that, but I didn't.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@jdot_fightme7770]

i really related to feeling like maintaining relationships is work instead of natural i actually talked to my therapist about it recently and her suggestion was to go out and do things with them more, but uh... with what money? with what time? personally, the lockdown and mostly digital communication was great, but i won't deny that my social skills degraded significantly and my mental health overall tanked

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@therewasoldcringe]

im 25. i regressed to 16, and with started hrt i regressed even further to like 13. there's no way i'll ever keep a job for over 3 months, at least without any issues. i quit social media (discord is the only thing i still actively use) and became a cryptid because i can only be found in bars i frequented in the greatest year of 2019. right as i realized i was actually an extrovert and i simply grew up around boring people. im just glad i already dropped out of uni by then. i would have been kicked out for shit grades. i'm considering going back, but maybe in 12 years, when kids untainted by forced online school grow up so i'll feel less alienated, with only the expected generation gap

[@jeannecaelum5167]

Damn, i sorta told myself its just me. Im disabled and mentally ill and told myself that my agoraphobia is on me (fear of being in inclosed spaces, i tend to stay mostly inside). i want to quit social media, but then i have nobody to talk to anymore. No in person friends, no social life at all. This goddamn lockdown really crushed everyone, while i try to stay confident and try to make friends, the other person often also has been impacted and a social recluse. It has been positively enlightening to hear about this, and read the others comments! Trying to stay positive has not been easy man D:

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@GirlsLoveEmo]

Trying to stay positive is hard enough, but you are also expected to do it alone! Its not normal :( I've found the same, but I hope that our experiences will be not for nought, and we will be able to give meaning to this pain

[@dayannecristina9066]

I was in the middle of college when full lockdown started. I finished my college at home, graduated at home and now I'm all by myself in a different city because I couldn't stand staying in my hometown. Everywhere I went made me remember my "old life" when I had friends and social events and was a normal functional person. Being 23 just makes me feel like I'm old enough to be an adult but inside I still feel like a fresh college student that had her life interrupted and is now coming back. But actually it's 3 years later and I'm supposed to be mature and just forget this kind of life because it's over even though they always say your 20's are the best of your life.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@jumies4056]

hard agree with most of this video… i was a young teen when the pandemic started and oh boy do i not have a good concept of what’s too personal or not anymore. even commenting on this video, i was typing out my experience dealing with the pandemic and i had to ask myself “is this too much?” during the pandemic i had more friends online than in person and most of the friends i had were mistreating me but i didn’t want to lose them because i desperately needed the socialization, even if i was socializing with people who made me feel like shit. using social media makes me feel miserable but it’s hard not to because i want to keep in touch with my REAL LIFE friends. i can’t help but ask myself since when do i need to be online to talk to real life friends?? the only places it doesn’t cost us to hang out is either somebody’s house or the library. we try to go to local concerts exclusively because it’s so much cheaper, we’re penny pinching even as we’re young enough to have a disposable income from summer jobs… etc etc it’s just so hard

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@jupitersnoot4915]

I wasn't affected by the lockdowns purely because that's how I was already living for years before the pandemic even happened. It's pretty normal for me to go a couple weeks at a time never stepping a foot outside. And I like it that way. For me, it's ok. I don't struggle with social anxiety or to socialise. But i'm definitely an exception to the rule. For most people living the way I do is not healthy

[@emmelinesprig489]

THANK YOU for talking about this!!! Most people just ignore that the pandemic even happened. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not crazy for still feeling the effects. My social anxiety is only just beginning to descend from the astronomical high it maintained since the lockdowns. I already had a “lockdown” kind of experience in my late teens to early 20s due to severe depression and borderline agoraphobia. That stunted my development big-time. I had just gotten my life back on some semblance of a trajectory in my mid 20s, and was accepted into grad school in 2019. I’m now nearly 30, a new graduate with limited professional experience, and feeling like I’m still in my mid 20s. I don’t fear aging or any of that nonsense. I’m just stunted. Mental illness is an invisible disability, sometimes even invisible to the person themselves. And it’s affecting WAY WAY WAY more of the population than anyone wants to admit. Our world is so fucked and it’s fucking us into its mass grave.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@milascave2]

As a guy in my late fifties, the epidemic broke MY brain. But it did cross my mind, a lot, that I am glad that it did not happen when I was younger, because now I already can't do as much stuff as I once could, so I am not missing as much.

[@edwardlewis4724]

Lowkey dipped into Alchoholism during the pandemic, didnt realise it until my sister pointed out how often we drank in lockdown.

[@RosieCooper1000]

New favourite youtuber, I'm obsessed

[@talistheintrovert]

🥰🥰🥰

[@StoneBasilisk]

I didn't see my best friend for 2 1/2 years because their mom was so worried about COVID. I spent 5 months of my teenage years without any contact with my friends because I didn't have a phone. My mental health spiraled so bad I went from straight A's in every class to nearly failing my year. COVID did have and is going to continue to have an effect on everybody. None of my relationships have been the same since, and the strongest friendships I have are people I became friends with after COVID, not the ones I've had for as long as I can remember. I hope to fucking god that my (new) best friend will be willing to share a dorm in college & an apartment when we move. I can't stand the idea of living alone anymore.

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with that, you deserve better 💛💛💛

[@PhantomGender]

How did you get into my brain and scoop out all of my feelings and then weave them into an eloquent video essay like this

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛

[@blinkfilms1]

Highly highly highly recommend the book "Let This Radicalize You" by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba. It was written during lockdown and it addresses many of the points you raised specifically and it provides hope and actionable steps to move forward.

[@collyflower6623]

This is a really cathartic video. Covid absolutely contributed to my college burnout. I barely managed to complete my senior thesis, then jumped straight into a remote job because I was just happy to be employed. I nearly burned out again, wanted to die, etc. before getting help. It's only been within the past year that I feel like I've climbed out of that hole. And I still think I'm one of the luckier ones.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛

[@tubthungusbychumbungus]

I celebrated my 18th birthday about a week before the first lockdown was enforced. Three of the most important transitional years were spent in this utter turmoil, I thought when i went to uni i would learn how to act around people. Instead i regressed from everyone both online and in person, to the point where i was so scared to talk to people i would glance out my room to see if there was anyone in the kitchen so i could avoid them. I feel like im finally living my 18th year at 21 and im getting questions about what my career plans are from family and i cant tell them that i dont even know who i am let alone think about joining the fucking games industry of all things and then ai showed up and aaaaaaaaaaaa the world aaaaaaaaaaaaa its hurting my brain miss Edit: im reading through all the comments and i realised we're all venting and reading it all might be a little taxing on you,, you just put everything so accurately, hope you're well and thank you ❤❤❤

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@daniellecowan459]

I feel you I turned 21 right before the pandemic had a list of things I wanted to do because of it was literally supposed to take my first trip and start my service year, but instead had to move back into the house where I had had so many family issues as a teenager. I am forever grateful to my family, because I don’t think I could’ve survived that shit alone but being the only person working with stressful, and when I got out it was this strange mix of all right time to be a young adult, and discover everything and also what are you doing? You’re supposed to be an adult you’re disabled and living on your own for the first time you have so much shit to learn. I hope in some small way it makes you feel better that those of us a little older than you know exactly how it is to /miss some big steps to and aren’t out here judging or trying to push you. Best of luck :-)

[@BarnabyTheEpicDoggo]

Same, I turned 12 literally the day the lockdowns started in my country, and I didn't go to school till 14, I am socially isolated and developed anxiety

[@kpopspoon]

I was 18, about to turn 19 when the pandemic hit. I had JUST started at university in fall of 2019 and immediately lost everything. we were kicked out of our dorms and classes with no warning. given an hour randomly assigned time slot to get anything worth keeping out of your dorm room before they would come in and just trash it all. I had friends from Korea and China who were stuck in the U.S. because of closed boarders, thousands of miles away from any family or friends back home.. AT 18 AND 19. the amount of trauma I have surrounding the lockdown, losing my grandma, not having human contact, and fearing for my family (esp. my dad who was already ill) is REAL. i'm now 22.. and I feel like I am still that terrified 18 year old being kicked out of school with no warning. I feel like time froze in March of 2020 and has yet to unpause.

[@talistheintrovert]

💛💛💛💛💛

[@hauntedmushroomsasmr7716]

I turned 25 in June and I really am grappling with the fact I'm in my mid 20s. I was engaged from 19-22 with a partner that was controlling about my experiences and self-expression and then the pandemic hit. I never had a graduation in my college years...i couldn't get any kind of career movement and was forced to work in customer service where I got screamed at and disrepected all the time. I lived with my neurotic older sister who never had any friends and never respected my boundaries, making me feel like i was 14 again. I tried getting into grad school, and failed out. I have zero ability to task manage and concentrate. I realized ive lost the ability to take care of myself like feeding myself properly. I feel like I have zero spoons all the time, I constantly worry about not texting friends back and that worry makes me avoid messaging them back for weeks. Ive developed an anxiety disorder and I can't even go online anymore yet I cant stop. Im going crazy! The thought of buckling down, working a 8-5 where you have maybe 2 hours a day to "really enjoy yourself (???)" And every single social activity costs an exorbitant amount of money and even hobbies I do alone, I feel guilty because I feel like im wasting time and doing something stupid instead of efficient and productive. The thought of getting married, having kids, and working a dead end job within the socially expected 3 ish years literally makes me want to self delete. I want to enjoy life a LITTLE DAMMIT

[@talistheintrovert]

I'm so sorry you went through all of that, i hope things improve for you 💛💛💛

[@JellyfishAranara]

The pandemic never effected me because I'm already screwed before it (and still I'm). Honestly I'm so jealous of people who can go out either with friends or alone.. Walking outside, all the experience, nature, people and animals you could interact with. Either introvert or extrovert it's so much better to go outside than stay at the same 4 walls and try your best to live healthy mentally and physically.. All alone with this rectangled shape device

[@nyl_hsoj]

Deeply felt everything you said. In December of 2019, I just graduated from college and started grad school for library science online in January of 2020. By March, lockdowns went into effect and by April, my mom died. Although I was in graduate school, I was unemployed until 2022. My degree is supposed to take only two years but I'm still struggling to finish because I have to have a portfolio of all my work with reflections and blog posts. I still can't bring myself to catch up on something that I was supposed to be working on incrementally. When I shared this with my former therapist, he said "Well, I can understand that. But we shouldn't use our trauma as an excuse." I just wish I had dropped out instead of trying to use grad school to distract me from my grief. Going through grad school during the pandemic made it so difficult to get any hands-on experience or foster connections with people in my field... or in general. I barely managed to get a full-time job in the field, but it's still not fulfilling, and I feel isolated in an office I have to report to just to work with my other coworkers over Teams who are in different offices.

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@jojobooh8353]

As a 16 year old, I can't help but wonder what person I would have become today if not for the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has affected my social growth and emotional development in ways that I never could have predicted, and it's hard not to feel like I've missed out on a crucial period in my life. Growing up can be tough under any circumstances, but the pandemic has made it even harder for so many of us. Not only has it exacerbated existing emotional and mental health issues, but it has also created new ones for many of us, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how to navigate these challenges. Despite the challenges, I try to stay optimistic about my future and continue to work on myself. I believe that even with the setbacks caused by the pandemic, there is still hope for growth and self-improvement. And it's important to remember that we are not alone in this. We are all in this together and there are resources available to help us navigate these challenges. So while it's tempting to dwell on what could have been, I keep reminding myself that there is still time to grow and become the person that I aspire to be. I may not know exactly who that person is just yet, but I'm excited to continue on this journey of discovery and self-improvement. And I know that with the support of those around me, I can overcome any challenges that come my way.

[@jojobooh8353]

And yeah I know I technically wrote a whole essay but that's just how I feel about this type of situation.

[@LokiStarOmen]

As a life long sufferer of Fibromyalgia and possibly hEDS I felt all of this in my soul. I’m 28 coming up 29 and because of a lack of help growing up undiagnosed with my chronic Illnesses and Autism, having to move out on my own at 18, being given the choice to either receive no help at all or be put on morphine that caused an addiction that I couldn’t shake until the year before Covid hit and then going through multiple long lockdowns here in the North East of England, I still feel like the 17 year old who woke up unable to walk or use my arms. At oldest I feel like a 21 year old being expected to act like a normal adult after having everything I needed to become one be refused to me or held behind the hoops I had to jump through like a poodle to prove I have the issues I have, or a specific diagnosis that’s hard for AFAB people to receive. And to top it all off a massive deadly pandemic was severely mishandled on a global scale and I had to sit in my flat reading tweets of people saying their glad it’s only the “cripples” like me that will die, realising because I’m disabled if I get Covid they will turn off my life support and will not resuscitate me, realising I lost my mid 20’s to a pandemic that ironically gave us more money than we ever had before but had nowhere to spend it so I just started drinking to cope. Society has been letting vulnerable people down in a massive way for an incredibly long time and now it’s affecting able bodied and neurotypical people really badly too. All because the people in power don’t want to admit that the system that keeps them rich and powerful doesn’t actually work for anyone else

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@BrittanyArtPoetry]

Do you know something that’s really lonely, listening to this video, and getting it, but also noting how many friends are mention in it, and realizing you don’t even have that.

[@cassidywelch333]

Damn this hit me really hard. I don’t often comment on KZbin videos but this time I’ll have to. I was 23 when the pandemic started and I’m now 26. In 2020 I was just starting out my acting career and I had a nice momentum going on (getting cast in good productions in important theatres in my city). Then COVID hit, everything arts related just stopped and the momentum was lost. I’m still working as an actress but I feel like I now have to fight twice as hard to get my foot in the door because people have just forgotten that I exist (sadly this is how things are in the acting world: you only exist as long as you’re working and you’re only as good as your last production). Besides just feeling like I have wasted my time career wise and that I might never be able to achieve my full potential as an actress because of this pandemic, I feel like I lost so many friends. I quarantined with my parents and, as result, I lost contact with some of my dear uni friends. After getting out of lockdown I swear I had forgotten how to have a real conversation with people other than my parents. I’m starting to rekindle these friendships and, funnily enough, when I’m with them it feels like no time has gone by. But it has and that’s the issue. Some days ago I told my dad that my real age is 26 but I’m actually 24 because I lost 2 years to the pandemic and he thought I was joking. It’s so nice to feel like I’m not alone in this ❤

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@anitachamberlain3391]

You are so bright, and have a great way with words. I haven't heard someone put their thoughts out about this that align so much with my own. I really had a "I'm not just crazy for how I think and feel here" kinda moment while watching this. The section about being forced to distance ourselves with the promise of returning and it only getting lonelier is so true. I've lost so, so many, dude. You make me feel valid on it though.

[@acezu5099]

I resonate with literally everything you said in this video, and it's so relieving to hear those thoughts and feelings mirrored. I was an international student in Scotland when lockdown hit, and while my flatmates had families to go home to isolate with I was left alone in that flat for over two months unable to fly home because my country locked their borders. Like you, my saviors were my friends who would be on call with me for entire days to keep me company so I wouldn't lose my mind. It really sucked, and severely stunted my mental health, which had never been better the year before covid hit. It's like I'm mourning the person I was becoming that year - covid killed her, but I survived. "I" who cannot have notifications on my phone or be sensory overloaded. "I" who see messages but never have the energy to reply to them, or reply a whole day later and pretend I wasn't on my phone to see it - as if anyone in this day and age is ever NOT on their phone. "I" who didn't get to have the international university experience and sit here now with massively extortionate student debt whose value does NOT equate to the value of the pandemic experience I had. All the while I'm trying to find some semblance of stability and direction in my life. Covid did a number on us. I'm really glad you made this video, so we could all feel seen on that common ground.

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@caribbeanstrawhat]

It feels SO relieving to know that there’s someone out here going through the exact same shit as me and being able to identify the cause of it. I turned 20 in March and celebrated by birthday before covid lockdowns hit. I’m an introvert but knew how to be social to the point of an extrovert. I was doing alright with college although I had attention issues and depression. But as soon as Covid hit & the lockdowns happened. My attention span was at an all time low. I failed all 4 of my classes, I had even LESS energy to do anything but I didn’t know why. It took me a while but I found out that Covid really affected me a lot cause now my social skills suck ass, it takes me forever to respond to texts or chat on social media, I’m convinced that I have add, and I’m in a constant existential crisis where I feel mentally stuck at 19/20 even though I’m 23. I don’t see where my future is headed, and I feel like a massive failure with this nursing degree I’m trying to achieve. I’m really at a loss but it’s comforting to know I’m not alone. Thanks for the video 🙏🏾❤️

[@lilytaylor4760]

I was 12 when the pandemic hit, I was stuck inside with my younger sisters (both 8) and all I really did was watch TLC’s Outdaughtered and 5 Minute Crafts. I didn’t really talk to anyone older that me because my parents had “essential” jobs and were at work while I watched my sisters. It definitely affected me. I was already introverted (and also probably neurodivergent) but I was never “weird,” probably because of masking. When I went back to school is was incredibly isolating because half the time I was stuck at home doing online school, and the other half of the time I was by myself with no friends because they were doing online school. I still haven’t recovered but at least now I have resources to help myself.

[@RocKsiJ]

I turned 25 before lockdown, and then i am pushing 30, and ????? everyone said the second part of your 20s is the best time? but where. I spent my early 20s on studying, and I had to graduate during quarantine. And now I feel like I need those 2 years back.

[@hihey229]

I was in a similar situation that you were in when the lockdowns started. It feels like the isolation has wiped away the parts of myself i liked the most and i was left behind with nothing. It did so much damage to me that feels irreparable. The extent of my depression is still so severe the first time i went to a therapist they suggested i look into inpatient care. I live in a country where I have options, and the financial cost for mental health treatment doesnt fall on me. I cant imagine what i would do if that wasnt the case. Theres so many people out there like us.

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@sierralaney8547]

I had very similar experiences to you and I finally feel like someone "gets me", Thankyou for making this video!!

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@paupopcorn]

I was bad at keeping friendships just with messages and phone calls before Covid but after it…😢 I never thought about it as « work emails » like you said but this is exactly what I feel ! I like to receive messages from people that thought about my birthday but I hate to respond and start quick meaningless chats like « how are you doing since last year ?» « great for you blabla… » Sometimes I miss high school just for being able to see my friends every day and not worry about keeping the link.

[@talistheintrovert]

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[@hooloovoo436]

I'm watching this on my second case of covid, and it's really resonating. I've always felt lost in society, watching this I realized I had almost completely forgotten what's happened. I've felt stuck for years, and honestly I really appreciated the tone of this video including straight up complaining. Everywhere you go these days there's so much toxic positivity, it makes me feel insane. The world is built to be harsh to autistic people. We are just a minor casualty to allistic culture, if not less. I want to live in a world that makes sense to me.

[@talistheintrovert]

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