It's been quite tough but also a blessing in disguise. I've managed to stop drinking (I was a regular "party goer" on the Weekends - I blame English culture) and feel a lot healthier for it. I wouldn't have managed cutting it out as my social circles built around the pub/clubs so being forced to stay home really helped curb that habit. I just need to work on the diet and exercise now but feeling 10x better than I was four months ago.
Ask HN: How are you holding up?
21–30 of 398 posts
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#22Years ago, I visited the zoo in Central Park in NYC and watched a polar bear, as it swam around and around in a pool. It swam in a triangle, touching the three same points on the wall of the enclosure as it made each circuit.
Last month I walked around Greenwich Park in London 125 times, each time following exactly the same route. I thought about that polar bear a lot as I walked.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#23Scared of upcoming school holidays. My days would be far worse if I didn’t have 50 curious little voices asking about .split() etc every day.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#24I'm holding up quite well. I'm still working from home, but my kids are going to school again, which helps a lot. Our holiday to Sweden was cancelled, so we're renting a campervan and touring around our own country (Netherland) instead. We're well aware we've got it relatively easy compared to many other people. But if these times are so hard on you, why don't you share a bit more about your situation? (I'm assuming…
Living in Nothern Europe, and working in IT, life is good. Things are opening up, only large gatherings like festivals are still cancelled. None of that non-sense of being required to where a mask just to go shopping.
Summers is here, vacation time is just around the corner.
Some of us had is pretty easy, depending on your view. I worked from home for around four weeks. My wife has been going to work through the whole corona thing, closing pharmacies was never an option really. My daughter have been in daycare almost every day, allowing me to work. So everything has been pretty normal, just with less traffic.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#25I'm at rock bottom.
I got laid off unexpectedly, right at the beginning of the coronavirus. Severance package was terrible and I'm pretty much broke. Plus, the FMV of my options cratered, so the equity I worked hard for is already underwater.
Hit the interview trail hard and have received nothing but rejections. Despite getting referrals from current engineers, I don't even make it past the tech recruiter phone screen stage. And of course, no one is willing to offer feedback so I'm left with my worst thoughts of self-doubt and imposter syndrome.
Sitting here with no money, nothing to do, watching all my friends take advantage of the remote work by going to cool places. I'm going insane and all signs point to the continuation of this shitty status quo for the next year at least. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#26Not too bad - my commute was 1h15m each way so I've got lots of extra time, I'm fortunate to have a dedicated office at home and a garden to relax in - I know I'm somewhat of an outlier though, and appreciate just how lucky I am.
I'm also moving jobs and it's going to be interesting ramping up remotely.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#27Hey friend.
Long time lurker around here, created an account to reply here.
I don't know. It's hard man. I know there are people in worse situations than me but it's hard anyway.
Working from home since March.
I spend all my day alone at home (with my cats). My GF arrives late and leaves early. She has to go to work everyday.
I feel unmotivated. I'm not socializing, I'm getting fat, I'm slacking on my work.
The worse part is that the effort that I and others have been making are worthless because a couple people can and will destroy it.
I'm living in Portugal and "we" thought everything was going back to normal. Of course not. The cases are ramping back up again. Today we have new and harder rules to follow once again.
I know that I won't be back into the office this year.
My summer festivals are cancelled.
I couldn't celebrate my birthday with my friend and family.
I miss hugs from my mother.
This shit sucks.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#28Thanks for asking and hope you are doing well! I unfortunately got dumped by a girl I was dating, lost my job and a (non-nuclear) family member while living in Manhattan, NYC. I thought I was holding up okay but once my gym shut down and social events shut down (before later transitioning to videoconference) my mental state and diet declined fast. The lack of human contact was mitigated to an extent by virtual social…
You have my sympathy re: the breakup. Why is it "Since my landlord offered no help and my lease is up" instead of " my rent is due, but I can't afford it". You make it sound like the landlord is at fault.
In the UK we have a rent/mortgage holiday to protect us from these unprecedented times. I'd probably blame everything other than myself if I went from being a professional living in Manhattan to unemployed and unable to pay rent. Sometimes the carpet can just be pulled out from under us and it sucks.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#29I'm at rock bottom. I got laid off unexpectedly, right at the beginning of the coronavirus. Severance package was terrible and I'm pretty much broke. Plus, the FMV of my options cratered, so the equity I worked hard for is already underwater. Hit the interview trail hard and have received nothing but rejections. Despite getting referrals from current engineers, I don't even make it past the tech recruiter phone scree…
Hang in there. Sometimes basically just a law of large numbers, sucks for some.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#30Really badly, but could be worse. I am entirely sure that I have moderate-serious depression since the lock down started. I rely entirely on external structure and physical separation of spaces to keep myself sane. So WFH has been disastrous for me. I have been eating worse, not working out, stopped pursuing hobbies/side projects and have been incredibly unproductive at work. Thankfully, a year of good results prior…
> I rely entirely on external structure and physical separation of spaces to keep myself sane.
I think this will resonate with a significant subset of the HN crowd. I really thrive on externally-enforced structure (didn't take long to discover I made a terrible entrepreneur, but found a good niche as a startup employee). I've set my life up around having different events and places I need to be: classes at my gym, took up some in-person Spanish lessons, etc. When all those avenues shut down, I found it incredibly difficult to motivate myself to do anything. My physical health has deteriorated as I get much less exercise now, and that has sort of spiraled with my mental well-being. It's been rough.