I'm fine at home but feel a little "off" when I go out. I think all the changes I see outside of home (masks, distancing, shortages, lines, etc.) leave me feeling somewhat sad and a bit distracted. I want our old lives back.

Not so much absentminded as I am losing track of the days. I find myself wondering if it is Tuesday or Wednesday or the 20th or the 21st. What I also find kind of odd is that despite not being able to go out to do things like meet friends for lunch or have dinner out with hubby, the time is just flying by. We've been staying busy at home with all sorts of projects and I've taken the cooking up several notches, but it seems like I've no sooner got out of bed than the day is over and it's time to go back to bed.

I'm also noticing that my attention span has grown shorter. I can't read a news article all the way thru so I can't imagine trying to read a book right now. Strangely enough, I haven't found that to be an issue when cooking or making jewelry. When I'm doing one or the other or those activities, my attention is laser focused.

What I'm experiencing is the feeling of "waiting." I'm waiting until this gets over, whenever that is. I retired in Dec to get more involved in volunteer activities, and travel. I can't do either now. I finding myself "waiting" until I can again. I've never been a "clock watcher," but I find I think about what time it is. And I'm opposite Dawn, where I feel time is going by s-l-o-w. Maybe because I'm wishing things would hurry up and get back to normal. Whatever that will be, whenever it happens.

I've been more absentminded too. I have to walk back out of the room to remember what I was doing. I've also been going through the 'waiting'. Like everyone else, I had plans. I'm not sure some of this stuff I had planned will even happen any more so I'm planning new projects where I can focus like planting a garden. I think dh needs me to do it too because then it gives him something to do besides work.

I'm more absent minded but I think that's just normal as I age. I've been retired for 10 years now and the days running together has been an issue since then, so for me, that hasn't really changed. I'm also keeping up a lot of my former activities so I think that helps...knitting group on tues, weight watchers on wed...book group once a month...all thanks to zoom. I've also been using zoom to visit with friends and family. And our once a month lunch bunch is going to zoom next week too. I call Mother D once a week too, a dear friend in her 90s who is home, bedridden and who I can't visit weekly like I used to. So keeping these things on schedule has really helped me feel not so isolated and more in touch with the calendar.

Unlike many retired seniors, we live within walking distance of grandchildren. Fortunately for all 7 of us, we've been able to remain isolated. Their parents work from home, no carry out foods, no grocery shopping or other public exposures. That means we can be together often, and we are. This weekend we're removing a few weak pines and developing a Monarch butterfly garden in their back yard. The boys have been growing milkweed in peat pots.

I had a ton of computer parts delivered (thank you Micro Center) and on Monday I'll begin building a gaming computer with the grandsons. We haven't had a slow during the stay home orders.

After this is all over I have some interior construction to resume and finish.

Isolation is terrible for the brain, we were made to relate with others. I'm seeing more articles about how bad it is for us.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-high-physical-and-psychological-price-of-social-isolation-11587644488

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-pandemic-takes-toll-on-mental-health-11586433603

https://www.wsj.com/articles/risks-of-loneliness-among-seniors-arent-being-adequately-addressed-report-warns-11582842491

The days definitely run together, with few events to give them structure. Tuesday morning is trash day, that's about the only regularly scheduled activity we have any more. Thank goodness we bought ourselves, as well as my dad, a 'memory care' clock. I check it way more often than I used to!

I'm addled. I used to memorize numbers. Exactly. Correctly. Without trying. My husband would read off a phone number or stock number and aisle to find something, a week later I'd recite it back. March 19, lock down date....that stopped. Now....I'm becoming more relaxed, it's coming back.

I'm working from home but am definitely having more trouble concentrating. I'm sure it is from a combination of anxiety over current events, less than stellar sleep, and just not going anywhere. We are doing curbside pickup on groceries and I had DH look over my last two orders before I hit submit, because I just really didn't trust myself. We sold a rental house last year, and I am dreading getting everything together for taxes.

I can't concentrate very well these days. I am so distracted by the concern I have for my children's studies, internships and such, it drives me a bit bonkers. Not knowing how to plan the next few months is tough, considering things are usually sorted out almost a year in advance for us.

As for loneliness, I think about how hard this must be for older people on their own. Were my mother still alive FaceTime and Zoom would be our go tos, obviously, but how trying it would be to not have physical contact. And again, it's the uncertainty that makes it especially hard. If we knew what we were in for and how long it would be so much easier to cope and plan.

I was a touch absent minded before all this started and I will still be when it is all over. I attribute that just to age, nothing else :-))

I do find that my days are running together. I have to think about it when I wake up to figure out what day it is :-) Thankfully, the laptop is a reliable reminder!

I do admit to feeling like I am in limbo or just waiting......for what, I am not sure. Maybe just the ability to go and do what I want when I want. No casual outings, no running out to pick up this or that when the mood stirs me. And this leads to a certain amount of lack of motivation. I can start projects but get so easily distracted by something else, leave them and then take another week to get back to them. My garden clean up is taking 3 times as long as it should. But that may just be a sign of age as well :-)

I don't feel the slightest bit isolated. I tend to be a home body anyway so I am content with my own company but there is still plenty of interaction - if not in person - with family and friends. In fact, we are keeping in closer touch now than we were before. It is just not a physical closeness.

I get so much more done when I have a schedule and a routine. I’d finally gotten a bit of routine going, with my scheduled choir and workout sessions. But now everything is off, and so am I. There are still things I need to do. But without a framework to do them in, I don’t get started, or I procrastinate. and that means that when I sit down to work on my project, I look at the papers and say “meh”, and go do laundry instead. This is not going well.

I have always had a hard time "staying hitched" and I do get distracted easily. I also walk into a room and forget why I walked in there in the first place. I also have trouble remembering the day of the month and sometimes the day of the week. I have sort of a "built in" sense of time. I always know within a few minutes, without wearing a watch what time it is. That hasn't changed. I don't believe my "confusion" has anything to do with isolation, because my life hasn't changed. I still stay home most of the time. I worry more about aging. I try to keep my mind occupied and work word puzzles or play Mahjong as fast as I can. I worry about dementia. I try to live a healthy life style and stay active. I am responsible for my husband's well being, as well as my own.

Back in the day, DH used to go to india for work for 6-8 weeks at a time. I remember what a disruption it was to my life when he left...and it was a disruption to my life when he returned as he was gone so long, I'd created a new routine. I have a feeling it will be very much like that for us now too when things finally start to open up...it will be just as disruptive as the shutdown was. So no point waiting...just be with what is now.

I feel like I am half Amish for not going out much. Just put my scooters on the road, For grocery shopping, I don’t need to use cars, or big scooters, little Honda Ruckus would do the trick. It goes 40 mph and 100 mpg, I won’t need to fill $3 gas per tank for a few months. The stores are 3 miles away, street speed is 35 mph. I have two of little Ruckus bikes, one is black and one is red, They are my two little working iron horses. A lot of fun to ride.

I'm noticing how fast the days are going by, as Dawn mentioned. Doing puzzles, baking, going outside, next thing you know, it's time for dinner! I told my children, who are staying home, that this is what retirement is like for some people. No structure to the week,etc. We live in a place that has weekly/monthly activities. I erased all of them from the calendar in March and April. Seems odd. I feel like I'm waiting for the "all clear" notice! If nothing else, this will get people to pay more attention to being aware of spreading germs in the future..

I was a lot more absentminded when I was younger - teens, 20s, and early 30s. It took me a while to get to where I could really focus, and then I became less absentminded. Also, along the way, I taught myself a few tricks. I used to have trouble finding things, but then I trained myself to think before I put something away, where would I look for that thing if I wanted to find it. It seems that my mind works completely differently when I am looking for something than when I am thinking of a good place to put something. If I am thinking of a place to put something, it usually ends up being a good place to hide something and have trouble finding it.

I am a lot calmer now than I used to be and have a lot less anxiety. Sometimes I think I am living my life backwards.

As a child, I used to spend a lot of time hiding, as I loved isolation. In my 20s and 30s I found it more difficult to be alone, but that has eventually passed.

I do have to say that besides having trouble tracking the days and the difficulty concentrating, I actually feel quite content. I'm rather enjoying having no where to go or no place to be at a certain time or keeping up with social obligations. It's just hubby and I working around our place, cooking together at night as well as pursuing our individual interests. We've settled into a routine and I'm enjoying the peace, quiet and solitude.

Of course, I wish that this peace and contentment hadn't come at such a high price and that so many weren't suffering physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

I'd say I feel a bit unmoored. The older I get, the more I crave social interaction so this has been a little hard for me. My main frustration is the sense of ennui I feel, so much so that I think I am wasting these precious weeks. I have projects and cleaning I can/should do, but I don't wanna. All I feel like doing most of the time is talking on the phone, reading, or watching tv. I'm rather disappointed in myself--wish I had more get-up-and-go.

Thanks, everyone. I was glad to read all of your responses. I initially saw isolation as so close to my normal life that I felt I could probably do it indefinitely without major issues. But after two months I can see a change in me. Raye, I wish I could read the articles you linked, but the Wall Street Journal is ruthless when it comes to non-subscribers. :-) I'll look for some others.

Marilyn, I have a book suggestion for you. This one is excellent--well researched and readable.

The End of Alzheimer's

I also liked an article on memory loss I read a few years ago in Vanity Fair (I think). It gave several suggestions that helped the people in the case histories they cited. The one I remember best was about multi-tasking. It said don't leave the TV or radio on all day. When you do sit down to watch TV, watch it. Engage with it. Don't pick up something else to do while you're watching the show. I don't remember if this included knitting or other semi-automatic task (like the rug hooking I do), but I know the article said focusing on one thing at a time was important.

I've definitely been feeling unmoored, adrift, lost and out-of-sorts for the past couple of months. For me though the primary cause of my discombobulation is my wife having suddenly died back in February. In some sense the fact that everyone, everywhere have been thrown into disarray by the changes to the world from this virus makes it a little easier for me. Especially because a brother-in-law and his wife who came to town for the service, are still here sheltering and helping out rather than having gone back to where they were staying in Costa Rica or going home to Cape Cod.

Sorry about your loss Bob, yes when a close family member dies it does have those effects. My advice to those that have lost a loved one is to be easy on themselves when they find that they are forgetting stuff, putting things in the wrong place and so on.