A couple of observations of someone who escaped the second lockdown after about 2 weeks and who has been in regular contact with quite a few people in Melbourne and regional VIC
1) Introverts, as you would expect, seem to cope better than extroverts
2) Lots of people have a good measure of their lives lived within 5km anyway.
3) Tougher on young adults (20 something’s) who are used to socialising more frequently, than I suspect than those with families
Also, personally I think the negative media focus on the bad bits of the lockdown was not at all helpful to people’s well-being - I noticed some outlets occasionally had more advice on what you can do, but this was less frequent. An example was reminding people they could exercise with one other person who lived up to almost 10km away - by meeting half way.
Also those with very literal personalities probably had it tougher - I mean whilst for a large part of the lockdown you could only be outside your home for 1 hour a day - I think people did realise early on that perhaps police wouldn’t bother trying to establish this, so if you went for an hour walk in the morning and another in the afternoon who would know?
Also there were some entrepreneurs who at least tried to deal with the downside in business by doing some different things like pop up coffee where people were exercising (someone selling coffee from a boat along the Maribyrnong river was an example).
The media has a lot to answer for with respect to mental health.The incessant 24/7 promotion of the most dire predictions and interpretations that totally distorted what was actually happening on the ground to create click bait and evening news headline stories.
Just have to read the opinions in this thread and other forums of people who do not live in Melbourne and have not spent a lot of time here in the last 3-6 months with incorrect views on what restrictions we have actually lived under.
There has never been a total lockdown. Our restrictions have never been the worst in the world.
Despite being debunked by credible sources and people who actually live here. The incorrect statements have been repeated ad nauseam.
Personalities have a lot to do with how different people handled the restrictions. Those who threw their hands in the air, sent all their staff home, complained to the press and sat and sulked.
Others said well how can we pivot and continue to operate and meet all the govs guidelines. I know of many businesses who pivoted relatively rapidly and proud of the fact that some of them are not entitled to jobkeeper as their takings have not dropped sufficiently.
Different groups who are friends of mine running businesses in hospitality and retail are not just surviving but thriving in the restricted environment operating click and collect meal services, or online consults, or home delivery etc. Life is more complicated obviously and profits not as high as they would have been non-covid.
Many have suffered badly when they lost their jobs and the queues at food bank are heart breaking, but overall things need to be put in perspective. Some have been totally overlooked in the support networks such as international students or non-nationals. However we are in a 1:100 year pandemic and nothing is perfect in an uncertain environment.