Realm issue? Game freezing and mining isn't working

(Quick context: we aren't using game modifications, we are on a realms server, the issue has been happening for the past few days, we have never had this issue before)

 

I (as well as my other realm members) are experiencing a new issue. For some reason, the game isn't allowing us to mine.

 

I have saved and quit 10 times and the game doesn't save and mining still doesn't work.

This is what I did (I was on the server alone):

1. load the world
2. organize my chests and inventory
3. craft a bed and shovel from resources in my chest
4. go to the grass area
5. As I get into the grass area I notice that each time all the entities froze (the most recent were chickens), I tried to dig dirt but it wouldn't break. Then it broke but no mining animation showed on the block.
6. During the 10th time (most members were on the server) a realm member messaged the chat saying they couldn't mine (they were 100's of blocks away ).

 

We all left the game and tried to rejoin but it wouldn't let us. A few hours later the world loaded and I spawned back in my base (the location where my realm did a backup a few days ago).

Problems being caused:

• the game isn't saving or even auto-saving
• mining is not working
• chests do not open
• achievements are being lost
• placing blocks turns them invisible and unmineable (they also disappear)