Have you been feeling languished recently?
By Nirali Hundiya
The second wave of the pandemic hit us right when we thought things were getting back to normal. We were all doing what we were supposed to do but somehow, something didn’t seem right.
“It wasn’t burnout — we still had energy. It wasn’t depression — we didn’t feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless. It turns out there’s a name for that: languishing.” Adam Grant wrote a beautiful article articulating the feeling a lot of us were feeling during these unprecedented times.
But what exactly is languishing? Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It is the feeling of not being able to make any progress or be successful.
As a lot of people around us are struggling with the physical symptoms of COVID 19, a bigger majority is struggling mentally without knowing what to do with this feeling.
Even though we have all developed our own coping skills to deal with the trauma that the pandemic has caused us, it somehow seems to not leave us alone and has come back even stronger. Have you been feeling languished lately?
We see you, we hear you.
How to take care of ourselves, during such phases:-
Set boundaries – As hard as it may be to sometimes do this, say no. Prioritize your mental health needs whenever necessary. These are difficult times and it is okay to not always be available. Give yourself sometime to process your feelings by the end of the day. If setting a healthy boundary means, you want to stay away from social media for a while (if it helps), do it
Find what drives you – As difficult as it sounds, what has been helping individuals is finding something that they feel passionate about and something that drives them. Remember all the people posting stories about what they cooked today, what they read today, how much they worked out today? They were trying to find their flow and find something they could immerse themselves in. It is just something that is helping us find meaning and avoid reaching the languished state again. Yes, consistently sticking to these and dealing with the lack of ability to concentrate is hard, but every day is a new day
Get A Routine– As silly and basic as it may sound, but trying to have a routine, eating healthy food, sleeping on time and exercising can also contribute to you feeling mentally healthier.
Most importantly, celebrate all the small wins!
About the author
Nirali Hundiya is a counselling psychologist who strongly believes in propagating the importance of mental health. She has acquired a Master’s in Counselling Psychology and has over 5 years of experience working with various schools and organizations.