Thank God! Finally what I’m feeling has been given a label, “languishing.” All this time I thought it was just plain old depression. I have had these feelings on and off throughout my whole life, so now because of Covid, there are a greater number of people feeling the same. I’m confused, is this different than depression? According to an article in the NY Times, (sorry can’t remember the date, about 3 weeks ago). Languishing is described as a “blah” feeling, which if I’m not mistaken, is exactly what I previously wrote about. It is a sense of emptiness that many people are associating with lockdowns, lack of socialization, masks, etc. all related to the past year. Languishing has been called the “dominant emotion of 2021,” also the most emailed article and the most shared on Facebook. Very interesting.
So does this mean when life starts opening up, no masks, parties, visiting without limits, these feelings will go away? Not for me. Besides wearing a mask, my life had not changed too dramatically. I’ve been lonely way before this, and have had many episodes of having no motivation. I will continue to have bouts of depression way beyond the Covid crisis. So this label of languishing does not describe me, nice try.