Languish Speaker

Languishing is the neglected middle child of mental health. It’s the void between depression and flourishing. You don’t have symptoms of mental illness, but you’re not the picture of mental health either. You’re not functioning at full capacity.” Adam Grant,  “There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing,” New York Times, April 19, 2021

Whew.  I’m fully vaccinated.  I have not had COVID.  I’m getting together slowly with friends and family in safe settings (outdoors, in small groups).  Yet I still feel disconnected, discombobulated and ill at ease.

The above referenced article is just one of several recent media stories about reentering the world and readjusting to a “normal” life.  I, for one, am finding it awkward and anxiety-provoking. 

For example, a simple task such as saving a recorded Zoom interview for a new work project sent me into a tizzy.  Where did that file go?  Have I lost it?  How could I be so clumsy?   Why can’t I remember the steps?

I went to buy some canned pumpkin in the grocery store, but couldn’t find the item in the canned vegetables section.  I wandered around the aisles, until I finally found someone to ask.  He pointed me to the baking goods aisle.  Oh.

A lack of interest in the baseball season, usually the hallmark of my spring and summer, is another indicator.  I have followed the game earnestly since I was 10 years old, even hoping to be a beat baseball writer for a newspaper.  I always watched or followed multiple games, depending on matchups and standings and savored many beat writers’ analyses.

But now?  As Grant mentions in his article, my attitude is, “meh.”  I find it hard to sit for more than an inning or two and have little involvement or engagement with the daily grind of the game. 

I never understood how anyone could find baseball boring.  Now I do, too.  

It’s as though I’ve lost my sense of taste and smell, without actually doing so.  It’s a disorienting feeling, yet I feel fine.  Oh, yes, languishing.

 How about you?