Post-Pandemic Spirit

A colleague found a New York Times article on “languishing.” Languishing seems a good term to describe this after-pandemic spirit. I have also used the word, melancholy to describe what the Pandemic has done. Melancholy is an old term and concept that indicates a sadness, grief, heaviness or darkness. The Pandemic certainly created a lot of losses so an undefined feeling of grief seems a natural response. I have asked folks, “What have you lost during this COVID pandemic?” The responses have been many and varied. There have been losses and some of those losses will not be able to be recovered. For example, we will never again be able to gather for a child’s first birthday. That child’s first birthday party will not happen again. Acknowledging our losses and grief is a healthy way of dealing with our sense of languishing or melancholy.