3 Mental Health Symptoms in the Pandemic (and how to fix them) | Nate Punzalan
The pandemic has been really hard on all of us. And yeah, there’s very real and urgent health problems, financial problems, and societal problems that we need to deal with, but on top of that there’s also our mental and emotional health that we need to care about.
First, Languishing. Sometimes, we don’t necessarily feel incredibly depressed, and don’t have the right words to describe our stagnation because we’re not like super burned out. It’s hard to explain, but paradoxically, I’m also pretty sure I’m going through it.
Show More
It’s kinda like… meh. Like life is meh. Flat, dull, and plain, a barren desert in between flourishing and depression, a general condition of non-thriving.
Yeah, I know, life is like that. Life gets like that every now and then. But also, the pandemic has just been pummeling at our productivity, chipping away little by little at our drive to win at life. If you’re hearing these words, and you know it’s you, but you also wanna just click away from the video, not because you’re running away from your problems but just because, ah whatever, then yeah. You really might be languishing.
If you’re having trouble focusing or concentrating, but not specifically because of extreme sadness or anxiety, then you may be going through what sociologist Corey Keyes calls languishing. And knowing is half the battle.
Your weapon? Small wins. If you feel like you’re plateauing, then see if you can feel like climbing a mountain again. I don’t mean to get your mount everest goal and put it right in your face again, because at this rate, it’s probably not the best time to put yourself under that much stress.
I mean to take baby steps toward little goals that make you feel more in control and accomplished. Goals like, reading one page. Or jogging for 5 minutes. Or picking up the guitar and playing a song you used to play all the time before. Or waking up 10 minutes earlier. Or putting down your phone right now, and stretching or doing 10 pushups.
It all starts with
