I saw an article written by Adam Grant wrote in the New York Times, There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing. He described languishing as the ignored middle child of mental health. He describes it as “a sense of stagnation and emptiness.” He also gave me a fancy word to describe my dominant feeling over the past few months. I don’t think I’m alone, either. Languishing does not leave you with the hopelessness of full-blown depression, but you’re also not at your best. And you know it. Stuck there spinning your wheels, waiting for some kind of wind to blow you out of this (yes, I mixed my metaphors, but they worked, so get over it). Grant suggests that we should use it in place of the usual “fine” that often accompanies inquires as to your general okay-ness.
Time To Un-Languish
“Hi, I’m Colleen and I am languishing. Have for a while now.” Great, now that I have a word for my problem, time to work on fixing it. First up, start making some moves that move me away from the TV screen and into more uncomfortable territory, like starting up this blog again. It’s been a stop and start sort of thing for me. I keep losing momentum as the process of revision drags on, and on, and on. However, to get out of it, I think one of my best moves, besides giving my problem a name, is to start doing things that pull me out of the safety zone. This blog is one of the biggies. It makes me feel vulnerable to keep taking about me repeatedly, but that’s the deal. So, come on and let’s see if we can get the wheels moving out of languishing territory and into happier. Thanks for reading and feel free to share how you are going to get past languishing now that you have the word.
Languishing. Totally get that. The 50-thing too. Don’t beat yourself up over either one. Any day that you can write something, anything, is a gift, a blessing. But you knew that already.