This emotional state, known as “languishing,” is a complex blend of feelings that falls between the realms of flourishing and depression. While not as intense as the darkness of despair, languishing casts a subtle cloud over the vibrant landscape of teenage years.
Languishing refers to a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It is a state of hopelessness, a state of pointlessness; a feeling of being without a purpose, existing without really having any goals, wants or desires in life. It causes one to feel full of despair and lack any motivation.
The Impact Of The Pandemic: A Drastic Change In Our Lives
Over the last two years during the pandemic, there has been a huge increase in languishing as a continuous presence in our life. Ever since Covid spread across the globe, our world has been completely changed.
Children stopped going to school, Adults stopped going to work. Businesses shut down, people lost their jobs. Everyone was cooped inside their houses. The perception I had of the world was completely shattered, everything started to feel different from what we had known. This was a drastic change.
A drastic change like this can really shock us to our core. It really gets us confused about all our beliefs. It causes us to reevaluate everything we know about life and everything we want out of it. This causes confusion in our brain as our life is now different from what it was previously. We feel insignificant.
Confusion And Detachment In Languishing
The pandemic has really caused me to be in a state of languishing. It has made me feel lost and confused. It really got me questioning the purpose of life and what we are really doing here. I started feeling detached from my surroundings and felt very cautious and on high alert at all times. I was paranoid, perplexed and distrusting. I started feeling that the world was not what I had once thought it to be. Having this feeling made me completely isolate myself from all my friends and family and distance myself. I did this because something felt off.
Strategies To Cope With Languishing
With things returning to a more normal state, I feel that I am definitely in a state of languishing less.
But in those moments when I feel lost and without hope. I remind myself of the things I love in the world and how much they mean to me.
Like how thrilled I feel when I play with my dog. Or the adrenaline that courses through my body when I visit Disney or the serenity I feel floating in the water. Doing this grounds me and helps me cope with low moments and makes me remember what I love in life.
My Coping Mechanisms To Deal With Languishing :
Whenever I feel this state in me I make a conscious effort to focus on things I like to do which energize me and make me feel purpose. For me, this is reading a good book or playing the piano.
Focus On The Bigger Picture :
I remind myself that the world is bigger than me and that just because I am currently not my most motivated self, the world still has important things going on and that everything is not centred around me.
Spend Time With People Who Make You Feel Good :
Doing this grounds me and shows me that some things in life are always just great and some people are always there for you.
Be Productive :
Sometimes we feel ourselves fall into a slump, stages when we don’t feel like doing anything. I would recommend that you just do anything that gives you a sense of accomplishment. This would be a great step to going back on track and has helped me tremendously.
KSP Team
Anusha Veluswamy
Vaishnavi Venkatraman
Mansi Zaveri
Parul Gupta
Kushal Singhal
