Languishing - name for Blah feeling in pandemic. Analysis of NYT Article

I live in a culture that recognizes physical hindrances to health while ignoring obstacles to mental health, take a moment to acknowledge the validity of your current mental state. Are you flourishing; do you have a purpose and are you connected with other people? Are you depressed, lacking energy and feeling despair? Or are you neither of the above, but feeling stagnant, empty and joyless nonetheless? If so, you may be “languishing.” In this timely New York Times article, organizational psychologist Adam Grant describes the postpandemic “blah” and offers a simple prescription that may help cure it.
Read the article here :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.amp.html

Key take away from the article :
1. “Languishing” is a common response to late-stage pandemic.
2. Getting into a state of flow helps combat languishing, but it’s hard to achieve when you can’t concentrate.
3. To attain a flow state, ditch multitasking and focus on one thing for a scheduled block of time.
4. Set yourself up for little wins on “just-manageable” tasks.

Still want to know more so here is a longish summary of the article:
“Languishing” is a common response to late-stage pandemic.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of the virus and its surrounding uncertainty left many people in a perpetual state of stress. As the pandemic dragged on, they found strategies for dealing with their fears. For many, fight-or-flight gave way to something else entirely. Not depression exactly, but not flourishing either. So what label should you affix to your current, late-stage pandemic mental state? “Languishing” – a term that sociologist Corey Keyes coined to describe the feeling when you’re not quite depressed, but are still experiencing a lack of inspiration, focus and joie de vivre.

Languishing is the neglected middle child of mental health. It’s the void between depression and flourishing – the absence of well-being.
Research suggests that people who are languishing now are far more likely to experience depression or anxiety at some point in the next decade. Pandemic-specific research indicates that health care workers who experienced languishing early in the pandemic are three times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder now. Given these studies, it seems worthwhile to find a way to nip languishing in the bud. Managing your emotions requires being able to name them. The term languishing allows you to label your late-stage pandemic malaise. The next step is to figure out how to combat it. 

Getting into a state of flow helps combat languishing, but it’s hard to achieve when you can’t concentrate.
Flow is that magical state when you’re so engaged in a task that you don’t notice time passing. When in a state of flow, you may not be aware of your surroundings, and self-conscious thoughts flee your mind. The time you spend in flow is a decent predictor of well-being, perhaps more so than mindfulness or optimism. Creating a flow state may be your best remedy for languishing.

People who became more immersed in their projects managed to avoid languishing and maintained their prepandemic happiness.
You might find flow while playing a game, or even while watching a television show. Becoming absorbed in a work project also fits the bill.

States of languishing and flow seem to be in direct opposition to each other, however. Absorption is hard when you can’t focus.

To attain a flow state, ditch multitasking and focus on one thing for a scheduled block of time. 
Even before the pandemic, many people tended to multitask, moving to a new chore every 10 minutes, and checking email obsessively. During the pandemic, disruptions multiplied, with kids at home and remote colleagues being able to reach you through always-on devices.

Fragmented attention is an enemy of engagement and excellence.
Enable a flow state by scheduling interruption-free blocks of time. Populate that time with a project that interests you, strive to make progress on a worthwhile goal, or simply make time for a heart-to-heart talk, so you can feel a meaningful bond with another person. Schedule time for these things, then guard that time with your life. Your well-being may depend on it.

Set yourself up for little wins on “just-manageable” tasks.
Flow is most likely to emerge when you’re engaged in a task that’s “just-manageable”: a near-achievable goal that offers a stimulating challenge without overtaxing you.

Search for bliss in a bleak day, connection in a lonely week or purpose in a perpetual pandemic.
Your first step to flow doesn’t have to be momentous; in fact, it might pay to set up a small win, like solving a difficult word game, or cracking the answer to a whodunit.

If you’re not languishing, try to recognize the symptoms in family, co-workers or friends. Understanding this shared postpandemic phenomenon offers an opportunity to help others.