Attorney Wellness

• Publication year: 2022
• Pages: 0058

Attorney Wellness No. Vol. 27, No. 5 Pg. 58 Georgia Bar Journal April, 2022

Ready to Feel Better Than Blah?

BY TARA SIMKINS.

Wellness Committee Member and lawyer turned life coach Tara Simkins shares how creating micro-bursts of positive emotions can help us reignite a sense of flourishing in our lives again.

Did you know that blah was the dominant emotion of last year?

In the most read New York Times article of 2021 , Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton, reported that languishing, the psychological name for blah, was the year's dominant emotional state.^[1] Languishing, a negative emotion on the well-being continuum, is experienced as stagnation and a lack of motivation and focus. While you are not depressed, you are not flourishing either. You are keenly aware that you are missing that positive flow state of feeling "all is well" within you and around you.^[2]

If you are anything like me, you are ready to move beyond languishing, but you are struggling to muster the energy you think flourishing will require. The good news is that flourishing is easier than we think. Fleeting moments of positive emotion, experienced here and there, are enough to light you up again.

Loosen the grip of blah on your overall mood. Little moments of encouragement, support and appreciation matter.

As a lawyer turned life-coach, my favorite strategy to bridge the gap between languishing and flourishing is to create micro-bursts of positive emotions, specifically encouragement, appreciation and support, throughout my day.

Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D.,^[3] a highly cited psychology scholar, argues that experiencing even fleeting states of positive emotions "can alleviate human languishing and seed human flourishing."^[4]

Encouragement

Have you ever noticed that you feel better after you encourage someone, and your motivation increases after someone encourages you?

While languishing is a lack of motivation to do those things which bring joy to our lives, encouragement heartens us. Encouragement, you might say, is powerful medicine for blah times. Moments of encouragement are micro-bursts of connection that are layered with respect and enthusiasm. Encouragement energizes and invigorates both parties in the experience.

I will never forget the complete stranger who cheered me on at mile number 24 in the 2017 Chicago Marathon. Exhausted, I was languishing and losing faith in my ability to finish the race. Out of...