It’s about to be May! Can you believe it? May 1st marks two-months since we moved to Charleston, which is wild. I feel both settled in, and not, all at once. However nothing reminds me of my “just moved” status more than when I get on a Zoom call with a colleague.

I typically do all of my coaching on the phone (lots of opinions there on why I think phone coaching is the best, don’t get me started) but I’ll typically use Zoom for catch-ups with colleagues. When I log into Zoom and the camera turns on the first thing I notice is the empty bookshelf over my shoulder. I never see this bookshelf in my day to day, because my back is typically in that direction. And, no clients see it because we connect on the phone. Yet on these colleague catch-ups there it is… an empty, not-fully-assembled bookshelf, lurking over my shoulder in the Zoom screen. So with that, and in the spirit of spring cleaning, it’s time for me to unpack those books and settle into this coaching room a bit more.

Every month I share a post with articles in the wellbeing industry that I found interesting that month. Here is my run down for April articles.

There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing

There’s a hot vocab word going around this month: languishing. We look at languishing in the context of the mental health continuum, with an eye toward flourishing in my grad school work and studies in positive psychology. And it’s become the poignant word to capture the collective feeling in April 2021, over a year into this dang global pandemic.

Read the full article in The New York Times here.

I’m not languishing, I’m dormant

I saw this blog post shared on Twitter in response to the above post from the New York Times on languishing, and thought it adds an interesting angle to the conversation. He doesn’t like the word “languishing” and offers “dormant” as a more accurate word. When you’re dormant, you aren’t trying to flourish, you are waiting. Read this one – let me know what you think. (And hey any current coaching clients reading this: bring this up in our next session, would love to hear your perspective here.)

Read the full article on Austin Kleon’s blog here.

The Repressive Politics of Emotional Intelligence

Fiery opinion piece that comes for the popular concept of “emotional intelligence”. Definitely worth the read. It doesn’t hold anything back in putting emotional intelligence on the chopping block, and poses some challenging questions.

Read the full article in The New Yorker here.

Welcome to the YOLO Economy

This article poses that if languishing is 2021’s dominant emotion, then YOLO is this year’s defining work force trend. People are burnt out and drained after a year adjusting to working in a pandemic, and are ready to make radical changes. They are questioning the premise of working hard to eventually enjoy life, and taking the opportunity to make big changes in careers and lifestyle.

Read the full article in the New York Times here.

Can We Build a Better Normal After the Pandemic?

This isn’t one of those articles that poses questions and leaves you going “ya that’s nice, but how?” Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki shares how growth can come from adversity, particularly after this pandemic. He’s also the author of a lovely book The War for Kindness, which I recommend.

Read the full article in Greater Good Magazine here.

The Hidden Toll of Remote Work

This! This perspective on remote working is resonant for me. Despite reading that so many companies are learning that their employees can be productive outside of the office, and many transitioning to full remote work, I can’t help but think is that a good thing. Sure not requiring 5-days in an office is one thing. But I’ve found that many of my coaching clients actually look forward to the ability to work in an office again. The impact on wellbeing of being all remote is worth considering as we navigate this new schedule.

Read the full article in the Atlantic here.

Event: Science & Wisdom of Emotions Summit (Free)

I am not too familiar with this event so can’t fully endorse it – but I thought I’d share it here in case it looks interesting to you. I signed up and look forward to checking it out. The Dalai Lama and dozens of researchers are sharing perspectives on emotional wisdom in service of collective flourishing. It’s 4-days, and when you register you get access to all recordings for a short period of time.

Learn more about the event, and sign up here.

Upcoming Movie Premier: Luca

I just saw the trailer for a new Disney Pixar movie, Luca, and it looks awesome. And I’m convinced they had a life coach on their writing team. Two quotes from the trailer:

“There’s a million things you think you can’t do, all you need is a chance to try.”

“I know your problem, you’ve got a Bruno in your head.” Naming the saboteur, or unhelpful part of us, is a common coaching practice, and the two leads essentially do this at the end of the trailer.

The movie will stream on Disney + starting June 18, 2021. Watch the trailer here.

Have a great month, and enjoy the hope that springs brings. You can read previous months’ Coaching Industry News Roundup here.