Groundhog Day: Why Our Lockdown Lives Feel Empty, Despite Our Trying

“I have carved out time to do the practices that serve me but they also feel a little empty.”

These weren’t the words of an excuse-making victim looking for attention, but a friend of mine who is a father of two, an award-winning teacher, entrepreneur, and surfer who cultivates time for all the good things in life — somebody who usually maintains the most positive of dispositions.

The ‘unquenchable yearning’, he called it.

I found myself relating to his words, despite the fact that I had been practicing everything I wrote about in How To Avoid Going Crazy During Lockdown.

I was creating every day — writing blogs and ebooks, recording music and podcasts. I was partaking in Zoom and Houseparty social calls with friends and colleagues. I was playing online games such as FIFA20 and NBA2K20 with friends — and usually winning!

I was working out each morning, getting in about 15,000 steps each day, reading and learning, and spending time in nature — I even baked cookies.

But six weeks into this forced social distancing experiment, the days of the week started to blur into each other, and I, like my friend, couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness.

Why?