Editor’s letter
I’ve been thinking a lot about mental wellbeing this month, and how I can move it up my personal priority list. The reason for this can be pinned to one word – a word I’ve used and heard more in the last two weeks than I have my entire life – ‘languishing’. Languishing is a condition currently at the centre of global debate, sparked by a New York Times story which described it as the “neglected middle child of mental health”. It can be summed up in simple terms as a general state of feeling ‘blah’, of struggling to find joy in things. It’s not new, but we can blame the pandemic and its associated issues for its heightened prevalence and profile.
It’s one of the reasons, inspired by mental health warrior Magda Szubanski, that I signed up for Mindful in May. The campaign promise to “help build a sustainable meditation practice in just one month” appealed to my love of a deadline, and the claim that it only takes 10 minutes a day to see serious positive benefits to your life appealed to my time-poor status. I’ll admit my mindfulness journey is still a work in progress – you don’t suddenly get fit just by joining a gym – but the more time I put in, the more benefit I see.
It’s also why we made the decision to dedicate additional health pages every month to matters of the mind and mood. In this issue Dr Jodie Lowinger explains how we can leverage the most common of human experiences, anxiety, into our very own superpower (page 132). It starts with a shift in mind-set away from negative views about stress into more positive ones. She points out that worrying about things deeply can be the sign of a strong, analytical mind and an empathic heart.
In the words of our cover star Dame Judi Dench – who raised more than few spirits during lockdown with her joyous antics on social media – “There’s something healthy about being a bit insecure”.