How Happy Is America?
More than a year of pandemic and social unrest has strained the nation's mental and emotional well-being, but may have also made us more resilient.
What does it take to be happy?
Photographer: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
I felt like I made it through the pandemic year — which is now turning into the pandemic year-and-a-half — in good emotional shape. I worked hard, I Zoomed with friends and hung out in person when possible, I kept in touch with people, I made plans for the future. And yet these days I find myself realizing how emotionally exhausted I really am. The stress of the dire events afflicting the world combined with physical isolation to exact a subtle but unavoidable toll.
And my experience with increased solitude was pretty much the norm: