The Clocklike Regularity of Major Life Changes
“How to Build a Life” is a biweekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness.
Transitions are some of the most difficult periods in our lives. Even when we choose them, the disequilibrium they bring can be painful or frightening; when they are imposed upon us, they are even more distressing.
We have been awakening to the reality that the coronavirus pandemic is not a temporary affliction, but an involuntary transition from one way of life to another. Our jobs and personal lives are shifting and, in many cases, will never fully return to “normal.” The only certainty is that, even if a vaccine or cure comes along in the next few months or years, the future won’t look like the past. You may never go back to like before. may never be the same. Your might go broke you used to? Perhaps not.
