Weltschmerz

Weltschmerz is one of those wonderful foreign words, in this case German, which concisely expresses something for which there is no English equivalent.  Literally it means "world hurt," which is better expressed as "world ache" in the sense of our "headache," a pain caused by the world.  But there is also a certain connotation of "the world is hurting," so the ache of the world is causing you a world ache.  Those clever Germans!  (It differs from the French ennui, which implies boredom and lack of feeling.  Weltschmerz hurts.)  There's a lot of it going around these days, and social media is a virulent carrier.  I've been having a recurring case of it for the past few days.  Quite unpleasant that.  A delightful Zoom chat a couple days ago with friends in AZ helped lift my spirits, as did a ride in AH's convertible yesterday morning when the temp and humidity were still bearable.  But the thing that really helped was something I have never done before.  When I got back from the car-ride, I shut off my phone, iPads, and iMac and did not touch them for the rest of the day.  I read, and napped, and watched the Dr. Pol marathon.  It was quite calming and refreshing.  I'll have to do "turn off" days more often; it's more effective and satisfying than just not looking at the devices.

So, before the end of the day, use Weltschmerz three times in a complete sentence.  You'll be glad you did.

Not experiencing Weltschmerz.