Solastalgia and Shelter-at-Home

"I wonder when we will return to the life that we once led, which now seems like a dream," I wrote to two friends in a group message.

I am not the only one who feels nostalgic when I think about the old days--you know, from less than two months ago.

In that BC (Before Coronavirus) era, we freely moved around, had dinners with friends and family, went to restaurants and movies, traveled.  We shook hands, and hugged.  now, it simply ain't what it used to be!

There is an intense feeling of distress, angst, associated with change even when we are at home, because we are stuck at home.

A couple of summers ago, I blogged about a situation when people didn't stir out, and those that did wore masks.  It upset me then that I couldn't even enjoy the simplest pleasure of walking up to the river, leave alone walking my favorite five-mile loop by it.

But, that was not because of a virus.

In 2017, forest fires miles away blew smoke and fine particulates into the valley, and we were trapped.  I came down with solastalgia.

The symptoms include an underlying sense of loss, a vague sensation of being torn from the earth, a general out-of-placeness, homelessness without leaving home. ... Solastalgia is the unease we inflict on ourselves as we create a world we don’t want to inhabit, a world stripped of nature.

I quoted there:

“Solastalgia,” Albrecht wrote, “is the pain or sickness caused by the loss of, or inability to derive solace from, the present state of one’s home environment. Solastalgia exists when there is recognition that the beloved place in which one resides is under assault.” The type of assault may vary. The force of the assault may vary. The loss and unease that follows in the wake of the assault do not.
Glenn Albrecht chose “solasta” as a new root word for two reasons. “Solasta” contains the sense both of “solace” and “desolation.”

That is no different from what we feel now.  There is a "pain or sickness caused by the loss of, or inability to derive solace from, the present state of one’s home environment."

Glenn Albrecht writes in a recent commentary:

If I live to be 100 years of age, it is my hope that my life will come to exemplify a neologism that is sumbiotude, or the state of living together.
Sumbiotude is the exact opposite of solitude: instead of contemplating life in isolation, sumbiotude involves contemplation and completion of a lifespan with the loving companionship of humans and non-humans.

To rid ourselves of solastalgia, and to practice sumbiotude, we will have to overcome COVID-19 at the earliest.