Happier in the COVID Lockdown? A surprising number of people are

Of course, there are reasons for the coronavirus pandemic to make you sad. Maybe you’ve been laid off or precluded from working because your job is at, for example, a hotel or restaurant. Or the closing of schools has made you responsible for childcare 24/7. Or you might have been okay with Stay-Home for a while, but cabin fever has taken over.  Or you contracted the coronavirus. Even if your case is mild, it isn’t fun having a flu-like disease nor being quarantined. And merely hearing of the pandemic-sized death toll sobers even a Pollyanna.

But among the not-so-vulnerable people who will, at some point, have a choice to resume life sort of as we knew it, most—yes surprising to me, most—people I’ve spoken with say they're, net, happier now.

It’s been said that we’re social animals and that we crave freedom. So how can anyone be happy with less human interaction and less freedom: We can’t go to work. We can’t go to restaurants,  concerts, ballgames, bars, nightclubs. In certain jurisdictions, we can’t even invite friends to a picnic in the park. We can’t yet get our wild hair cut.

My Psychology Today article today offers some thoughts on why.