"As one day blurs into the next and one month into another, the consequences of sustained stress can rise to the surface in subtle ways," I wrote roughly two years ago at the dawning of the New Year of 2022. I was speaking about the then effects coming out of two long years of pandemic life and of various expert assessments of the negative consequences of prolonged stresses it has brought on and the call for keeping optimism alive.

As we now stand at the threshold of 2024, I thought it might be of value to look back at the assessments of two years ago to see how they stack up with current perspectives of where we are at today.

In commenting to The New York Times on the struggles many people were experiencing during the long-haul of the pandemic, organizational psychologist Adam Grant made the following observation: "It wasn't burnout — we still had energy," he says. "It wasn't depression — we didn't feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless... It turns out there's a name for that: languishing ... a sense of stagnation and emptiness. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021."

Grant goes on to label languishing as "the neglected middle child of mental health." It fills a void but is given little attention. "You don't have symptoms of mental illness, but you're not the picture of mental health either. You're not functioning at full capacity," he concludes. "'Not depressed' doesn't mean you're not struggling. 'Not burned out' doesn't mean you're fired up. By acknowledging that so many of us are languishing, we can start giving voice to quiet despair and lighting a path out of the void... It appears to be more common than major depression — and in some ways it may be a bigger risk factor for mental illness."

In a contribution to an NPR New Year advice series focused on 2022, producer and podcaster TK Dutes points out the damaging role that "the hypercritical mental chorus we call negative self-talk" was creating mental roadblocks to positive actions and mental well-being.

On that subject, the Mayo Clinic adds that "if the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic... Such an outlook can magnify the negative aspects of a situation and create a condition where you automatically anticipate the worst."

Daisy Fancourt, an associate professor at University College London and a leader of a 2022 University College London COVID-19 Social Study, says "if there's any silver lining to the psychological upheaval of the pandemic, it's greater mental health literacy. People were forced to grapple with their own understanding of mental health... their ability to recognize their own symptoms and feelings or potential mental health problems. COVID has been its own campaign about mental health."

So where has this campaign focusing on mental health led us? Apparently, we are now squarely in the grips of a new epidemic. It is "seeping in at the corners of our communities," writes USA Today's Adrianna Rodriguez. "It can't be treated using traditional therapies even though it has debilitating and even deadly consequences." It "is by no means new to the human experience. But experts say it has worsened in recent years," she adds.

The problem she speaks of is loneliness. As U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently explained to USA Today, "As researchers track record levels of self-reported loneliness, public health leaders are banding together to develop a public health framework to address the epidemic. ... It is detrimental to mental and physical health, leading to an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, and premature death."

According to Dr. Jeremy Nobel, founder of The Foundation for Art and Healing, a nonprofit that addresses public health concerns through creative expression, "The world is becoming lonelier and there's some very, very worrisome consequences. ... It won't just make you miserable, but loneliness will kill you," he concludes.

It is a universal human experience, notes Murthy. "It occurs when the connections a person needs in life are greater than the connections they have. Because it's so subjective, not everyone feels loneliness the same way or for the same reason."

"Even those who have plenty of friends can experience loneliness," reports Rodriguez. "It can also be exacerbated by technology taking the place of human interaction and it often pushes us to distance ourselves from others at a time when we need support most."

Nobel, who is also on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, adds that loneliness is experienced throughout a person's lifespan. "It can spiral as a result of trauma, illness and the effects of aging. It can also be exacerbated by technology taking the place of human interaction, which helps explain why young people report the highest rates of loneliness." These factors also make it difficult to address "as a population health topic because it's so varied based on the circumstances individuals have to navigate."

In a recent New York Times report, Izzy Boring, 21, a college student in Oregon, points out that what her generation considers connection — a small screen in our hands — "doesn't have anything to do with connecting at all. ... Genuine connection is found in being human and giving room for others to be human alongside you," she says.

What's remarkable is how pervasive loneliness is, the surgeon general tells the Times. "One in 2 adults in the U.S. are living with measurable levels of loneliness — it's a broader swath of the population than the number of people with diabetes ... Tackling the nation's loneliness epidemic will require that all sectors of society work together with a common goal," says Murthy. "We can't take on a lot of these challenges alone. We need to be together. We need to be connected. That's what strengthening the social fabric in our lives and communities is all about."

Write to Chuck Norris (info@creators.com) with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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