The Great Disillusionment: why many feel unsatisfied by day-to-day life
Doom-scrolling through drudging headlines. Sunday afternoons switching between streaming platforms attempting to find the one TV show to suit your unsatiated craving.
Nights spent pondering if it is worth starting that side hustle, when everyone else appears to have the same idea.
Our desire to have the most fulfilling, informed and financially successful life has us constantly in motion. But when did it all become so unfulfilling? Why are we constantly expecting bad news? Have we fallen into the throws of The Great Disillusionment?
Disillusionment is part of the six emotional phases of something known as ‘stress fatigue’ or ‘crisis fatigue’.
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In 2000, Diane Meyers and Leonard Zunin, medical experts in trauma, developed a widely used conceptual framework of disaster response and recovery.
They found that communities confronted with disaster often went through six stages:
1. Pre-disaster: Fear of the uncertain
2. Impact: Shock of the crisis
3. Heroic: Feelings of altruism as communities unite
4. Honeymoon: Feeling of camaraderie and optimism things will return to normal
5. Disillusionment: Feelings of discouragement and abandonment creep in
6. Reconstruction: Feelings of recovery as people adjust to their new normal
While Covid-19 may not be a disaster in the same way as a deadly earthquake or devastating bushfires, researchers have returned to this kind of research when looking at how people are coping with the pandemic – and disillusionment may be the phase many Aussies are now experiencing.
Following The Great Resignation, which many people have already acted on, The Great Disillusionment isn’t exclusive to the workplace. From bedroom antics to the entertainment we consume, disillusionment seems to be infiltrating every part of our life.
Rather than a general dissatisfaction with life itself, behavioural scientist and HR expert at Gartner, Aaron McEwan, argues that people are losing faith in the institutional shepherds that have led us along the path of modern society.
These institutions are struggling to cut through a 24/7 news cycle and a public exhausted by Covid lip service.
“I don’t think people are disillusioned with life,” says McEwan. “Rather there is a growing number of people that are disillusioned with the people and institutions that they historically put their faith in. They feel like they have been abandoned and are losing hope in the prospect of a better future.”
As we see wage growth plateauing, house prices rising and working longer and harder not translating to bigger paychecks, McEwan says that many are becoming disillusioned with the goals that have so-long indicated a successful life. Those long held goals now seem unachievable.
“When people lose hope, they stop aspiring and they stop growing,” says McEwan. “Why try if it doesn’t get me anywhere and there’s no future anyway?”
Mindfulness teacher and author of Find Your Strength, Rachael Coopes, says the age of burnout is contributing to our disillusionment – and Australians are leading the pack. In fact we had one of the highest rates of burnout of any country in 2020, with four-in-five of us feeling such bewilderment in that year.
“No matter how hard we all work, the rug just keeps being pulled out from under us,” says Coopes. “There’s a pervading sense of disappointment, that the world is not the place we understood it was, and nothing post-pandemic is as good as we believed it was.
“There is much uncertainty and mistrust. Most of this centres around losing faith.”
In a week where a global war seems imminent, fuel prices increase again and the pandemic still hasn’t gone away, we are being met again by a disillusioning feeling of “why act surprised, of course this would happen”.
Rather than falling on the sword of apathetic disillusionment, Coopes says that we can actively choose to foster faith to beat the blues.
Here are some ways in which she advises to stave off The Great Disillusionment:
– Trust in the unknown. Leave your phone at home when you go for a walk or in your bag when you meet a friend for lunch. We are all obsessed with “knowing”. Start with being OK with not knowing what happened on your phone in the last five minutes.
– When you have faith, notice how it inspires and supports others. Surround yourself by people who seem to have an unerring sense of trust and faith and get curious about why and how. Ask them! In building my faith, I’ve asked many people how and why they feel it.
– Try telling yourself, “What is not for me, will pass me by. And what is for me will never pass me by” for the next week.
Although it is important to recognise we may be feeling disillusioned, Aaron McEwan says we all need to realise that we aren’t going at it alone. While there might be a lot to feel disappointed about, McEwan urges us to start small to combat our apathy.
“Do something,” says McEwan.
“No matter how big or small, that you think will improve the world around you. Give your partner a totally unexpected compliment, call a friend you haven’t spoken with for a long time, plant a tree, weed your garden, donate to a worthy cause.”
Rest assured, all hope is not lost. Sometimes you just have to stop doom-scrolling to find the positive spin.
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“Amidst all the disruption, trauma and devastation, the global pandemic has reminded us of the value of family, friends, connection, community and meaningful work. In many ways it has awakened our humanity,” says McEwan.
“The world’s problems, as wicked as they seem, are not unsolvable,” adds McEwan. “Whether it’s the tiny houses movement, the emergence of time millionaires, the explosion of community gardens, social entrepreneurs, there are positive signs that the pandemic has been a circuit breaker.”
– Will Cook is a freelance writer.
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