The numbers of infected pile up. Death counts are rising. Shelter-in-place restrictions are taking a toll. You’ve moved your office to your home, turned on a dime to livestream or record services, and lined up a series of webinars. You’ve managed to adapt, to keep serving people. Yet as the workday wraps up, a gnawing restlessness eats at you. You see another depressing headline. Your heart sinks.

What is this feeling?

In an interview with Harvard Business Review, David Kessler, an expert on death and loss, says the discomfort we’re feeling is grief. The world has changed. City streets are barren. Businesses have shut down and investments are plummeting. Church members have lost their jobs and watched the falling Dow drain their savings. Loss is upon us—not simply the loss of things, but the loss of embodied joys.

We can’t pop into our favorite coffee shop for a cappuccino and an encouraging conversation with a friend. Our children are denied the thrill of chasing ...