Yes I had one when I was 20 (if you may even call it that), I handled it by thinking logically.
Would you mind explaining how „thinking logically“ helped you with this?
Sure, if you put aside your emotions for a second and just think on why you're having a existential crisis you will probably come up with some reasons.
For me, the reason was that I wasn't sure if I was heading in the right direction, spending money and time on education. But I realized that is is kind of unnecessary and as long as I enjoy what I do and can continue to do it without any damage to my future possibilities I should probably continue. You can always switch tracks later in life, no harm done.
Emotions are rarely logical, they are often very irrational and sudden. If you put aside the emotions for a while and ask yourself if it's really worth it to be upset, the answer is probably going to be no.
I'm surprised existential crisis is not a common phenomena. Life has no meaning, no purpose. "I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind." (Qohelet, in the Bible, about 2300 years ago). So why live? In my case, I examined my options. Purposely dying (including taking extreme risk while mountain climbing, etc) is not an option for now, because it would cause intens…
You have people who you love and (probably) love you back and yet you want to go? You're a narcissistic ignorant. Lift your head up a little and see the world you dumb idiot. Look at the people dying of hunger all over the world and you're sitting here telling us that you have read thousands of books and now everything is saturated for you instead of celebrating the privileges you have. I hope you live up to 100 and…
Yeah exactly. Stop being depressed and just be happy! Easy fix. /s
Always. Since I was 10years old, I've battled with the knowledge that life has no intrinsic meaning. Sometimes I break free for a few years, but it always comes back around. I'm 38 now and I don't see myself being able to come up with a convincing reason to live anytime soon. I mostly feel empty or sometimes I bubble over with rage, or deep sadness. Sometimes something interesting will catch my eye and I can become i…
Sorry, friend.
Maybe try sincere, old fashioned religion. It works for many. I believe there is something to it. (And done properly, it leads to helping others.)
I'm surprised existential crisis is not a common phenomena. Life has no meaning, no purpose. "I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind." (Qohelet, in the Bible, about 2300 years ago). So why live? In my case, I examined my options. Purposely dying (including taking extreme risk while mountain climbing, etc) is not an option for now, because it would cause intens…
To me when people say they don't want anything, they mean they don't want anything the way most people want it, or that they don't want it in a way that is expected of them.
So the solution then is to go beyond what is normally done, which can be done with courage.
Most people that have issues, have issues in the context of the society they live in. "I don't want to do extraordinary things (that is expected of me in this competitive world)", they say. "I don't want to live this or that kind of family life (that is expected of me)".
To me, there always seems to be this "that is expected of me", or "in the way things are done" present.
"Human interactions are not interesting, because the way I perceive how it is normally done, or how it is expected of me to be done, is not satisfying), and I can't seem to be able to do it any other way."
Don't get me wrong, but people have generally astonishingly absurd problems, that are in a way self-created (or rather created in collaboration with the society they live in), and that is very much related to how satisfied they are with their lives, even they might not admit it. They claim the problem is with the stars, oh stars.
And also, don't get me wrong. The problems are real. But they have nothing to do with the meaningfulness of life, they have only to do with the difficulty of having a meaningful life.
"I want to do ph.d (because I think it's the thing expected of me), but in myself, I don't really want it. I want to garden. But I can't do gardening, because I have this potential I have to fulfill (that is expected of me), etc.".
It seems to be hard to live simple life, or have simple life around, at least. People have created a problem out of their lives. People think, think, and think, as if there's nothing else. But to me, even though the status quo in this world is pretty crazy in general, there are ways to live a meaningful life, but not the way it's expected of you, but the way that you are able to create the interesting things yourself, not by expecting them from others.
Always. Since I was 10years old, I've battled with the knowledge that life has no intrinsic meaning. Sometimes I break free for a few years, but it always comes back around. I'm 38 now and I don't see myself being able to come up with a convincing reason to live anytime soon. I mostly feel empty or sometimes I bubble over with rage, or deep sadness. Sometimes something interesting will catch my eye and I can become i…
I know exactly how that feels. A switch flipped at some point though and it stopped bothering me:
I gave up on any notions of mysticism - religion, higher meaning and all that and instead just accepted causality is all there is. Things happen because they're the only logical thing that could happen given the conditions. Think of it as taking Markov to a broader sense.
You know what's so great about that, that relieves me so much? That there's no plan for me. No one is going to fix my issues, no one but myself. So I found comfort in having agency over my own circumstances. And I slowly started to fix whatever made me unhappy.
The stuff you mentioned will bring you down for sure. Start attending to them and life will slowly get really awesome. No silver bullet of course, there are ups and downs but it feels so much better. And get help if you have to!
Always. Since I was 10years old, I've battled with the knowledge that life has no intrinsic meaning. Sometimes I break free for a few years, but it always comes back around. I'm 38 now and I don't see myself being able to come up with a convincing reason to live anytime soon. I mostly feel empty or sometimes I bubble over with rage, or deep sadness. Sometimes something interesting will catch my eye and I can become i…
Massive resonance with this. I developed my friendships outside of IT and found a degree of (admittedly drug fuelled) distraction based happiness.
I was just talking about this with a friend. I think every few months I have one of these crises. And I don't even know where to begin with talking to a therapist about this. I feel like I would just steamroll the conversation with "look I already know X Y Z about your approach and I understand there's nothing I can do about death, mortality, or the meaninglessness of it all" and start ranting about Kierkegaard and Sartre. So I just spin my wheels enough to exhaust myself and pull myself out of it.
I've found meditation to be helpful - but it can be both uplifting and pull me back in. Being in the present can get you to appreciate the fact that you are even living (positive), but that recognition of life's ephemeral nature and it's complete insignificance in the cosmic landscape of the universe can drag you right back down (negative).
So long story short: acceptance is helpful. I haven't totally gotten there but it can alleviate the crisis symptoms. In fact I'm currently reading "Radical Acceptance" right now as a means of dealing with this and other issues.
I'm surprised existential crisis is not a common phenomena. Life has no meaning, no purpose. "I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind." (Qohelet, in the Bible, about 2300 years ago). So why live? In my case, I examined my options. Purposely dying (including taking extreme risk while mountain climbing, etc) is not an option for now, because it would cause intens…
You have people who you love and (probably) love you back and yet you want to go? You're a narcissistic ignorant. Lift your head up a little and see the world you dumb idiot. Look at the people dying of hunger all over the world and you're sitting here telling us that you have read thousands of books and now everything is saturated for you instead of celebrating the privileges you have. I hope you live up to 100 and…
I'm surprised existential crisis is not a common phenomena. Life has no meaning, no purpose. "I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind." (Qohelet, in the Bible, about 2300 years ago). So why live? In my case, I examined my options. Purposely dying (including taking extreme risk while mountain climbing, etc) is not an option for now, because it would cause intens…
A good analogy to the whole "so then why live?" question would be that of going to see a movie and realizing that you don't care all that much for it. It's not quite bad enough to make you get up and leave so you do stay to the end, maybe you even enjoy bits and pieces of it, but if you had known how bad it was overall before going you wouldn't have gone in the first place.