3 ms·

What is the definition of ‘existential crisis’ in this context?

• irjustin 7y ago
  I imagine it's the overwhelming feeling of "why am i here/why do i exists/what is my purpose in life/what is the meaning of it all?" For me personally, it's usually a passing feeling, but once every few years it grows into a multi-day/week long feeling that borders on depression. Why do I have to work? What am I toiling for? When I die, who cares? Everyone who's died before me - who cares? Those who lived a good, lucky life vs had a terrible one under oppression/torture, why did I get this one? What does it matter? At these points, I tend to take a hard look at life and ask myself "What do I want?" and "What is making me feel this way?" Sometimes I come up with an answer for the 2nd, mostly it's just empty noise (it's existential, so that's kind of expected). So the driving question for me becomes, what do I want?
  • preya2k 7y ago
    I‘m having an episode like you describe it right now. I‘m doing okay now, but I was in a very dark state for about two months. Couldn’t get up in the morning, quit my job, started therapy and medication. Thanks for writing this down. Knowing that other people go through the same stuff, helps a lot.
  • H8crilA 7y ago
    Why should life have any meaning at all? What's the meaning of the life of a squirrel or a Google search query? I'm seriously asking. I found those questions to be ill founded (something like the theme of Tarski's undefinability theorem/liar's paradox/the halting problem). Like really why would you expect it to have any meaning at all? That is pretty grandiose. We're just (unprecedentedly) sophisticated naked apes.