Why Existential Crisis?

Existential crisis is no doubt a widely used term these years, but have you ever wondered what it really means, what it really feels like? I bet more than half of today’s generation would be going through it. So what is existential crisis, how do you know you are going through it and how can you help yourself through this. We’re going to get a brief and simple insight into these questions.

What is Existential Crisis?

Our human nature is to question everything that surrounds us, from objects through behaviour and till situations. But when an individual starts questioning his own being, the meaning of his existence and his life. When person starts questioning as to what is his life’s purpose, what worth is it his life carries and when that person is devoid of answers to these questions, he starts feeling empty inside. The question seems pretty easy and simple, but is not so, it may take even years for some people to figure it out what is it that has the capability of giving their life a direction. People in today’s world struggle with existential crisis because of how our society is formed, the only thing they are taught is to rush, rush through their lives. Go to school, get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, and then die. This is the definition of a perfect life according to today’s society. Humans are taught to rush through everything from the minute their life starts, the ‘rat race’ as we call it and schools are the training centres for that rat race. We are never encouraged to reflect to our thoughts and explore what we truly want to do, as a result, people don’t know what is it they want to do.

And what is the result of the whole doing? People doing jobs they hate, why are people always waiting for the weekends in order to be happy? Why are they tired all the time, why are they frustrated, why are they anxious, why are they ill, and why are they depressed? Because they hate what they do, they are unable to find the point in what they do.

Fact: The researchers analysed data from more than 1,00,000 hospitals worldwide to discover about the day when most people are at risk of getting a heart attack. I am sure most of the people can guess it right. Yes, It is Monday. Monday is the day when most of the population is at risk for getting a heart attack. And which part of the population experiences it most? The working portion of population. Why? Because people have to return to jobs they hate, places they despise. Stress can trigger changes in your biological system, leaving you vulnerable to heart attacks.

There is one more thing people experience is what we call the ‘Sunday Neurosis’ where without any obligations and workplace commitments, person realizes how empty he is inside. They don’t find any meaning to their life.

Knowing when you are suffering from existential crisis

It is very important to know when you are going through such experience because someone going through existential crisis is also at the risk of getting into depression. You need to know how important it is to sit back and reflect into your thoughts and try and explore what is it you will be doing in order to give your life the needed direction.

• You don’t find the required motivation to get up from bed in the morning.
• You are easily tired.
• You are easily frustrated and anxious.
• You don’t have any interest in doing what you are doing.
• You find no point in doing what you are doing.
• You do not experience any satisfaction.
• Feeling unfulfilled.

If you experience these thought on frequent basis, it might be because you have an existential crisis and if not treated, can be a further route towards deeper despair.

Helping Yourself

It is said that ‘Problem well put is half solved’, so it is very important to explore the problem itself first. Analysing your feelings, your ideas, your hardships and let me guide you on this, it is not very practical to calculate that amount of information just in your head, so..

• Write down your problems

Writing down your problems and issues will break them down, provide you with more insight helping you in proceeding to solve them with a more practical mindset.

• Take a break

Taking a little break is okay. In fact, it is necessary for you to function in your daily life with efficacy, you need to find a little space for yourself from your busy and tiring schedule. After all, you deserve some leisure time, it is what recharges your battery. Take a nap, go for a walk, read a little, or just lie somewhere with your eyes focused on some oblivion, the purpose is to relax and spill out all the negative emotional energy.

• Start from something small

It is a possibility you might just drain yourself more thinking about something you would love to do and which would give your life a direction. So, instead, start with something very small that might give you some feeling of contentedness and pleasure, something which would consume all of your attention for that point of time, maybe growing your own small garden, or simply taking care of a growing plant, maybe start reading, fiction, just as great and all consuming, practising any musical instrument, it can be anything. The point is to start from something that gets you in flow and eliminate that feeling of apathy as effortlessly as possible.

• Don’t rush

Make sure to don’t rush through your life, because that’s what you’ve been doing till now. Slow down, try and carry out all the activities on your everyday to-do list with a sense of calm. Rushing through the day can only give you more stress and hardly do any good. Its better to go through your day doing multiple tasks with ease and slowly rather than dashing through the tasks and making multiple errors while you end up stuck on the same task because you were too busy speeding through it. It will give you clarity of mind and probably help you with mental exhaustion too.

• Get out more often

Getting out more often is very important part of healing. Spending time with your friends or people you love spending time with is crucial. It helps you maintain a positive outlook and keep you motivated. It may get the best out of you, moreover there’s so much to look at, you never know when a good idea strikes your mind.

• Fight for yourself

We don’t have to look at existential crisis as an onset of failure or as something to hate, its better to approach it as something positive, as a catalyst for change, your call for making something important and beautiful out of life. In German concentration camps, psychiatrists confirmed that people who had the greatest chance of survival were those who felt a strong desire for things they wanted out of life, who were stern about living their life to the fullest.

Remember, we are our best doctors, we know ourselves better than anyone else, we know what is best for us and what is not. We have the capability to take decisions for ourselves, and according to our best interests. We are also aware of what we can do best and we know when things are getting out of our hands. So, at any point in time, whenever you feel out of control or struggling with getting back on track, if you feel how you feel is bothering you more than it should or is deteriorating your quality of life and is affecting you negatively on a daily basis, it is in your best interest to consult a professional and not suffer in silence