
Ask HN: Have you ever had an existential crisis? - lanrh1836
How did you handle it?
======
colechristensen
Yes.

They faded away as I approached 30, which was also about the time when my life
started to have more of a solid dimension – an end, far away, but not
infinitely. Suddenly a dozen different things I wanted to do turned into
realizations that each one would take several years and they wouldn't all fit,
not a depressing thought but a focusing one.

Why am I here? It doesn't really matter, _mu_ , the question is wrong. The
question supposes an answer is there and it isn't. Purpose is all made up,
pick one if you want one or don't. Zoom way in or way out and nothing could
possibly care about the mundane details about what I have for lunch or the
history of my civilization. Unless you're doing it for its own purposes
fumbling around for meaning isn't a very high quality activity. You _should_
probably do it for a while from time to time, but hanging it up as a
dependency for everything else – well nothing comes of it.

Strong certainty of purpose always comes off to me as a little bit (or a lot)
of insanity.

How did I handle it? By spending a lot of really unproductive (or perhaps very
productive) time doing nothing interspersed with a bit of active fumbling for
meaning often by seeking out sources. The result is more or less "meh" which
came with time.

I bet I'm due for a big one in five or ten years, but that me will be a
different person.

------
plutonorm
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 involved with it for a time,
but I'm not sure I actually enjoy the process. I think perhaps, for me, all
the things I want are out of reach. I'm transgender but could never
transition. I was fascinated with physics and philosophy, but had untreated
ADHD and could never manage to apply my decent intellect to doing well in
academia. I don't have any family, never did. My mum died when I was a baby
and my father is an abusive alcoholic and couldn't love me. I've tried every
drug going, nothing works. I'm empty inside and the world is just as empty.
And the world is so cruel, brutal. Not just to me, but to everyone and people
are so cruel and arrogant and empty. I want to reach out and save the world,
to take away it's pain, but there is nothing anyone can do. It's all just
fucked and often I wish I hadn't been born. Also I hate my career and am so
lonely working alone all the time. And IT people just don't suit me, I'm just
not like them. So maybe the existential depression is just an expression of my
own misery and loss of purpose. Also 3 years of therapy did squat.

~~~
tasuki
Huggles. I can understand how you feel.

> battled with the knowledge that life has no intrinsic meaning

Yes, it doesn't. But we can choose our own adventure, create our own meaning.
I organize a summer camp for ~50 people. Is there any objective value to it?
No - we'll all die and no one will remember. But I derive plenty of subjective
value, as do the other participants. Is it worth it to do this? Objectively,
no. For me subjectively, yes.

Have you read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl?

~~~
H8crilA
Why not give up on the search of meaning? "What is the meaning" is an ill
posed question, because it assumes there is one or that there should be one. I
mean think about it - what's the meaning of a life of a wolf. Or a frog. Or a
computer program. Or a modern naked ape. They all just are, until they are
not.

~~~
dandelion_lover
The creatures you listed were necessary for the development of a human. They
are also a part of the fragile balance of nature which keeps the living
conditions on Earth. I am not saying everything has a meaning (I do not know).
But I disagree that this is "an ill posed question".

~~~
H8crilA
So was the transistor [necessary] for the development of the CPU. It's also a
part of fragile timing nature of electric signals. What's the point?

By ill-posed I simply mean it assumes something under the hood. Like when
someone says "how do you catch X criminals" without first establishing that X
is a crime. It's kind of a trick of language.

~~~
dandelion_lover
The point is that there _may_ be a meaning. You questions do not prove its
lack.

I do not like your parallel. The question about the meaning of life can also
have the answer "there is no". It does not assume anything under the hood.

~~~
manjana
You are talking about objective versus subjective meaning I think. Objectively
life is meaningless according to the Nihilism school of thought but
subjectively life can have plenty of meaning it all depends on how you "frame"
your experience of life.

Meaning to me for example is conquering my existential problems (anxiety,
depression), pushing past boundaries and percieved limits in life, seeking
love and obtaining goals. These examples provide substantial meaning for me,
where I'm currently at in this point of time. So meaning to some degree are
what you value, subjectively speaking.

~~~
H8crilA
I'm actually coming from the Buddhist/meditation school of thought. It's
neither about subjective nor objective meaning, it's about the emptiness of
this word "meaning". For a lack of better language available - "meaning" does
not mean anything. It's like pondering over the liar's paradox without
defining truth (see Tarski's undefinability theorem for a strict mathematical
example).

Just ask yourself - what does it mean that the "meaning" of X is Y? In the
"meaning" sense that this thread is about.

The very fact that anything is happening, that there's something rather than
nothing can be all absorbing. The "meaning" as people usually put it is
typically a case of mis-wanting, trying to fit the reality to the language of
thought, rather than the other way around, and a lack of focus on the present.
In particular the religious concepts of heaven and hell are the most prominent
members of this category (throughout the written history, and perhaps much
earlier).

------
idoubtit
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 intense suffering for a few people I love. So I have to
live on. I don't want to fake exaltation and fill my life with extraordinary
activities. It's now hard to find pleasure in novelty: after reading thousands
of novels, surprising books are seldom, and the same law applies to music, and
most activities, including human interactions. Sometimes I'm just waiting for
time to pass. But there's still a bit of feelings and pleasure to be found in
the daily blunt life.

~~~
betimsl
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 your time passes as slowly as possible because
looks like that is the worst possible TORTURE somebody can wish for you.

~~~
dang
Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please review
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
and follow the rules from now on.

I realize you were probably trying to help someone by giving them a good kick,
but that doesn't work on internet forums and breaks the guidelines even if
your intent was good.
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20tough%20love&sort=by...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20tough%20love&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0)

------
guico
Yes, definitely. And I'd assume that questioning "the meaning of it all" is
something most people will do at some point. In particular, those who tend to
think critically and independently about other questions, which I'm also
assuming is a common trait of HN readers.

To me, the process was the following:

1\. Realizing that society has created many layers of "fabricated" meaning
(thinking of things like a successful career, owning a big house, an expensive
car, being the best player in the soccer team, etc). I think those will
quickly feel superfluous and the fact they are fabricated becomes apparent.
They are in fact meaningless.

2\. Understand that behind all that fantasy, we're still rather simple
(social) animals. And coming to terms with that, helped me find meaning in
basic things I'm hard-wired to enjoy: like nurturing the relationships with
the ones I love, challenging myself in some sort of dimension (eg. sports,
learning), being a positive influence for the younger generation, etc.

All in all, I think that questions makes you cut-through the bullshit society
has fabricated over the years and go back to the core of what exactly makes
you feel well. What makes you feel well, even if it's hard, is what you're
supposed to do IMO.

------
vassy
Had one a few years ago and I became a nihilist because I couldn't really find
a purpose for my existence. I'm not as ambitious when it comes to work.
Switched to contacting as a 9 to 5 job and don't touch programming outside of
that. I spend more time with family and friends, going to the gym and doing
sports, traveling more.

~~~
tasuki
> more time with family and friends, going to the gym and doing sports,
> traveling more

Sounds like a good life. I've seen nihilists who are equanimous (like you
appear), and ones who seem rather depressed. I can see how nihilism can lead
to either of these outcomes, and wonder what the differentiating factor is.

~~~
vassy
It could be that I have a loving family (including a cat I've raised since she
was a kitten), I'm quite social and have lots of hobbies. Don't get me wrong,
there's days when everything falls apart, but usually I see no purpose in
being depressed. I only got one chance to live this day and I don't want to
waste that time by being sad because life is meaningless.

------
abdussamit
Yes. Still hits me from time to time, but it mostly happened between when I
was 21-24 y/o.

I don't know why it happens man, it occurred to me whenever I was faced with a
deep-rooted issue, an issue that got me exhausted or worried. For example, one
of my colleagues, a new hire, died in an accident 4 days into his new job. It
got me thinking why do we even exist, why do we die, why were we sent here?

Or when I was bored of life or was so indulged in work that I thought fuck
this shit, what am I doing? Why do I even exist? What's the goal? What will
happen once we die and get alive again? Even if I do exist, what's the
purpose?

How did/do I handle with it? Spirituality helps, you pray to God (I'm a
Muslim), then you move on. What helps is that most of us are in that crisis so
you tell yourself, "Oh, alright. I'm not alone. Guess I just need to drag
myself through life.". You get depressed, you get worried, you get panic
attacks sometimes, you cry, you have trouble sleeping. But then... then you
just wake up and you get some happiness, and then you move on. You just drag
yourself.

To conclude, I find it weird how I've struggled to put my thoughts into words
because I usually am able to explain myself properly. So I don't know? Just
keep moving I guess... Sorry I don't think I helped.

~~~
tasuki
> what am I doing? Why do I even exist? What's the goal?

> I'm a Muslim

I always thought the most attractive thing about religions was that they
resolve exactly these questions. Guess it's not so simple.

~~~
abdussamit
Hah. I still believe religion will lead me to something but such an unknown
question with subjective variable answers takes time and great inner self-
belief. I'm not too religious so I just crawl around.

------
agurk
I hit a very low point on Friday feeling a lack of meaning in my life. One
thing that really helped was having a friend who I could phone and they would
just listen.

If someone's at a bridge, and phones up the number on the sign for a suicide
hotline they'll say something like "I'm going to jump off". The wrong response
to this is "Don't do it" or give reasons why it's a bad idea. The correct
response is "Why?"

It's taken me a long time to end up with a friend who's matured enough to take
themselves out of the situation, so that when I phone them up they'll listen
and not give me advice and tell me what to/not to do. If the conversation
progresses enough, or I ask for advice then my friend might give some as
advice does have its place. The trick is knowing where that is.

This is of course what a (good) therapist is trained to do, so if you feel
there's no-one you can phone up it's an option to explore.

The psychological concept of resilience[0] may also be something that's worth
exploring, if you want to understand how people cope with bad situations.

[0] [https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-
resilience](https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience)

------
acconrad
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.

------
Vinnl
It's always been a bit slumbering in the background for me. Then someone I
knew committed suicide, with an important reason being that she felt that she
could no longer believe what her religious environment had told her growing
up, and was left with this existential dread, and couldn't face waking up to
that for another couple of decades.

Hearing about that rekindled those ideas in me as well. I didn't _really_ deal
with it, but I realised that I was still capable of enjoying things in the
moment. Hence, my current strategy is: enjoy life while I can, because fear of
existential dread is only likely to make it happen sooner.

I wouldn't be surprised if I'd get sucked into a depression sooner or later,
but who knows, it might never happen.

------
Pandabob
Yup. I guess spending time with family and friends makes it better. At least
it does for me. We adopted a dog with my girlfriend this January and I'd say
that just spending time with him alleviates it. I'd imagine having kids will
have a similar effect (probably 100x stronger).

In the newest Indie Hackers podcast [1], founder Aline Learner mentioned that
starting a business helps with existential crises because you're so busy
worrying about everything else. I'm looking forward to finding out if this
holds true to myself in September.

[1]: [https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/099-aline-lerner-of-
int...](https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/099-aline-lerner-of-interviewing-
io)

~~~
lampenrad
>I'd imagine having kids will have a similar effect (probably 100x stronger).

Sure, but putting the burden of existence on another human to alleviate one‘s
existential pain doesn‘t make the problem go away, it only puts it on others
that had no say in their own creation. Overall it increases the amount of
suffering (unless we‘re talking about adoption in the case of the child, too).

------
fernandokokocha
I've felt it from time to time. The books helped me: in the subject, I
recommend "Happy" by Derren Brown and "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor
Frankl. Anything related to stoicism can work as well.

Also, not sure if this counts - recently I've been having a feeling that I no
more like programming. The reason: I have a different mindset than the vast
majority of programmers I met. It feels like either I'm the only one who knows
how to do it well, or I'm the only one who doesn't know that. This feeling
I've not yet overcome. I will probably try to change the job OR look for a
different project / team.

------
extenshun
I sometimes get this when I'm tired. So I concentrate on how I feel like that
BECAUSE of being tired and aim to look back at those thoughts after a good
sleep. When I wake up, I'm fine again.

------
james_s_tayler
I used to think from a nihilistic perspective a lot because it seems like the
most logical position to take. I'm not depressed or anything and nihilism
doesn't at all get me down. I just sort of think it is what it is. Though I do
remember I went to see Jordan Peterson live when he came to my city and he
said something that made me rethink nihilism as a valid perspective. And it
wasn't a religious comment either.

He was saying people tend to fall into the trap of thinking that in a million
years none of this is going to matter and that they're just one of seven
billion people, so they don't really matter etc. Then he said now imagine your
6 year old daughter gets cancer... what do you tell her? That in a million
years it isn't going to matter? That she's only 1 of seven billion people, so
who cares? And if it's not the answer at a time like that then it's probably
not the answer.

I dunno... but it struck a chord with me and I've not been able to entertain
the nihilistic perspective ever since. Now whenever I find those thoughts
coming on and think why on earth do I push so hard or why do I bother with
what I do etc... I take on a more cosmic perspective. That through our actions
and experiences the universe is able to observe, enjoy and comprehend itself.
The point is to be the matter and the energy. The point is to be the
experience.

Like why do you sit down and watch a movie when you know it's going to end?

------
aizatto
Yes.

If by definition "Why am I here? What is purpose?", then yes.

I've spent a lot of time "soul searching" by asking myself questions, and also
similarly asked people the same questions as well to try to learn from them.

I tried to by systematic and log all my efforts too.

I put together
[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/) as a means
to better understand myself and why I do what I do. Being able to look at past
answers has been super helpful in understanding my behavior

Maybe some of these keywords may help you. Take the time to answer some of the
questions yourself (on paper, in your own notebook/journal)

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/purpose/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/purpose/)

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/existential/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/existential/)

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/calling/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/calling/)

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/meaning/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/keywords/meaning/)

------
cttet
Existential crisis are usually related with "why" questions regarding life.
But "why"s are usually of very low priority as it hardly harvest any insights
given limited time. It is a helpful tool for human to explore and for
scientific progress as it reduces the search spaces of potential actions or
models, but not quite necessary helpful for day to day life.

So you can remind yourself that in hour mind it always seems that "why"
matters a lot, but facts matter more than models and models can always be
improved. "why"s are supposed to be a friend to guide us, but if they created
problems, just be skeptic from and reevaluate the value of question itself.

If your crisis is a "what" crisis rather than "why". It is often easier to
cope with, as you only need to open up yourself and remind that all "what"
questions are just nomenclature build on immature social/scientific models and
never complete. Every "what" question can be altered by a different
definition.

People often relate existential crisis with nihilist view, but my opinion is
that they are not nihilist enough to think through that the existential
questions are meaningless or of low priority themselves.

[edit] typo

------
preid24
Every morning when I do a standup.

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

~~~
irjustin
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
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.

------
rofo1
I vividly remember my first "existential crisis". Well, perhaps that's not the
right term for my experience.

The first time I had a feeling that once it's over, it's really game over
and.. that's it. Very unsettling, cold, indifferent. Who'd care about some
carbon remains on some big stone orbiting somewhere in the galaxy? Nobody, no
one, and it doesn't mean anything.

I was 6 years old. I remember where I was, who was in the room, what were they
wearing - it's all etched in my memory. That's one of the strongest feelings
I've felt.

From time to time, I think about this topic and it's still difficult to accept
that we are finite. But, we are and it is what it is. We didn't choose this
world; we are here, might as well make the best of it.

------
Gustomaximus
What I find strange is an existential consideration seems to be largely a
negative. Couldnt we call it 'existential realisation' and treat it as a
positive

Lack of meaning can be a good thing. Realising we're not here to do anyhting
great. I'm not going to make anything of significance change. If I dissappear
it wont really mater.... ok, that good, now I can get along with my life and
not worry about societatal / parental / career etc pressures and follow my
path beacuse in the same way I dont matter, your view of me doesnt matter. I
am just here and will be treated based on what I put into the world and there
is no great plan so get what you can from the journey.

------
qwerty456127
Sure. For my whole life before I realized neither life, nor death, nor the
universe nor anything has any meaning and that's ok. There is nothing you
_must_ achieve in your life, and nothing you have no choice but to feel a
particular way about. Just set yourself free of any conditioning, do whatever
you would like (together with probable results of such an action) and feel
happy (most of the people believe feelings are exclusively controlled by the
circumstances but this is false, with some training you can choose them the
same way you choose which direction you will move your arm).

------
Haghn
I found that one of the best advice (successfully tested on myself and others)
to help during existential crisis is to remember that someday you are going to
die, and work from there. If you knew you were going to die in ten minutes,
what will you do ? What will you regret ? What will you wish you had done ?

Also this : [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-
fiv...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-
of-the-dying)

~~~
penguinlover08
so basically Stoicism's negative visualization?

~~~
Haghn
I am not much experienced with stoicism, so I can't say.

My reasoning is that a crisis is generated by an unpleasant situation that may
be difficult to identify, thus the feeling of powerlessness. By looking for
what you want - or don't - out of life, and in an ideal situation (in front of
death, a very personal thing where you don't have to deal with habits, job, or
any external pressure), you can identify the elements in your life that suit
you or don't, and act on it.

------
dandelion_lover
I handled it logically:

 _If_ there is a meaning of life, we did not find it yet. Therefore it must be
beyond our current scientific knowledge. Now, science becomes the new meaning,
because it may give us the original meaning. Therefore I devote my life to
science. (It is not necessary to be a scientist. Any possibility to help
science counts for me.)

 _If_ there is no meaning at all, then I personally do not understand why
people would continue struggle in life. I just cannot accept such situation. I
would rather search for the meaning.

~~~
vfinn
What is the struggle if there's no meaning? In my opinion, you struggle only,
because there are actually things that mean to you. You cling to things, you
yearn for things, and you don't get them. That's the struggle. If you don't
want anything, where's the struggle? If you don't want life, you would just
fade away, with no struggle. It's self-deceptive to think you don't yearn for
things. Maybe it's a way to protect yourself. If you're stuck, try to see the
underlying assumptions you have about life, and break them. That, in my
opinion, let's you take steps forward.

------
austincheney
Going through one right now.

I am old and confident in my skills as a developer. Many of my peers are young
and utterly lack the confidence I take for granted.

Part of being confident (different than arrogant), and old, is that you have a
kind of honesty about your capabilities and the technologies in which you work
from experience solving certain problems. You know what is easily capable and
what isn't. You know what is necessary and what isn't. You don't need tools,
frameworks, gimmicks, or black magic to write your code for you. In many cases
you would rather just write an original solution for a given problem because
there is a very good change it will be less code, execute faster, and takes
less time than dicking around with a bunch of dependencies and their
configurations.

Another part of getting old is a loss of sensitivity. Either you have moved
passed hard problems and grown callous to things that are no longer
challenging or your career is stuck stagnating. Let's call that battle scars.
This doesn't mean empathy is gone, but it does mean you have lost patience for
people who either don't try or make everything an emotional event.

I found the culminating collision between old confident developers versus less
confident, possibly more sensitive, developers boils down to RTFC (Read The
Fucking Code). Here are some frustrating scenarios:

* A developer is particular about code style and so they don't RTFC and then misunderstandings occur.

* A developer is intimidated when a file contains greater than X lines of code and so they don't RTFC and misunderstandings occur.

* A developer refuses to do work without a certain API, framework, or tool and so they refuse to RTFC causing defects to slip into production.

* A developer doesn't know what they are doing and make an incomplete attempt to RTFC but refuses to ask questions in order to achieve clarity.

* A developer doesn't know what they are doing and finds a piece of code challenging so instead of RTFC they blame everything else, such as coworkers or the programming language, on their failures.

* A developer is largely code illiterate and so they pretend to RTFC and then lie about their assessment.

This is an existential crisis for me, because I am tired of dicking around
with dishonest insecure people whose only professional goal is to achieve
easiness (not simplicity). I have a fancy job at one of the largest and most
profitable public companies in the US and I am in the process of giving this
up and relocating for a change of pace.

------
kodz4
Doesn't matter what type of crisis it is, just remember you have a Choice in
what your mind Focuses on. Remind yourself of that Choice. Have a list of
things you can switch focus too - music, going for a run, helping a friend
out, planning a trip etc etc.

When people don't handle crisis well, it's usually a sign they aren't able to
switch focus to something else because they don't have something/anything to
switch focus too.

------
raheelkhan
Always, But for me I settle down with my religious preaching in mind. Such as
the sole purpose of life is to worhship God. Do good deeds, provide comfort to
needy and wait for my time to die. Every step towards good deeds provide
satisfaction and every bad act brings mysery.

~~~
preya2k
My existential crisis helped me to be more accepting of religion. I can see
how a believe like yours helps you in these situations and who am I to
criticize something that helps people feel better (which is what I liked to do
before - I’m an atheist).

------
HNLurker2
Everyday

------
resiros
Yes, I became a nihilist for some time then I found solace in Islam. The more
I thought about it the more I became convinced there is a God and there is a
meaning behind all of this. And when I read the Quran it took all the worries
from my heart.

~~~
javajosh
I get turning to God for meaning, but why Islam in particular? Did you try
reading other holy books?

------
cybervegan
If humanity has a purpose, it seems to be to destroy the planet.

------
vinayms
In life? No.

At work? Yes. How did I handle it? I quit.

------
jb1991
Only if I haven’t had my coffee yet.

~~~
colechristensen
For a while when I was younger I didn't experience hunger very often, I had
existential crises instead. It was a bit ridiculous, the world would start
crashing down around me, everything about my life would become terrible,
unbearable burden... and then I would get to wondering about how long it had
been since my last meal. A few bites into the subsequent sandwich and
everything was back to normal.

Now I just get foggy and easily irritated.

~~~
omarchowdhury
That sounds like the symptoms of low blood sugar.

~~~
colechristensen
A retelling:

When I was younger the way I experienced low blood sugar from neglecting to
eat was a lot more interesting.

------
hyfgfh
Today?

------
ecmascript
Yes I had one when I was 20 (if you may even call it that), I handled it by
thinking logically.

~~~
preya2k
Would you mind explaining how „thinking logically“ helped you with this?

~~~
ecmascript
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.

