Our future is often painted as looking pretty bleak, so it’s no wonder people question the meaning of it all. But they should know they’re not alone. Here’s a guide to get through an existential crisis and come out the other side.
Lying in bed late at night, I often find myself flicking back through all my life decisions with varying degrees of regret. How much time have I wasted from waiting in queues? Was my degree worth it? Am I a bad person?
That’s when I know an existential crisis is on the horizon.
According to Britannica, an existential crisis is “a period of inner conflict during which a person is distraught over questions about identity, meaning, and purpose”.
Existential crises are also tied heavily to nihilism, the concept that life lacks no inherent meaning.
In my case, the main worry is that time feels like it’s moving too fast and I’m not making the most of my time on this mortal plane.
But this situation is much more common than you might think.
Dr Ania Capaldo, a psychologist at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), says that while it’s difficult to say how common existential crises are, most people will likely experience one at some point in their lives.
“The easiest way to understand an existential crisis is perhaps to see it as a significant internal shift – a moment when we realise that things will never quite be the same again, and we need to re-learn how to exist with this new reality.
“I sometimes think about the image of an astronaut floating alone in deep space, disconnected from the spacecraft, surrounded by darkness and unable to find the way back.
“An existential crisis can feel a little like that: a loss of orientation, connection, certainty, and familiarity.”
They can be triggered by many things, ranging from moving house to suddenly recognising one’s mortality.
It’s always a good idea to be able to recognise the symptoms.
WebMD describes how they can be separated into two categories – psychological and physical.
Psychological symptoms include feeling unable to change your life and being aware that death is inevitable.
Physical side effects might include a lack of energy and insomnia, though these can be related to other mental health conditions that appear alongside an existential crisis such as anxiety and depression.
When you’re in the midst of an existential crisis, the dread can feel pretty suffocating, and it can be hard to see when the end is in sight.
They can be over in an hour or last several months.
I usually have a wave of existential questions that come and go every now and again.
But there are many tools you can use to get through it.
One way is to focus on the things that you can control, and on what brings meaning to your life.
Another method is existential therapy.
Dr Claire Arnold-Baker, also a psychologist at the NSPC, is an expert in the field.
She explains it’s a philosophical approach to therapy that applies existential ideas to everyday situations.
“That can be incredibly helpful for people to start taking some sense of ownership back of their lives again and to think about how they can move forward in a better way.”
She also advises that we shouldn’t see these feels as something we need to get rid of, but as a reminder to think about ourselves and our current life situation.
“Quite often, when people are feeling anxious, they might feel like they want to get rid of that anxiety and then will feel better.
“It’s really important to think that when we have these crises, they are a normal response to what has happened.”
There’s no way to stop an existential crisis from happening but being able to deal with them in a constructive way is a crucial step towards a more positive way of living.
From my point of view, I see them as a way of putting things into perspective.
They encourage me to look outwards and be as productive as I can, because we never know how much time we have left.