Going through an existential crisis is not pleasant for anyone because you can feel that everything is crumbling at your feet ... Although in reality, perhaps you are just putting everything in its place. Existential crisis is also known as existential anxiety although the concept is the same: life feels useless. It feels like existence has no meaning, no limits ... We know that we are all going to die one day and therefore, what is the meaning of life?
Existential anxiety or crisis tends to arise during transitions and reflects difficulty in adjusting, often related to loss of security. For example, a college student moving house or an adult going through a difficult divorce might feel like the foundation on which their life was built is crumbling. This can lead to questioning the meaning of existence.
For existentialists, an existential crisis is considered a journey, a consciousness, a necessary experience, and a complex phenomenon. It arises from the awareness of your own freedoms and how life will end for you one day.
Risks that potentiate an existential crisis
An existential crisis often occurs after certain life events, including:
- Diagnosis of a serious or life-threatening illness.
- Enter a significant age category, such as 40, 50, or 65
- Experiencing a tragic or traumatic experience.
- Career or job change
- Marriage or divorce
- Have children
- Death of a loved one
People with the following mental health conditions may also be more prone to having an existential crisis; although these disorders do not cause an existential crisis:
- Anxiety
- Borderline personality disorder
- Depression
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
How do you know if you have an existential crisis?
To know whether or not you have an existential crisis, you should know that there are some symptoms that can help you identify it. During an existential crisis, you may experience a variety of symptoms, including:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Soledad
- Obsessive worry
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Lack of motivation and energy.
- Isolation from friends and loved ones
Types of existential crises
An existential crisis is a general term, which can be used to group many types of problems that can cause someone to have an existential crisis.
Fear and responsibility
Existentialism emphasizes that we are all free to make decisions in life, and with this freedom to make decisions comes responsibility. However, given the final destination of death, your actions may seem pointless when viewed in relation to the bigger picture of your life.
In this way, freedom leads to despair, and responsibility for this freedom causes anxiety. How often have you struggled with a decision and feared it was the wrong one? That fear of making the wrong decision reflects the anxiety for freedom related to existential concerns.
Existentialists believe that we have this anxiety or anguish because there is no "right" path and there is no guide to tell us what to do. In essence, each of us must make sense of our own lives. If this responsibility feels too great, we can regress to forms of behavior that protect us from this feeling of anxiety.
Meaning of life
If you struggle with existential anxiety, you might ask yourself, "What's the point of living?" As you go through the transitions in your life and lose the security of a familiar context and structure, you may question the point of life, if in the end, the result is that you die. Why do things?
The ability to have a passion for what might otherwise be considered a meaningless life reflects an appreciation for life itself. If you can stop trying to live for the end, or the "goal," and start to live by the act of "being" itself, then you will begin to live your life fully.
Authenticity
An existential crisis can lead you towards authenticity, which will necessarily bring you anxiety as well. You may have thoughts about the transience of your existence and how you are living it. When you stop assuming that you will wake up alive every day, you may experience anxiety, but at the same time you will get a deeper meaning from everything.
You may notice that all the everyday mundane problems that bother you so much no longer seem to matter, and all the thoughts, Fears and anxiety about the mundane disappear, because you are faced with a much bigger problem. At the end of your life, will any of this matter? Will it matter what career you chose, how much money you had, or what car you drove?
Phase of life
Many people experience an existential crisis when they transition into a new generation: from infancy to adulthood or from adulthood to senior life. The important events of life, including graduations, starting a new job or career change, getting married or divorced, having children and retiring, can also cause an existential crisis.
Death and illness
The loss of a partner, parent, brother, child, or other loved one often forces people to face their own mortality and question the meaning of their own life. Similarly, if you are facing a serious or life-threatening illness, You may have an existential crisis that overwhelms you with thoughts of death and the meaning of life.
If you think you are going through an existential crisis but do not know how you can cope or you think you will not be able to overcome it, seek support immediately. Going through an existential crisis is more common than you imagine and you don't have to go through it alone.
You can seek support from family and friends, but if you see it necessary, seek help from a mental health professional for guidance on what you can do to regain internal balance. In this way you will once again appreciate the life you have and above all, you will be yourself again. We only have one life and it is worth living it by thanking the opportunity to be yourself every day of your existence.