Mental Illness and Reasons to Live

Even if we've never spelled them out, each of us carries within us a private list of 'reasons to live'. Mental illness can threaten these reasons: to heal, we may need to seek out new ones.

FURTHER READING

“When we are feeling well in our minds, we hardly notice that we might be harbouring in ourselves anything as formal or as dramatic-sounding as ‘reasons to live.’ We simply assume that we like life itself and that it must be natural and inevitable to do so. And yet a broad appetite for life is, on close inspection, never simply that; our apparently general buoyancy must covertly rest on a range of specific elements that, while we may not bother to itemise them, have their own and distinct identities nevertheless…”

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Tracy Foster

Title animation produced in collaboration with

Vale Productions

[harty]

I genuinely truly don't care to live, I've always found life exhausting and not worth all the BS. Anyone else relate?

[GabrielKnightz]

It feels like chewing on a piece of gum long after it's lost it's flavour.

[mattpen]

I've wondered before, after my dreams collapsing multiple times under the weight of reality, how does everyone go on? How does someone live to 80? Im not depressed or suicidal but it just seemed so impossible at times to see the joy in repeating this Sysiphian task of finding a new dream and chasing it blindly until eventually you realize, you probably wont be the best, injuries might stop you in your tracks, or priorities in your life might force change.

This video expresses how i feel, its not that life suddenly becomes less fun, its that it loses all purpose when my blind faith in my goal disappears. Like i was a zombie chasing things before and a realization teaches me that it doesn't really matter. But then i have to reinvent myself if i want to survive... Life is complicated

[TheFamousUrsaMajor]

“Every day we continue will be a day earned back from death” that hit me man

[DarkLadyJade]

My dogs and cats are literally the ONLY reason I'm still alive.

[Augfordpdoggie]

the advantage in suffering in this life, is it makes you more compassionate and understanding

[iraaddams]

"We may not actively try to kill ourselves, but we cant count as quite alive either" 😥💔

[BeTheChangeFederation]

‘Every human deserves understanding’ well said

[bettyboop]

As someone who had severe depression, a breakdown and was suicidal for years, I expected more from this I’m afraid. I wanted to die because every aspect of life was so bad, from abuse to grief to homelessness. My advice would be fix what’s wrong with your life yourself because no one else will 🌷🌷

[Anarcath]

You read my tired suffering soul. I’ve been the walking dead for so long. And I honestly don’t know how to either wake up or go to sleep

[tommurgatroyd]

“Sometimes to live is an act of courage”. Seneca. There are so many reasons to live, as all crises can be overcome through strength and time.

[NE]

Even when bad things happen im like “well i chose to continue so im glad i got to at least experience this” I think its a perspective of how worse things were or could be

[mitchywraps]

Whenever I feel low i just imagine every other person on earth feeling the exact same thing and it makes me feel less alone cause were all in this together ❤

[christiandaugherty]

This was timely. So sad that I can hardly speak. I've lost so many reasons these last few years. I live solely for my rescue dogs right now. I go to work because they need food and comforts. Otherwise, I doubt I'd be here. The last few days have just been so hard, in an already harrowing year. I decided to reach out to some friends...They are all doing their own life, most are at work. Or struggling themselves. I understand. My wife woke up in another town, in another home, without me. And she's just carrying on. Becoming more and more of a stranger to me everyday. 20 years... and I don't know her anymore. I don't recognize anything anymore. I'm just floating.

[Reyofsunshines]

I got a notification for this right in the middle of a mental breakdown lol

[capnkirkie]

Me: *Hears a voice that isn’t Alain’s* Umm, who is this????
Still enjoyed this video tho 😂❤️

[kng]

It is highly interesting how everyone is conditioned through their life to axiomatically believe that life inherently is a gift, without really a reason, behind it. Stay safe folks.

[pyschologygeek]

To live is to allow ourselves to fall in love—with someone, with something, or with life itself. Viewing death as a source of meaning can be comforting for many—but rather than using this as an argument in favor of suicide, it's critical to leverage such a perspective in order to make the most of life while it lasts.

[hiteshj]

I'm 26, unemployed, still don't know what to do with my life, suffering through anxiety, depression and existential crises almost every day.

I was wondering how drastic difference my generation has compared to my father's when they would get a job without a university degree, could buy a house or even two and go for vacation and enjoy life; they would go enjoy laid back lifestyle, meet friends, family and there wasn't a drive for materialistic living. There was no consumerism, no one spending time on screens, no social media, no sense of isolation since people would actually come out of their houses and visit one another, be there for one another in needed times.
This generation is fucked up with overpopulation, rat race, consumerism, MNC's and corporates, climatemore
Simplelikegenuinely happy.
I visit my village and I actually feel true happiness over there. People aren't rich, but they somehow feel fulfilled with life. They don't have larger expectations from life, they just live by the day and be at peace. They don't want to conquer the world or aren't racing to be "successful." They have less means and live happily by it.
If our generation continues to keep living like this, we aren't far from becoming an actual dystopian society where essence of living this wonderful life will be lost.

[bluebeka]

Moral of the story: Don't let sock puppets to rule your life.