One WEIRD Trick to Beat Existential Depression!

Doctors HATE him! You won't BELIEVE number 7!

[iAmTheSquidThing]

The fact hat you’ve created this video and subreddit suggests you may have added a new subjective value: Helping others stay alive and healthy.

[JamesNewton]

I decided early on that the purpose of life is to keep yourself out of situations where you start asking what the purpose of life is...

[bigsigu]

Funny. My response to existential depression was the complete opposite of yours: Keep doing a bunch of unhealthy, dangerous shit in the hopes that I'll experience a premature death that I'm obviously too cowardly to initiate myself.

[cheekybananaboy]

A couple of days ago i used to have so much passion and ambition for a multitude of things, but now i have acknowledged that none of it has real meaning and purpose. i no longer want to do ANYTHING. but i don't want to end my life, i want to be able to climb back into my bubble of life instead of feeling detached from my surroundings, unable to enjoy anything and questioning everything this world has to offer. I don't know if that'll be possible again. And I don't know how i'd achieve that.

[carlwheeze]

It’s true, nothing matters, but I’m here, so why waste the time I have. I could kill myself, but what’s the point in that? So, I’ll cross every line, and question everything. No matter how many mornings I wake up and vomit at the thought of existing, I’ll just deal with it. I’ve been doing it for 13 years, why should my existential depression stop me?

[supergobblin]

Your video can be summed up by saying "Just act like it isn't there." The only way to cope with existential depression is fall onto a religion for an eternal afterlife, or just act like it isn't there.

[calliph]

just stay busy all. the. time. it works, but it takes a lot of self discipline.

[TheJmax]

There's gotta be more to it than that, man. Don't you just feel your heart crying out for something more? Something great? Something that is more than just OK?

[jay]

Best way to do is saying your not alone if your life is pointless same goes for every one

[jakemoyler]

The problem is people have too much time to think nowadays, their time is prioritised by trying to figure out meaning of life questions etc. Think about it for a second, people in rural societies whose main focus is to find food and water for the day do not think about these things. Modern day humans living in urban societies with too much time on their hands and no where to put there focus are most likely to create existential depression/anxiety. Remember these are just thoughts inside your head that you’ve created.

[michaelrees]

Wait wait wait. Some people don't have existential nihilism? How is that possible?

[dahiroudaboharden]

My solution to the nihilistic viewpoint is that there may be meaning in what we don’t know about not knowing yet... or that, say there’s some true hidden meaning behind the universe that we sincerely don’t know we don’t know about yet, and that working towards understanding or discovering that meaning in any way shape or form is a purpose for our race.

[MilagroBeats]

The whole existance of humanity happened on a grain of sand lost in the darkness of the infinite universe. Our reality is just the perception of what reality is, and when someone dies they lose control of their whole body with all of their senses and reality makes no sense anymore since you can't feel any emotion, sounds, objects, forms, colors or thoughts after you die, and then you'll stay like that "for ever" meaning that you can imagine whichever number of years with as many zeros at the end as you want but it will never even come close to what infinity is. It never ends. I'll finish my homework now i guess...

[emptyismyname]

The problem with existential dread is that you're asking questions that can't be known.

[peepalfarm]

Physical pain has an objective negative value across all beings.

[marinesub]

It is about keeping yourself busy. But when you are alone with yourself, you see THE PROBLEM IS STILL THERE.

[projectevergreen]

The only time that I can actually feel conscious, is when I think about existence and get depressed. I dont feel anything when I have a normal mood

[TheErrantPhilosopher]

This actually got me out of mine downward spiral, though not entirely. I still believe nothing has value but I’m not resigned to the fact that things can have value however only if I place it on them subjectively like you said, not if I’m told it has value; it doesn’t work the same.

[sagnikchakraborty]

As a fellow high school-er who has only recently found a way out of this pit of existential depression, I can relate on many levels to this. However my method was a bit different... To begin with I made the following assumptions(or axioms you may say)
1.) The universe shall exist forever( Big Crunch is only a theory with little solid evidence to begin it, besides the concept of time itself is borne out of the fabric of universe so the universe collapsing after x years seems like an oxymoron)
2.) If the universe exists forever then there should never be any dearth of observers in the universe
3.) So there would always be some alien observers some millions of light years away, who after a million years might observe our now present day Earth and be like *Long long ago, in a Galaxy far far away...*
Hence our existence and each our actions are consequential, because the information that we have achieved something is transmitted forever in form of EM Waves, in a way implying that the Universe shall always *remember* us.
Thus, the purpose of life is to create something so remarkable, within this short lifespan, so that we become an example of our own( recount those lines in the Psalm of Life by HW Longfellow *Art is Long, and Time is Fleeting* )

Oh and by the way, I remember being awestruck by your Duo Adept video when I was in grade 7-8, which had inspired me back then to atleast try to build a homebrew os from scratch, if not a full homebrew computer(that never really took off tho xD.) And now finding this when I am almost about to complete grade 11 brought back old memories :') Like I said this speaks to me on many levels

[rcollins]

thanks for the rare insight. good to know others deal with similar things, and what works for them.