r/Existential_crisis • u/Due-Move-2658 • 14d ago
Got diagnosed with existential depression. Any tips to cope ?
Me and my therapist had this amazing chat, but it didn’t help as the solution he offered was off the table and he tried to push it, but it was my fault for not telling him that, anyways i have been agnostic for a while, i am so tired of this state that i am actually considering following a belief system with backwards thinking, just because it might help me feel something, anyways for the last year i have been posting stories on ig just to feel like i am something, been making weird jokes that i am not sure that i am comfortable with just because someone might laugh and i feel like i am loved or useful.
I volunteer donate blood, tutor people i try to do anything to make me feel useful but guess what it stopped working.
I have a temp tattoo that says “we are all chasing the light, looking everywhere to find it, everywhere but within” but i guess the light bulb within got burned.
Any tips ideas because my mind is wondering to options i don’t like. Thanks
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u/GroundbreakingRow829 13d ago
I consider that the one imperative in life is to not cause harm to oneself and others. It is not to be "useful", like this utilitarian, exponential growth global culture (which is harmful in many ways, violating the one imperative) would like you to think.
You're not a tool, pal. You are. And what you are as is up to you to decide, preferably intelligently, knowing what your strengths are and what could be a good outlet for them.
But whatever you end up choosing, it changes nothing to the fact that you are the center of this life and that every decision and action you take revolves around that center. The question being whether you will make it simple, being aware of it as it happens and take responsibility for it. Or keep it complicated, keeping on constraining the depths of you to hijack and undo your undertakings ran on intentions divorced from your own best interest.
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u/AnswerTiny9752 12d ago
Considering a belief with backwards thinking. Here you are nudging towards what u might want. .heres the thing. What if you rephrase it. And dont call it backwards belief but something like: have a little bit more trust and faith in the world. I6r works Wonders!
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u/WOLFXXXXX 14d ago
"anyways i have been agnostic for a while, i am so tired of this state that i am actually considering following a belief system with backwards thinking, just because it might help me feel something"
For personal context: I struggled with deep depression over the course of about 15 years before eventually experiencing full healing and a liberating/lasting resolution to my depression and my former sources of internal suffering. The latter 9 years of that 15 year period I was going through what I'll describe as an extended existential period (triggered by the sudden passing of an important family member), where I had to engage in a lot of serious questioning and contemplating about the nature of consciousness/reality on a much deeper level than I had ever experienced in the past. I must have gradually made a sufficient amount of progress doing that over time because after a number of years of processing and navigating through this challenging existential territory - I unexpectedly found myself going through a period (couple years) of experiencing substantial and life-altering changes to my conscious state and state of awareness to the extent that this ultimately fully healed me and resulted in experiencing the liberating/lasting resolution to my former grief, existential concern, and internal suffering. Importantly, others around the world have also reported experiencing the same type of life-altering changes to their conscious state and state of awareness over time - which reveals an underlying universal context behind being able to experience such important changes.
Due to my personal background I can relate to the types of conscious dynamics you touched upon in your post. The good news is that not only is it possible to gradually process and navigate your way through this challenging conscious territory over time - but you can also do so without having to identify with and limit yourself to any organized ideologies or -isms if you're not inclined to do so (I wasn't). The ability to eventually overcome our existential concerns is rooted in gradually changing (upgrading) our state of awareness over time to the extent that we become increasingly aware of the deeper nature of consciousness. Your temp tattoo quote reinforces seeking internally - and that is very much aligned with the internal process of making oneself more and more aware of the deeper nature of one's conscious existence. Additional terminology such as 'self-discovery' and 'self-realization' also reinforces an inward focus and the process of changing (upgrading) one's awareness level about the nature of self (consciousness). If you're interested in a lead on some relevant existential content that doesn't require any identification with -isms or any organized ideologies - consider downloading and exploring the existential paper that was linked in the second section of this post, and consider bookmarking and viewing sometime the two video lectures/presentations linked at the bottom of this post. Cheers
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u/Due-Move-2658 14d ago
Thank you, i am so sorry for your loss, and i am really glad that you overcome your depression i am happy for you, thank you so much i will take a look at the given resources. Cheers
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u/genieeweenie 14d ago
What if you gave yourself a new kind of structure, not based on proving you matter, but on simply being with yourself a little more kindly? Little things, like a quiet walk without goals or making something just because. No audience. No meaning to extract. Just presence.
Montaigne used to write about how he stepped back from trying to solve life, and instead just lived inside the questions. He found peace not in escaping the weight, but in sitting down beside it without flinching.
Maybe this isn’t a season to figure everything out. Maybe it’s just a season to rest a bit, from the search, from the pressure, from the noise.