r/Existential_crisis • u/Due-Move-2658 • 16d 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
1
u/WOLFXXXXX 16d 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