I used to struggle with existential dread quite a bit. I even remember being as young as four or five lying in bed fixating on where I came from, why I was on earth, what death meant and being quite confused.
I think it was somewhere after being burnt out at work and having my second kid I just gave up on worrying about the macro level of things and started finding joy in the simple every day things. Instead of fixating on discovering the meaning of life I decided to try to pursue things that gave my life meaning. So what does that mean? To me things that bring meaning to my own and probably most others lives fit in the following categories (with overlap):
-Family
-Social involvement (friends, community)
-Achievement/challenge
-Leisure/doing things you enjoy
-Helping others
I'm not saying I've maximized all those categories but I also don't find myself worrying about things like existentialism, mortality etc. as much.
|