Existential Nihilism: The Despairing Mindset
Nihilism is the idea that nothing really matters, and existential nihilism is the state in which a person begins to doubt the significance of their own existence. Young people in society are increasingly struggling with this depressing worldview, sometimes known as an existential crisis. It's a complex problem with a simple solution,‘optimistic nihilism’ which quite literally means giving your own meaning to things after accepting the hard truth.
What is ‘Existential Nihilism’? And why is it becoming so common?
Studies reveal a rise in existential nihilism or crisis during and after COVID 19. When everything was physically shut down and all we had to ourselves was time. The term lockdown was scary and depressing to say the least, but the idea of online school or work from home became a simple joy in our lives. It may have seemed enjoyable at first to spend all of our time at home in the comfort of our own house, but for most individuals, this later proved to be a bigger problem.
Having too much time and being confined in our homes forced us to question things we never would’ve thought of. It was unsettling to begin to doubt our purpose in life and the very idea of why we were even alive. One cannot escape the fact that we are scarcely even a blip in this huge universe. We begin to lose hope when we see ourselves from the standpoint of the cosmos and realize that nothing we do actually matters.
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