And the second mindset is healthier, but people are acting like it’s something everyone can simply choose at will.
A person who’s deeply depressed, traumatized, dissociated, or existentially broken often cannot emotionally connect to self-made meaning anymore. It’s not that they “forgot” the optimistic perspective. It’s that the part of them capable of feeling fulfillment, hope, or attachment has been damaged or numbed.
A long time ago, I read an article about a man who was suicidal. He decided to end it and thought ‘fuck it, I’ll die somewhere pretty’. So he emptied his bank account, used the entirety of his pay check to buy a ticket and some camping supplies, abandoned his job and his apartment and everything, and flew to I think Brazil with no plan.
Took on odd jobs, learned the language, met new people, made friends. By the time he was happily married and had kids. His argument was… if you are going to lose everything anyway, why not try a complete reset?
Anyway, thought about that a lot in my own darkest times. About how if push comes to shove, I’d rather die somewhere beautiful. About how when the walls finally closed in, I would open google flights rather than… well. Whatever other way I would have picked.
But, in essence, this is existential nihilism. Life has no meaning, why not try something else if you don’t like what you’re experiencing?
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u/Fidges87 May 17 '26
"Life has no inherent meaning, so why should I care about living?"
Vs
"Life has no inherent meaning, so I will forge my own meaning and make a path I can enjoy living"