SELF-HELP, How to over come existential crisis

SELF-HELP

On weekends I sit with my friends leading corporate life and listen to them, about their life, about learning new skills and languages for being updated and relevant to their job profiles which they are not even inclined to and all this is just for the fulfillment of their own and family’s need. I realize their bank balance and their job profile are not enough to make them happy and keep going. 

All this tells us life is getting competitive every day, eventually creating stress on an individual to perform better to survive and thrive. Earlier such stress happened in later stages of life and now it's from school life as parents are forcing their kids to match the expectations set as a standard by society. Maximum people are part of the rat race; those who are not doing so are out of the market. Only a handful of people are following their passion as their profession; the rest are facing either existential frustration or existential crisis.

Existential frustration

Existential frustration is when life is without purpose or when the purpose got skewed. I feel that people in such situations have a catalyst for change; they can seek a cure, either on their own or with help of others. It helps them to change their destiny. Remember, those who have why to live for, can bear with almost, anyhow. What they need is not peaceful existence, but a challenge to meet by applying all the skills at their disposal. 

Existential crisis 

An existential crisis happens when people do what they are told to do rather than what they want to do. They often try to fill the gap between what is expected of them and what they want for themselves with economic power or by numbing their senses. We are witnessing Sunday Neurosis in working people in a very high ratio. Sunday neurosis happens when, without any job obligation and commitment to the workweek, an individual realizes how empty an individual is inside and has no reason which excites them to get out of bed. Such persons have no purpose to look forward to. Finding a purpose for which you are excited to wake up early, dream for, and plan for is the task that people facing existential crises have to do. 

In both scenarios (existential frustration and existential crisis), not only the individual who undergoes this problem suffers; rather everyone in their periphery gets affected starting from their family to the company they work for. Here the detachment to work reduces the effectiveness and efficiency in performance. It is high time to be aware of ways to overcome such situations. Every person is not blessed to afford a psychologist either due to a time crunch or due to financial issues. To help them, in my next article I will share therapies one could take to overcome their situation and live life in a better way with the purpose of looking forward.

-Bhavna Geed.