Who am I? What’s the point of my life? What can I contribute to the world?
These are big questions you may have asked yourself from time to time. Maybe you have come up with strong, clear answers. Maybe you have not and these questions are troubling you. At those times, you may be going through what’s called an existential crisis.
Existential crisis is a period of time when you’re struggling with your identity, your place in the world, and/or the meaning of life. You may feel dissatisfied about the direction your life is going or about things that happened to you in the past.
Existence crisis constitutes a personal confrontation with certain key aspects of the human condition, like
🪞Freedom and responsibility
🪞Isolation and connectedness
🪞Meaning and meaningless
🪞Emotions, experiences, and embodiment
🪞Death and mortality
Crises earlier in life are more forward-looking.
➡️ The individual is anxious and confused about which path in life to follow, especially concerning education and career as well as one's identity and independence in social relationships.
Crises later in life are more backward-looking.
⬅️ The individual can be triggered by the impression that one is past one's peak point in life and is often characterised by guilt, regrets, and a fear of death.
Individuals who are high achievers or highly ambitious may be at greater risk for an existential crisis. Holding yourself and your life to a high (and often unrelenting) standard may make you more likely to feel that it has not met your expectations. These feelings can contribute to an existential crisis.
Therapy can help you make sense of what you’re feeling, develop new strategies to feel better, explore your values, and take action to live a life of vitality.
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