How to: survive an existential crisis

Often people talk about having an 'existential crisis'- the definition of an existential crisis being 'the moment at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life; whether their life has any meaning, purpose of value.'

For me, it's never been that hard to accept ('it' being that the fact that anyone is alive is a complete accident and serves no purpose whatsoever)- one day I kind of 'realised', but I had known before that anyway.

I guess I've dealt with the whole 'my life is meaningless existence is purposeless are we even real?' thing quite efficiently- whilst I have no idea why I so readily accept the idea that even as I type these words they hold no meaning, it does put me in a position to give advice, in a way, or at the very least to tell you how I manage to go about my day to day life knowing that, like, the universe might not even exist.

There are not many things that we can know for certain, but I try to base my aims in life around things that I do know to be true

1. That I am alive, or living in some sort of imitation of life that it is close enough to be considered a life
2. That there are many other people who are also alive, or 'living' in a shared experience of 'life'
3. That there will continue to be life or 'life' in some form due to the infinity of the universe
4. (The universe is infinite)

(4. is not directly relevant, but it's just about my favourite thing to know. Consider- there will always be something more, something else)

From these observations I sat down and thought 'what should I do? How can I justify doing things? Can anything really ever be considered worthwhile?' And I thought 'yes', and this is how:

1. Yourself. You exist, or think that you exist and hence exist in some form, so aim to be happy. Aim to find enjoyment in the things you do in whatever way that you can.
2. Others. There are other people that exist similarly- billions of others. Try to help others in whatever way you can- whether that is by being a friend to someone or through education or charity.
3. Future. More people will exist in the future, and whilst you may not be there to see them, help them in whatever way possible. Build foundations for a better world.

This is starting to sound really silly now, and if I'm being perfectly honest the whole thing sounds way more pretentious on paper than it does in my head (the 'in my head' version is more of a 'do good stuff for you, others and the future the end') but I wanted to write it down, so I will live with it seeming pretentious.

Lastly, I would like to add a point- perhaps the most important of them all. You don't have to do this. You are alive, and you can chose to do whatever you want with your life. Don't want to, or can't help others? That's fine- everything you do is your choice, and more often than not our choices seem to be all that we have that show us that we are people. Please, if you are reading this, don't feel bad about yourself- you are alive and therefore you are perfect.

Anyway, there's my how to guide for how to exist in a meaningless world- I hope that you enjoyed it, and maybe even that it helps in some way.

-Orla