I’m pushing half a century in an industry that is not kind to old guys. I try to fend it off but every now and then it hits me. I’m pretty sure this is not unique to my life experience, or it wouldn’t have a term :-)
Used to get it every time I read an article on the current state of climate change. The dread has kinda just shifted to acceptance. Short of some miracle-tier scientific breakthrough or like literal divine/extraterrestrial intervention, we’re just hard fucked and there isn’t jack we can do about it.
Kinda adopted the personality of this dude:
I’ve been watching Station Eleven, The OA, and The Leftovers. The idea we’re all just jumping around different timelines/dimensions, repeating the same stories over and over is kind of fun. But then I remember I’ve never seen any evidence that’s even remotely true :/
This man has the answers to Patrick’s exit-pencils crisis.
At least once a week. Sometimes almost daily.
Pretty much daily. I just want it to end
Ah it is 5:30, time for my evening existential crisis. I have to be sure not to go over again as I don’t want to miss my show.
It comes in waves for me. I’ll feel fine for a few weeks, maybe a month or two, then I’ll be deep in the depths for days, weeks straight. Mostly at night, staring out my bedroom window, contemplating the horror of the abyss.
I have to agree with you here because it comes in waves for me as well. But often spread out between 4-6 months and then I’ll get it for 2-3 weeks straight. It’s very unpleasant and I’m sorry you’re experiencing this.
Right back at you, yeah it’s rough. I am seeking out getting medication for it but we’ll see.
Existential?
More like Exponential Dread.
At 50+, I get it almost daily. I never had it before. Not sure if its the state of the world we live in now, aging, or a combination of both. All I know is I’m glad I’m old and won’t be around to see some of the stuff I’m scared of.
Wait, you guys stop having it?
Every day since I was in junior high about. Knowing that I have nothing to really look forward to except working a job I don’t really want to afford to barely keep myself alive right up until the day I die, alone and forgotten.
As I have gotten older, the frequency of episodes have decreased. In my early 40’s now. I would say it occurs at least once every 3-4 months as opposed to weekly in my teens.
Hey, it could be worse, you could be a kid whose whole world is in the midst of melting down before they’ve even had a chance to realize what life could’ve been like if not for the shitty decisions of the preceeding generations.
Almost never.
I used to have it a fair amount, and medicate myself to avoid it a fair amount as well, and then just about exactly 20 years ago, in the span of about three days, I started feeling sick, got more and more sick, went to the doctor and discovered I had cancer, and had emergency surgery. Then I went through about six months of really awful chemotherapy.
I definitely wouldn’t recommend having cancer as a cure for existential dread, but it worked for me.
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I accept it as a part of living.
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What broke for you?
I’d imagine the constant terror.
Makes sense
Weekly. I’m pushing 50yo too. My industry is dying a slow death.
Not sure to up our down vote lol
Always. I stopped caring. The world will burn, whatever. Who cares.
“Who cares” is main reason why I have existential dread. Other reasons are that I’m just shit at living life.
Same.
Its taking a long while to not still have moments of dread though.
World’s fucked and burning. Somehow that’s partisan.
Almost 15% of the population of my country thinks climate change is fake news.
Massive corruption in the highest levels of government, which no one can apparently do anything about.
Massive wealth inequality, American dream is dead.
No one can afford a house because of the wealth inequality and companies like blackrock buying them all…
Also, we are going over the tipping point for mass extinction.
Yeah we are totally fucked in every direction. Time to do some drugs about it I guess.
Not worried about being dead, really. I didn’t exist for millennia, I got my time in the sun, I won’t exist for the rest of time. It hasn’t bothered me.
Dying on the other hand sounds like a painful, grief-ridden, stress filled misery. I really don’t want to have anything to do with a drawn-out death. That’s what bothers me.
