How To Find A Productive Outcome Out of an Existential Crisis
As we know, there is at least one time in every human being's life when we enter an existential crisis. This time or multiple times are always seen in a negative way, since the emotions that come with these crises are absolutely overwhelming, to say the least.
Some people have to go through these crazy emotions, as young as teenagers. Talk about overwhelm! This period of time with all the changes going on with a teenager's body, not only hormonal but emotionally and mentally, is by itself a tremendously challenging time, but when hitting a crisis the consequences could be detrimental, if not handled the right way.
The best path to follow during this time is to ask for help, especially from adults who have already gone through crises like; parents, relatives, or family's closest friends, and in some cases, due to the loss of family members, teachers could be a lifesaver. Letting emotions and thoughts out in the open is an antidote to self-destruction, and can actually become a blessing in disguise, given the person in crisis follows through with the wisdom imparted by the adult guiding him/her.
By simply looking for a wise person to talk to, and following their advice, a teenager can bloom into an adult that can be a responsible, and successful member of society.
Young adults can also fall into one of these episodes, where nothing makes sense, and where darkness overtakes their minds. In moments like this, instead of wallowing in one's own despair, looking around for even the smallest evidence of beauty surrounding them can lead to a positive, and in fact, very successful outcome. This is because usually, that darkness is a lack of purpose, but this lack of sense of life can be overthrown by simply looking at the big picture, instead of just seeing what it is immediately in front of them. Being young is a superpower that needs to be valued, and utilized to go through the dark periods of life. Taking that perspective can be all a young adult needs to push through and find a way out and a wonderful outcome that will lead to a fulfilling adulthood.
The thirties and forties are the most common times to fall into existential crises because we already had job experiences or a career path we followed, or we didn't, we married, or not, had children, or not. Usually, the big problems come from us choosing the pre-disposed paths that either our parents and or society dictate, but we didn't follow our heart, our own desires, and dreams, so we start to hate our lives, and fall into deep regret.
What if I told you, that these feelings of sadness, melancholy, rage, or frustration, are a great indicator of growth. Yes you read it right, growing is a desire of getting out of our comfort zones, and those nagging emotions are our way to get to do the things we really want to do.
Now our superpowers are experience and wisdom, we know better than to let people convince us of what is right for us, we simply know that what we had chosen before isn't what we wanted, so now we can gather all the strength we need to simply re-invent ourselves. Better yet, we can be ourselves without explaining to anyone else why we are going to change our lives or some aspects of it. Life is a process, and throughout that process, we learn from our mistakes, because failure is nothing else than starting again but in a wiser way.
By recognizing that we can fail our way to success, we can become who we really want to become, and that is a spectacular way out of a crisis!
I've heard stories of people in their 60's, 70's and beyond, saying that their biggest regrets were not living the life they dreamed of and that they didn't follow their hearts and their passions. But as far as I am concerned, if we are alive, we can still dream, and somehow recreate those dreams at least in our minds, because what we think becomes our reality.
It is up to us!
Personally, I had gone through all those existential crises, but I'm grateful I did because they made me realize I could do what I really love, and I am still learning and trying to do what I truly want, therefore, existential crises are very positive because they make us grow as human beings that want to create a lifestyle we want to live, a lifestyle worth living!
What are your thoughts on existential crises?
Let me know in the comments.
Thank you for stopping by!
