Is there an existential crisis section?

Post Edited (It's Genetic) : 9/7/2011 10:40:50 AM (GMT-6)

Do you actually have depression? I didn't but it dropped on me like a stone not long ago yet. I know what a shock it can be when we realise we are actually human and will die, all of us, evenetually. Some sooner than others.  Are you saying you weren't aware of this? I'm sure you were but a diagnosed disease or illness can be a huge burden at least initially. I haven't figured mine at all yet, just drinking lots right now.

Please don't take this personally but you seem to be over dramatising this issue. It's not an existential crisis at all and has nothing to do with your age. Saying it's n existential crisis simply means you are worried about dying. Keep it simple and don't complicate things as it just makes it all harder to understand. Do you actualy know what existential means? All it means is pertaining to existence. Pertaining to life. Nothing deeper than that, you're worried about life and death. Many people worry themselves so much about death but the truth is it makes no difference except they waste their life pondering the inevitable. Initially you said it was breast cancer in which case I would have said there really isn't a lot to worry about if it was caught early. A tumour though. Does frighten anyone so much as we don't know anything. We fear the worst and maybe that happens. But there are so many who come through with a benign and removable problem.

My brother and his wife both contracted cancer within about a year apart and went through all the treatments but both were also cleared in time. My son in law too has been through it and his was malignant, all three were. And all 3 came through having it contained. I think the key seems to be catching it early. Nasty treatment, chemo but life saving. I have to say you don't "evolve" beyond illnesses. You get better or worse depending on the treatment and your own strength. Your youth and fear is showing with what you have written and that's fine, it's how you feel. But believe me it will be just another awful event in what will likely be a long and happy life.

Big questions are what I love writing about and thinking about and yours is one of those big ones which many fail to express. Just leave it as a puzzle in your mind, not dominate your life.

You say you don't know if you're clinically depressed as you haven't followed up on that. I can tell you that you are not clinically depressed based on those words as that term means a case of depression being treated by a clinician, a doctor. Right now it may or may nor be depression but if you do it in your own time all you will be doing is increasing the chances it will develop when, again, early intervention is the only good choice. It's procrastination and apparently we all do it in not accepting what MAY be wrong. Not is, a doctor needs to tell you, a diagnosis. If you do know what words mean then you must also know that when writing or addressing an audience of people whose abilities you don't know you should use the most commonly accepted and known term for what you talk about. Why complicate your message? You're worrying about dying, that's not complex, it's just very sad if it happens before it's due.

I learnt a lot about depression through my wife as she battled with it for years and I didn't know what it was until she suddenly disappeared and was found, dead. Now I know and it's only recent I'm trying to remember all she said about it as she was doing OK and then.... I don't know what happened.

I'm not criticising you in any way, just trying to give you some thoughts to ponder. Of course your age has a lot to do with your thoughts as you haven't experienced that much as yet so much of life is uncertain and unknown. You can't buy experience, but you can listen and read to people who've been there and done that. I remember knowing everything when I was much younger too. Well, I was way wrong as I still don't really know much at all. Everything that happens is often new and I don't know what to do in such a new situation. Like right now, I'm just lost and miserable and struggling so bad I can't sleep, don't eat and am bone weary.

You say you're looking for a philosophy that works for you. May I ask why? Is it because so many seem to know what theirs is and seem certain of it? I can tell you that most peope are faking it with their belief sets and way of life. It only takes one event and their faith, certainty etc is shattered and gone. You have a philosophy of "enjoy it while it lasts". That is the best there is. There doesn't have to be anything deep and meaningful in life. Just enjoying what you can, when you can is hard enough. To impose meaning over and above just living is really assuming you have a specific purpose or even that there is a God who predetermined your role in life. None of that is real or true. It's just what so many believe as they do not have a grip on their own truth. They give their minds to the unknown trusting "it" will care for and guide them.

That really isn't a way to live today, it was thousands of years ago when humans knew next to nothing. Today we know so much and people still deny it and try to pretend some God created everything and will help us when we need it. Not so, it's us and experts in relevant fields, such as doctors and specialists right now for you. And me. Don't keep searching for a philosophy thatis "meaningful". You will know what it is when you are ready for it and right now what you have is as good as life philosophy gets. Searching for such will surely lead to you settling for something cos it sounds OK rather than fits like a glove.

Hope you get good results, and soon.