Ask HN: Feeling Emptiness Inside
This could be depression, or simply mid life crisis, but for the past year(s) I feel empty inside. I feel no sense of purpose, no direction, no goals and no desires. Looking back at my life and career, I did everything "by the book": finished school, attended college, secured a tech job, got promoted, made more money, never took debts, and have a good savings. I moved early from my parents house, was independent, had social circle of very good friends, supportive family, found a girlfriend who became my wife. I quit jobs that I did not like, was always eager to learn and grow together with the companies I worked at.
Eventually I felt stuck, and so I followed the next steps in "the book": I took a sabbatical, went to travel, relocated to a different country, moved to a different style of tech company. Throughout my life and career I had followed all the supplementary steps of "the book": I worked with different therapists, was hitting the gym, started martial arts, was (mostly) healthy, never obese, never abused alcohol and never touched drugs. I have read all the classic books of finding meaning (stoicism, Man's search for meaning, philosophy, psychology etc). I go outside, spend time in nature, with people I love. I have by all definitions a "successful life". I have made it. I live in a very good country, I make decent money, I live below my means, have savings, and am surrounded by people I love and who love me. I'm privileged to travel and see the world, try different hobbies.
And yet, I feel empty inside. I feel dead inside. Every day is the same. The week is just an intermediary step between weekends, some of which are somewhat exciting, while most of them just pass in a blink of an eye, and the cycle repeats. Once every few months I take a bigger vacation, which ends way faster than it should, and eventually throws me into a bigger rut (post-vacation depression?).
I often think about starting from zero, but this is not realistic because of fear and because this means also breaking relationships. I think about quitting tech, but I don't know anything else, and I'm kind of dependent on my current work for my work permit. I know I'm not the only one, and I've read many people here who had similar feelings. I often ask myself "is this it? Is this what life has to offer?", and maybe it is, and I should just be grateful for what I have, but I'm not sure how to cope with the emptiness.
Any advice?
If it is not depression, then you also win, because you have ruled out one hypothesis.
"What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" Matthew 16:26
Social Pressure can be a bitch and a half. Its not like you are pushed to do something directly by others. It is just there.
And get help. Try to find a therapist who really(!) understands you. I think you will always "know the right answer" to say to make the therapist happy. Find someone who can actually look through it.
You say you have plenty of friends, but I can't help but wonder if they're able to give you the nourishment you need. It's great you have many who care about you -- but no matter how much you go drinking or hiking together, if they can't relate to your troubles, then it can still feel quite lonely.
For me personally, art -- both creating and consuming others' -- has been uniquely helpful. You can pass your feelings to a future self, and there are surely many brilliant people from the past whose work can make you feel understood too. Yes, "this" really is all there is, but it's more manageable if you find someone who sees "this" the same way you do.
What's compelling about "starting from zero"? Maybe that's a feeling you could focus in on and, from that, figure out a goal that compels you.
Good luck. Hope you find happiness :)
I am a retired psychotherapist and have been aware that this is a line sold to us by big pharma since the late 1980's. It was all lies.
there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain. this has been disproved by loads of recent research,
It may not be depression, it may just be that you are at a crossroads in life and are looking for a new direction.
The existential emptiness could be a sense of loss and you are looking to find out who you are.
go see a therapist. have a chat, see what unfolds.
oh good, feel free to share it then