How To Manage Your Existential Crisis
As intelligent and introspective women, we are constantly searching for meaning in the world. Trying to make sense of it all. At various moments in our lives, there will be no answers, pushing us to the edge of the abyss. We know that existential crises will come for us, and we know that with management, this too shall pass. We do not stand still and wallow in the melancholy for too long. We push forward, we stick to our methods, and we generate new purpose. By adopting strategies to manage our various existential crises, we can emerge as butterflies with a great sense of clarity about who we are and why we are here.
This is an extract from my book New Methods for Women. I’m reprinting this in full for Members because time and time again, I find people dealing with the eternal question of - why am I here? Gift a copy to a friend who needs it here…
If you really knew me you would know that I experience sadness a lot. Long periods where I am disconnected and not acting in true purpose. I’m just very good at hiding publicly and very good at fulfilling my duty at work. But people can feel it. They can feel my quiet black hole energy. My son and I call this “The Muffin”. When he was small, we watched the brilliant movie The NeverEnding story and for years he thought The Nothing, was called The Muffin, so we affectionately continue to call it that whenever we are sad.
What is The Nothing? In The NeverEnding story, it was the result of humans inability to believe. As their busy working worlds took over, they forgot about Fantastia, the land in the story book, and so it started to disappear, swallowed up by a dark nothingness. That is what The Muffin is. Its an apathy to the world around me, which leads to me slowly starting to disappear. I had so successfully managed my emotions and anxiety, that sometimes I just felt nothing. And as someone who feels so deeply, with the full spectrum of her emotions, this would be quite scary. Apathy protects you very well from anxiety, but I lost my heart and my drive within the process.
People, things, feelings all matter. And when they stop mattering, that is when my existential Muffin begins. In the movie, there is a significant scene where the protagonist, Atreyu, is faced with a daunting decision...
