How do you deal with existential dread?

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I don't have anything much to add on existential dread, but I do have some thoughts about this perception of accelerating time.

I first noticed it when I was in my 20s, now I am nearly 50 and it still holds true. My hypothesis is that when we consider lengths of time, we compare them to the the entirety of our remembered experience. When you are one, six months is a long time: half your life. When you are 10 six months is is 1/20th of you life. When you are 20 it's just 1/40th of your life and by the time you are 30 the same span of time is just 1/60th and so on.

So when you compare recent spans of time, you notice that time seems to be moving faster an faster. BUT....

There is another way of experiencing time and that is being deeply immersed in the present moment. Those amazing stretched of deeply lived experience that seemed to last forever STILL seem to last forever--while you are experiencing them. You can still see the universe in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour, if you ever learned to look at things that way.

So the thing that helps me deal with that sense of time rushing faster and faster is to focus on the other kind of experience of time. Being in the moment is a curious thing.

There are many experiences to take pleasure in and many ways to delight in those pleasures. If you practice this way of being, worries about annihilation will fade and when you hear time's winged chariot hurrying near, you will find it either thrillingly interesting or amusing rather than alarming.

At least, that's how it is working out for me.

^^^you're right on the spot Adamantium.

the other great way to slow down perceived time is to do new things everyday. in other words, establishing no strict routines ? no the best idea for the vast majority of users of this website my 2012 was chock-full of new experiences and halfway through it I was amazed by how long and slow it felt to me compared to the previous years that had gone in a flash. sadly I can't relocate to another country every year, but given infinite resources, that's what I'd do.

neuroscientist David Eagleman did lots of amazing research on time perception. he experimentally proved that time doesn't really slow down for us, but because time perception is inextricably linked to memory, forming new memories by experiencing new things seemingly "slows down" time. fascinating stuff.

Me too.

From what I read the existensialist despair is supposedly due to a loss of hope, due to losing something you felt was a huge part of your identity. That I can sort of relate to , as one gets older physical and mental abilities don't necessaraly get better , but I think I lost hope due to skills I never had in the first place..

But as to a sense of time getting away from me and that being tragic - I can't really relate to that. I never thought I'd make it to 30, so it's more a sense of waking up and thinking " Looks like I'm still here...."

My dad turned 61 on April 8, 2014.
He died 10 days later. No one expected that.
I turned 40 about 40 days after he died.

This all drove home for me the fact that it is egotistical to think we are going to live even 1 more day much less another decade, or two, or three. I used to have a lot of existential dread. I have decided that this, here, right now IS the point. So be here now, wherever that is for you, whether it's good or bad. If you look around and into the past and future and see no point it's because you're standing on it. Like looking for your glasses and discovering them on your face.

I'm only 20 years old and I'm already kicking myself for wasting what many people would consider the best years of one's life. Adolescence was a long, painful transition for me, and just as soon as I was starting to get to grips with being a teenager, I became an adult, and next thing I know, I'm two f*****g decades old. My friends traveled the world, built relationships, finished high school, and started building careers, all while I spent the majority of my time f*****g around on the internet, and moping about things like my parents' divorce, the loss of my childhood, etc. I even dropped out of high school just because my mental health got to the point where I became a reclusive, delusional, nervous wreck. The things I'm starting to do now at 20 are the sort of things most people started doing at 15, and my 18/19-year-old friends are all way ahead of me. Hell, the friend whose family I moved in with just turned 17, and he's ten times the adult I'll ever be.

If I could do my childhood over, if I could do my teenage years over, I would f*****g do it.

You still have time, Mr. Bigmouth. You're a smart guy. I don't remember whether you got your equivalency or not--but if you haven't, go for it!

I guess, in Canada, one could go to a "college" for computer repair. Maybe even get the equivalency while you're attending.

In the US. there are programs which combine the GED with vocational, or even university-level courses.

What devin12 says it true and I'm 51. I even looked up existential crisis about a month ago as well. We all think about it and deal with it in different ways. I think most people just distract themselves, but some of us ponder and are even drawn to dealing with these questions. It can be maddening at times. It helps me when I have special interest that keeps me focused just to give my brain a break.

There are many of us. You are definitely not alone.

I have been thinking the same thing for a while now. That was explained very well. And, the rest of your answer was well stated too. I concure.

... and then there is something to be said for this as well.

I can relate. I'm 51 and feel like I'm doing some of the things others did when they were 20. Maybe that's what they call a late bloomer, idk. Unfortunately health issues keep me from doing so many of the things now I would have liked to do when I was 18.

Beautifully stated. "... because your standing on it" indeed.


Sometimes I wish NTs would read these threads and see how deep we really are.

I can take high school upgrading at my local community college, and maybe even grab my A+ certification while I'm at it, but I have plans to move to a larger city to pursue the rest of my post-secondary education. The GED is something a person can get here as well, and I've played with the idea of taking it, but I would still need to go through upgrading to get my prerequisites up to the level they need to be at.

i feel like this all the time, except the dropping out of HS part. i'm sick and tired of going to school and constantly being reminded of how inferior, ill prepared i am to everyone else. i find that literal earplugs help.
and i am already 17.
my bigmouth, i do not know you personally but you seem like a very smart guy to me. your posting style certainly is intelligent.

i hope it goes really well for you.

I just went 61 and I can assure you, that time doesn´t disappear in a poof! It is a matter of being there every minute. Children are. Elderly people often seem to lose interest in life,- and their time goes "Pooff". As long as you wonder, what is behind the next hill,- even if you dread it, - time won´t escape you. Stay engaged.

Yes!

Nice. True too. I'm 51 and right now I have lost my sense of wonder. I'm struggling to stay engaged. The last 6 years have been one big thing after another and it just keeps coming faster and harder. I just exhausted in every way. Right now these forums are helping me tread water until - hopefully - things start getting better.