Related Q&As: (remember to delete old Q&A and add new one’s with sentence-summary)
- Unhappy first year: This Q&A explains how one can overcome dealing with a rut as a college student.
- Successful, but not happy: This Q&A describes manageable ways to better one's mood, which could help with an improved outlook on life.
Source 1: The practice of dealing with existential questions in long-term elderly care
SUMMARY
This journal presents various ways that health organizations can handle patients dealing with existential questions. There are two components of this research: how institutions handle existential questions and how interpersonal relations between patients and personnel. The authors also mention the health benefits of individuals ascribing meaning to life. As a result, the long-term care institutions from the study implemented ways to handle existential concerns like the meaning of life.
Source 2: Depression
SUMMARY
This webpage from the NIH details the signs and symptoms of clinical depression. The information listed confirms that of the original response like loss of interest in hobbies, a persistent sad/anxious/"empty" mood, trouble concentration, feeling restlessness, and changes in weight, appetite, or sleep schedule.
Source 3: Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex supports context-dependent prioritization of off-task thought
SUMMARY
This journal article explains that a more cognitive approach to this existential dilemma. Feeling like one is in a rut could exacerbate the feeling that there is no meaning in life. This study showed the importance of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in prioritizing goals and thoughts of an individual. Ultimately, the researchers found that when an individual has compelling goals to achieve, this part of the brain increases in activation.
OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:
Since the reader mentions feeling hopeless and pessimistic, that could possibly be a sign of clinical depression. According to the NIH, over 16 million American adults have major depressive disorder, or clinical depression. Source 2 confirms that the signs and symptoms of clinical depression also include: loss of interest in hobbies, a persistent sad/anxious/"empty" mood, trouble concentration, feeling restlessness, and changes in weight, appetite, or sleep schedule. However, it is important that the reader seek out professional help and visit a healthcare provider.
If the reader is only experiencing hopelessness and pessimism, it may not be attributed to clinical depression, but rather an outlook on life that could be worked on. To better understand existential questions regarding the meaning of life, Source 1 qualitatively studied how institutions handle them in the context of long-term elderly care. The results from the study demonstrated that some people are naturally better equipped at tackling such complexities. Others showed more attention toward spirituality, while others found meaning in their day-to-day activities like interacting with others.
There are several takeaways from this study. For example, the reader can look into being involved with various communities they belong to develop meaning to life. They can also be living a more autonomous lifestyle. This means that they can seek relief from the daily grind and start engaging in activities that they deem meaningful. The importance of properly dealing with existential questions can actually reflect on one's physical health (Source 1). By having a meaningful outlook on life, one can have an improved immune system and lower cardiovascular risk, which can all reduce one's mortality.
Additionally, there could be some naturally occurring psychological reasons for the reader to feel as though they are in a rut. According to Source 3, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is responsible for representing and prioritizing the personal goals one has for themselves. This part of the brain would be activated when the participants of the study were focused on a task and later contemplated the various aspects of a task, such as the purpose of the task, the conditions in which the task was done under, and if the purpose of the task was achieved. Researchers found that when the participant does not deem the purpose of the task as worthy of achieving, they will expend less energy on completing that goal, resulting in less satisfaction with their performance.
While the reader indicates in their question that they are busy with various life activities, they could benefit from "pausing" or reducing the activities they are engaging to truly understand the purpose behind those activities. From there, the reader can focus on the present in finding meaning, which will hopefully help them better their livelihood.