3 Signs You’ll Have An Existential Crisis at Least Once in Your Life

Where everything will seem utterly meaningless

1. You’re an Old Soul

An existential crisis happens when a person starts to see through the lies, illusions, and delusions within society.

It’s very common for old souls to go through an existential crisis because in their search for truth, meaning and love, they ask deep, piercing questions and think things others don't think about. When they can’t find the answer they seek, the result is more questioning and pondering.

The sun rises and sets and then hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes.

Wisdom, knowledge and understanding seem like a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow. The more knowledge, the more the grief.

The wise have eyes in their heads while the fool walks in the darkness, but the same fate overtakes them both.

What do people gain from all their labors? What are the rewards for toiling under the sun? All things are wearisome more than one can say. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. This, to the old soul, is meaningless.

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. All their days, their work is grief and pain; even at night, their minds do not rest.

Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new?” It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. What has been done will be done again.

There’s nothing new under the sun. Existential crisis has been here since the beginning of time.

During an existential crisis, life loses its meaning. Desires feel meaningless and dangerous because it’s not guaranteed you’ll get what you ask for. What’s guaranteed is the pain and suffering that comes with desire. Relationships seem like too much work when you’re the only one asking and questioning things. Work begins to feel like a big bad joke and so does life in general.

As an old soul, an existential crisis is to be expected because you’re too wise for your age. You see through everything and sometimes you can’t even pretend you don’t see through the lies, the fakery and the pretence.

It can have you feeling as if your old life has been stripped away and you don't even know who you are anymore or what to expect. And since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

As an old soul, an existential crisis is bound to happen because you'll always seek meaning and truth, but here’s what you do to make things feel a bit better.

If you’re struggling in this lifetime asking all these deep questions and thinking things that don’t cross the mind of others, then you can only imagine how a young soul or an unawakened soul would feel. You can turn your pain into purpose. You’re an old soul, after all. Use all the things that are embedded in your soul and the wisdom you're gifted with to help young souls navigate their own journey. It’s either serve or suffer.

The quickest way to get out of your crisis is to help and serve those in a crisis. That will be meaningful.

2. You’re an Overthinker

An existential crisis is a period in life where you’re at a crossroads and questioning your entire reality.

Most overthinkers will experience an existential crisis simply because they think too much. Their minds never stop. They overthink everything, including their overthinking.

There’ll be many things going on and they won’t stop thinking about them. They won’t stop questioning and that can lead to a crisis.

Overthinking stuffs your mind with fears, anxieties and worries because your thinking has no direction and are all muddled up, you never arrive at a solution.

This can prove to be a pain and a very challenging thing to navigate when you’re at the stage where you’re searching for the meaning of life.

You may feel a sense of despair, but the fact that you’re experiencing an existential crisis means you’re not just lost in the crowd unbothered by circumstances. It means you're in touch with your spiritual nature. You’re seeking your own truth and not the lies society wants to feed you.

Here’s how you can cope. Whenever you feel yourself starting to overthink, don't. Instead, write down all of your thoughts and feelings. Get them out of your mind so you can look at them. The more you dwell on your thoughts and make them accumulate, the more you’ll overthink and overwhelm yourself.

Writing or journaling is healing and therapeutic that you can benefit greatly from.

And also just stop thinking. Worry is pointless. Stop worrying and free your mind, for the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

Whenever you feel yourself starting to overthink, don’t.

3. You’re Highly Sensitive

Highly sensitive people or empaths are bound to experience an existential crisis at least once in their lives because they feel too much. Their nervous systems are too wide open and the result is a nervous breakdown.

There’s nothing easy with feeling everything so strongly and so deeply. This makes you feel fundamentally different from others.

It can make sensitivity feel like a curse when you’re always getting attacked by the energies around you. It can get so bad that most empaths and highly sensitive people just want to be left by themselves.

Social situations are complex and tiring for an empath or a highly sensitive person when they find themselves struggling with anxiety when in a crowd. Add strong empathy and overthinking, and you have a recipe for an existential crisis.

When you're constantly picking up the thoughts and feelings of others and you bear the burden of having to deal with them, that can be hard even for the strongest of people. It can leave you feeling small and powerless when you're having a hard time coping.

When you go through an existential crisis, it can feel as if all your energy and power has been drained from you. You may struggle to get out of bed and the smallest daily tasks like showering can feel like work you don't have the energy for.

All of this can leave you feeling tired and as if something is wrong with you. It can leave you feeling broken and empty inside. It can be so overwhelming that before you know it, you’ve quit your job, cut off all your friends and have no one to talk to. But nothing is as it seems.

Feeling empty inside and cut off from everything and everyone is extremely painful, but it’s necessary when there’s a calling on your life. It takes a sensitive person to work alongside the universe.

An existential crisis is a time of death. Death of the old you and the old ways of being. Death of the old mindset and old beliefs. It’s the death of anything that doesn't serve you, but with death comes rebirth.

During the crisis, it may look like you’re dying but you’re going through a mental, emotional and spiritual renewal.

It may not feel like that and that’s okay. Here’s what you can do to feel a little better as you wait for it to pass.

The best way to navigate these dense feelings is to connect with your inner self. If, on your best days, you’ve felt like a warrior or an alchemist, connect to that part of you and draw your strength there.

You have to use your willpower to snap out of it. Every time you use your willpower, your soul gets stronger.

If you're artistic, turn your pain into art. The best art comes from those who have known great pain. When you put your pain into art, many people — young and old — will feel such a thing and it will also help you process your pain to find the purpose.

You’re going through enough inner stress as it is, so don’t be afraid to let go of people who drain your energy further. Choose yourself and love yourself. Who else to take care of you than you?

If all else is failing, then gather the last strength and take yourself out into nature. Nature will heal you. Nature is soothing to the soul and will help you to get out of your mental prison.

No matter how you feel, you're not broken. Nothing is wrong with you. You're not alone and you're definitely not losing your mind. Actually, you’re saner than most people who question nothing and accept whatever is fed to them.

What you’re experiencing isn’t going to last forever. No matter how dark the nights seem, joy comes in the morning. Trust the process. You are on the right path, so don't stop walking.

*Reference: The Book of Ecclesiastes.

Note: This article is only meant to provide spiritual guidance and light-hearted content.

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