Have you ever experienced a feeling of emptiness? Life feels confusing where you cannot recognize whether it is sadness or boredom that you are facing right now. This condition is something that can be experienced by anyone and can be overcome.
Feelings Empty and Void
In Psychology, this condition is called emptiness. Emptiness is the feeling that one can no longer find joy, hope, or satisfaction in life.
When a person experiences emptiness, that person will plunge into inner conflict that often results in escapist behavior. This feeling of emptiness is frequently associated with hopelessness, depression, and loneliness (Hunt MG, 2018).
Why Does Life Feel Empty?
Feelings of emptiness and void are the result and culmination of a collection of feelings such as loneliness, confusion about life and purpose, or lack of motivation to pursue anything in life. This condition can be experienced by anyone from time to time.
Life situations such as experiencing a traumatic event, losing a loved one, or having unresolved past experiences occasionally require a person to reflect on herself/himself and can lead to feelings of emptiness (outofthefog.net)
Also, a life of emptiness can be caused by a lack of contact with oneself that makes one not recognize oneself or one’s purpose in living life. Several people call this like living without purpose.
The condition of having a toxic relationship or a demanding job is also said to trigger the presence of feelings of emptiness in a person. Aside from that, in today’s digital era, excessive use of social media is also referred to as one of the factors which trigger a person to feel lonely and empty (Hunt MG, 2018).
Further Psychological Impacts
The condition of emptiness and voidness that a person experiences for a long enough duration to disturb their activities can lead to the presence of further psychological impacts. This is related to some psychological conditions that include emptiness as a symptom and criteria for diagnosis.
Generally, a person who experiences emptiness will be overcome by feelings of hopelessness and experience a decrease in motivation. This condition takes away the pleasure in living every day. The loneliness that is present occasionally encourages a person to do things that are impulsive as an effort to overcome the unpleasant feelings he/she feels.
This condition makes someone who experiences emptiness vulnerable to mental health problems such as depression, alcohol and drug addiction, and personality disorders. These feelings have to be solved immediately so as not to cause further impacts in a protracted manner.
6 Ways to Solve Life that Feels Empty and Void
If life feels empty and void, do the following:
- Journaling
When you feel empty, you are going to dwell on your thoughts. Negative thoughts are going to dominate your mind and exist like a vicious cycle which repeats itself. This condition becomes a cycle which puts you in a feeling of emptiness and voidness in living life.
You are able to break these negative thoughts by writing down what you feel and think so that you are able to see and view these negative thought patterns more objectively. Also, Journaling is known as an effective way to express the emotions in your mind rather than just thinking about them.
- Practice Self-Care
The feeling of emptiness in life is said to be present due to a lack of contact with oneself. You are able to overcome this by regularly practicing self-care as a form of attention to yourself. Self-care is an activity as a form of compassion for oneself.
This is routinely exemplified by doing activities that make you comfortable with the purpose of knowing yourself better and expressing a form of love to yourself. You are able to do old hobbies or explore your bucket list as a form of self-care.
- Do Meditation and Spiritual Practices
The concept of emptiness and voidness in life is frequently associated with philosophical and spiritual traditions. The crisis of existentialism identifies meaninglessness as the reality of one’s life. This theory views that a person is capable of discovering meaning in their own life and discovering inner wisdom and achieving a sense of meaningfulness for their life.
You are able to practice mindfulness or improve spiritual practices, such as worship as a form of reflective effort in discovering meaning in your life to overcome emptiness. By regularly doing meditation and spiritual practices, you are able to facilitate yourself to connect with the power beyond yourself and encourage a dialogue with yourself to view the conditions you are experiencing more calmly.
- Stay Connected
The emptiness felt in life is called the peak of loneliness that a person may experience. In this case, you are able to overcome it by staying connected with your social circle. You are able to reach out to someone to share what you are feeling, be it an old friend, family, partner or even a pet.
- Find Meaning, Join Social Activities
One of the best ways to overcome the emptiness of life is by actively participating in social activities. Through social activities, you are able to expand your views and thoughts so that it puts you in an open condition in living life.
Social activities are able to encourage a person to have the ability to be empathetic, reflective so as to bring meaning to his/her life. Social activities such as social services, raising humanitarian aid, are interesting things to try.
- Contact a Professional
If the feeling of emptiness and voidness in living your life has persisted and disturbed you in your activities, try to consult professionals such as psychologists and psychiatrists. The existence of further psychological impacts which begin with feelings of emptiness becomes a turning point for you to be able to conduct further examinations. Avoid doing self-examination or self-diagnosis because it is prone to misdiagnosis and treatment.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
