Some days, I look at the world and life in general, and wonder why anyone bothers. It’s obviously a crappy setup (red in tooth and claw and all that, even before we get into human depravity), and in the end everything’s gone anyway.
If I didn’t have my wife and cats, I don’t know what I’d do.
Porn.
Religion.
No, seriously. When you actually believe in an afterlife and some sense of justice in said afterlife, it helps with the absurdity, the injustice, the depravity, the cruelty, and the stubbed toes in life. This is probably one reason why so many belong, and have belonged, to religions. From the dawn of human intelligence (whenever that was), people relied on belief and religion to make sense of the world.
Course, if you don’t believe in a God or an afterlife of any kind whatsoever, then I have no idea. Perhaps because my belief causes a bias, but I just can’t fathom staying out of depression while being aware of global news without some belief in God.
Hopefully we won’t get into a “let’s all bash religion” discussion now.
Metamucil
Life’s little pleasures, which are probably different for each of us.
I’m with JDthDJ on this one.
I want to know what happens next.
As I said once while stepping back from a 10th floor balcony, “I refuse to believe that God is an asshole”. There are days when “God” is shorthand for other things, but in the end it boils down to “I know that, even when things look darkest around me, there is a light shining somewhere - and I want to see that light.”
Entangle your life with some things, convince yourself they are important and stay busy enough tending to them that you don’t dwell on the obvious fact that it’s all pointless. You say you have your wife and cats. That’s a great start. Throw in a kid or two and you will be so stressed, exhausted, amused, proud, exasperated, befuddled, joyous, etc, etc ,etc that there won’t be much room left for melancholy. (The real trick is to leave just enough so that you feel tragic and heroic, but not so much that it weighs you down.)
Music, Love and Knowledge!
That’s my philosophy in life, and the only things worth living for.
I keep waking up. Might as well see what happens.
I guess I hold on to the hope that there are still good things in store in the future, and that I should stick around to experience them. There are things in the near future (work week sucks? Here comes the weekend), things in the mid-future (winter’s just about here, but soon the days will get longer and spring will bring warmer temps), and things farther in the future (vacations to new and interesting places, a comfortable retirement, etc.).
A rational person chooses to end his or her life when they are suffering and there is no hope of remission. The terminally ill often fit this category. I’ve seen it suggested that some people with mental illness also fit this category, i.e. they’ve spent years trying to overcome severe clinical depression with little or no success, and so it’s understandable that they would not want to carry on in such a condition for the next 30/40/50 years.
As was suggested upthread, you can help yourself by seeking out fulfilling activities instead of waiting for life to happen to you, thus making your own future more valuable to you. Go plan a fun weekend trip with your wife somewhere. Build a playground for your cats. Do some kind of charitable work, anything from serving in a soup kitchen to building/maintaining trails in parks to tutoring kids. Educate yourself on something, anything,, either by taking classes at a community college or by reading books on your own.
Yes, there’s a lot of shit in the world, but your own life need not be shit.
I agree with much of your post but this doesn’t follow.
A person can be in great mental and physical suffering, with no prospect of improvement, yet have reasons for wishing to prolong their life as long as possible. They may be responsible for someone or something, for example. This is not irrational.
(note: I am pro-Euthanasia. I am not saying that those who do press the Exit button are wrong to do so)
There have been many times in my life that I would have quit were it not for my family.
I agree with the situation you describe. Maybe it’s closer to correct to say:
A rational person chooses to end his or her life when they are suffering and there is no hope of remission, AND they believe the world (or at least the people and things they care about) will be able to get by without them.
For me, my son is why I keep going, and my faith is how I keep going.
My church places quite a bit of importance on gratitude, even or especially when things seem bleak. It really does help me.
Inertia?
Just trying to do good in the world. I don’t understand the purpose of existence, but I do know that people suffering is bad. If I can help people who are suffering then the world is better off with me in it.
In deference to JDtheDJ - not believing in religion. And this isn’t a bash-post. But I’ve thought many many times in my life that if I believed in an afterlife, I’d take it over this shit-storm called life.
But since I don’t … this shit-storm is the only game in town, so I’ll just keep playing it until the wheels fall off.
I’m not going to bash it, but I am going to say exactly the opposite. I don’t believe in any kind of afterlife, and one of the things that keeps me going is that every day I am working to make this world a little bit better. I am helping to make this world our own heaven, which is something I think we could do. I can’t wave a magic wand and fix the entire world, but I can add to my own little part of it, and I intend to.