View Full Version : What's the point in doing anything in life?
Why do anything at all, why aspire to anything, if it can all be taken away in such a short space of time by a devastating illness like pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma (brain cancer)?
Sudden death has been a fear of mine in the past, but much scarier are illnesses like these that are practically death sentences and only give you months to live. They can strike at any time too; I'm only 27 but I've heard of cases of pancreatic cancer and brain tumors in my age group. Symptoms only show at advanced stages too.
What is the point in striving towards something, in investing anything emotionally into a person or vocation in life, if you can be then diagnosed with an illness that is guaranteed to take those things away from you? At least with sudden death you don't know you are going to lose everything.
ankietyjoe
23-07-18, 11:13
"Focus on the now, it's all you ever have"
Irony bomb
"Focus on the now, it's all you ever have"
Irony bomb
Funnily enough, overwhelmingly depressive & negative thoughts tend to get in the way of platitudes like that. Is this a forum for advice or to be needlesly mocked by keyboard warriors with nothing better to do?
ankietyjoe
23-07-18, 11:25
What do you expect people to tell you?
We're all going to die someday. There is no answer to your question, it's a question based in philosophy more than anything else.
IF I were to offer advice, it would be 'try to live in the now'.
But you already know that :shrug:
What do you expect people to tell you?
We're all going to die someday. There is no answer to your question, it's a question based in philosophy more than anything else.
IF I were to offer advice, it would be 'try to live in the now'.
But you already know that :shrug:
Underlying many cases of health anxiety is an existential issue about the meaning (or lack of it) in life.
This existential question also has an inverse argument: Why do nothing when we have so little time to be happy - for if happiness lies in relationships and our achievements - to leave with no legacy but having done nothing?
I suppose it is always easier not to strive and be swept along by our "fate"...
Is this a forum for advice or to be needlesly mocked by keyboard warriors with nothing better to do?
Wow!... being needlessly mocked keyboard warriors eh? Nice.... Never knew that a positive thought was mocking someone :lac:
FMP
The answer is simple and I'll provide two scenarios.
Scenario 1:
You invest yourself in a passion. You start working towards achieving something great in life, you get a career, a nice house and a loving family. You live your life, go on adventures, work out, learn instruments.
IF you die suddenly/get a terminal disease, then yeah, it sucks and it's all taken away from you.
IF you don't die suddenly or get a terminal disease, all those things you've done with your life were worth it.
Scenario 2:
You have the attitude as you have now. You don't invest yourself in anything, you live an unexciting life, you don't follow your dreams etc etc
Now, if you die suddenly or get a terminal disease then you don't lose much.
But if you don't die suddenly or get a terminal disease(which is the most probable case), then you have wasted your life instead of living it to the fullest.
Which scenario do you choose?
Wow!... being needlessly mocked keyboard warriors eh? Nice.... Never knew that a positive thought was mocking someone :lac:
FMP
Except the comment you've quoted doesn't relate to a positive thought. It relates to the first reply to this thread, which sarcastically quoted the phrase I've written in my signature and said "irony bomb". What's positive about being ridiculed?
Noone is given a promise how much time they have on this earth and even if they were where would you draw the line upon which you were satisfied? 50 years, 60, 70? We all hope to live long lives and pass peacefully in our sleep but few people get that reality. All we know for sure is that (as Mostu so brilliantly phrased) regardless of how much time we are given, wasting a second it gives no benefit. Would you rather give up on your life because you will die some day (inevitable and happens to everyone) or live it to the fullest and have the same outcome? I know it is easier said than done for HA sufferers and believe me I am terribly guilty of this, but those are the moments we have to acknowledge we need help and ask for it.
There is already some very good advice here. I'll add that you actually have a greater chance of developing serious illness and a young death with an attitude of life being pointless.
I would recommend that you look up Viktor Frankl and his book, "Man's Search for Meaning". It's next on my reading list as well and from everything I have seen is a very powerful book. Frankl had much more taken away from him (Holocaust survivor) than even an illness could take from us. His premise in the book is that by having meaning to life, you actually increase your chances of survival.
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There is already some very good advice here. I'll add that you actually have a greater chance of developing serious illness and a young death with an attitude of life being pointless.
Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
And thus the vicious cycle continues. Not only do I feel bad for having these thoughts, but they could actively damage my health, yet I can't stop thinking them.
I would recommend that you look up Viktor Frankl and his book, "Man's Search for Meaning". It's next on my reading list as well and from everything I have seen is a very powerful book. Frankl had much more taken away from him (Holocaust survivor) than even an illness could take from us. His premise in the book is that by having meaning to life, you actually increase your chances of survival.
Man's Search for Meaning is phenomenal.
Pamplemousse
23-07-18, 15:29
Why do anything at all, why aspire to anything, if it can all be taken away in such a short space of time by a devastating illness like pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma (brain cancer)?
It is one of those existentialist dilemmas I often ponder myself - having lost my wife suddenly some eight years ago and seen all our hopes and aspirations snatched away in a few days by sepsis.
Existence does sometimes seem terribly futile.
SetYourMindFree
23-07-18, 16:26
Why do anything at all, why aspire to anything, if it can all be taken away in such a short space of time by a devastating illness like pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma (brain cancer)?
Sudden death has been a fear of mine in the past, but much scarier are illnesses like these that are practically death sentences and only give you months to live. They can strike at any time too; I'm only 27 but I've heard of cases of pancreatic cancer and brain tumors in my age group. Symptoms only show at advanced stages too.
What is the point in striving towards something, in investing anything emotionally into a person or vocation in life, if you can be then diagnosed with an illness that is guaranteed to take those things away from you? At least with sudden death you don't know you are going to lose everything.
I've never understood the irrrational fear of death. We're all going to die. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US.
So maybe I'll turn the question around on you: Knowing death is inevitable, why fill the void between with worry over death?
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