Existential Anxiety, Stress, and Meaning-Making in Your Life
Existential anxiety is an all-encompassing form of anxiety and stress that is present in a nagging way when we try to make meaning in life simply because, as humans, we exist. That’s a fun concept, isn’t it? We experience anxiety, stress, strife, worry, and even panic simply because we are alive. Being alive is certainly a wonderful thing, but existential anxiety can put a damper on it (this might be an understatement). Why does mere existence cause us dissonance and different kinds of stress, and can it go away? Can we make meaning in our lives despite this existential anxiety and stress?
Existential Anxiety and Stress Can Be Unclear
A great example of someone with existential anxiety is Charlie Brown. Ol’ Chuck appears pretty calm; his angst is in his thoughts and feelings. Sometimes existential anxiety also involves agitation, fretting, and anxiety attacks.
There’s a great scene in one of the Peanuts cartoons in which Charlie Brown is at Lucy’s Psychiatric Help stand. Lucy is pelting Charlie Brown with a list of phobias that might be causing his anxiety and depression.
Lucy: Maybe you have pantophobia. Do you think you have pantophobia?
Charlie Brown: What's pantophobia?
Lucy: The fear of everything.
Charlie Brown: That's it!
Indeed, existential anxiety and stress can be vague when you're trying to make meaning in your life. For Charlie Brown, it felt not like specific fears such as the fear of cats or the ocean, but like the fear of everything. (Lucy should really have called it panophobia, but we can forgive her because after all, she’s only in elementary school.)
When We Wonder About Our Very Existence, We Experience Existential Anxiety and Stress
This anxiety that causes us to feel unsettled and uncomfortable, anxious about everything but unable to articulate exactly what it is, is frustrating in its ambiguity. This anxiety and stress that make us feel tired yet wired, make our thoughts race about what feels like nothing, make us afraid of things we can’t pinpoint and thus can’t address or avoid actually can be a very positive part of our existence.
The unspecific nature of existential anxiety is caused by the fact that the anxiety is indeed about our existence, about life’s big questions and about making meaning in your life. When we are anxious and stressed about everything and about nothing, it is often because it is the human way of wrestling with what’s important:
- Who am I?
- What is my purpose?
- Where do I fit?
- Why is the grass greener over there, and how do I get mine that way?
Grappling with these life questions causes existential anxiety, yes, but this gives us the opportunity to create meaning in our own life.
Existential Anxiety Can Lead to Meaning-Making in Our Life
Worrying about the answers to the big life questions can be both the source of existential anxiety and the liberation from it as we create meaning for our lives and ourselves. We do have the power and ability for meaning-making. Really, if we have the ability to be anxious, it makes sense that we also have what it takes to cure that anxiety and live a life of purpose.
Fretting and stressing about who we are, our place in life, and what we’re passionate about doing can cause us to become stuck in the past (“I should have done x,” “I shouldn’t have said y,” etc.). It can also cause us to attempt (unsuccessfully) to live in the future and frolic in the land of “what-ifs.” Projecting our thoughts into the past or the future means that our thoughts are not in the same place as we are – the present.
Meaning Making and Getting Rid of Existential Anxiety and Stress
There are many ways to live in the present and create meaning in our lives. Here are a few user-friendly tips that have worked for people:
Ponder Those Times You Feel Less Anxious
For example:
• Keep a gratitude journal. This is a very common technique for overcoming difficulties and creating wellbeing. For existential anxiety, the goal is of course to jot down the things for which you’re grateful, but beyond that to look for patterns among those items. Does your gratitude often involve family? Friends? Opportunities for learning? Time in a given activity? When you see the patterns, you start to notice exactly what it is that makes you feel joy.
• Find flow. Similar to the patterns of gratitude, what are those things where you find flow? A state of flow occurs when you are doing something so engaging that you lose yourself. You forget about your anxiety, and you feel both calm and vibrant.
Decide where you can make more of the above things, where you can make more meaning, and take steps to do them.
Do more of what makes you less anxious. What little things can you do every day to make meaning and decrease anxiety?
Existential anxiety is part of the human experience; however, that doesn't mean that we have to live in perpetual stress, worry, and fear. When we pause over life’s big questions, we can use our own answers for meaning-making. When we live a life meaningful to us, existential anxiety becomes more calm and peaceful and changes, simply, to “exist.”
You can also connect with Tanya J. Peterson on her website, Google+, Facebook,Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.
APA Reference
Peterson, T.
(2015, April 2). Existential Anxiety, Stress, and Meaning-Making in Your Life, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 22 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/anxiety-schmanxiety/2015/04/existential-anxiety-stress-and-meaning-making-in-your-life
Author: Tanya J. Peterson, MS, NCC, DAIS
I am so glad to have found your posts many months ago. You understand anxiety and give such useful suggestions. So many articles on anxiety are written by people who obviously have never had severe anxiety, so their advice (take a warm bath, etc...) is almost laughable. When you suffer from an anxiety disorder, a warm bath doesn't help. Thanks so much for your genuinely helpful articles.
Hi Sheila,
Thank YOU for your supportive feedback! I'm so glad you can tell that my articles are genuine and come from experience. That explains why I've never recommended taking a warm bath to get rid of anxiety! :) Sure, they can induce relaxation and be helpful for stress, but as a remedy for intense anxiety they're all wet. (Sorry for the bad pun.)
a bad bout of existential anxiety--rooted in material things going on in my life at the time--started me on therapy, which i soon gave up, since i wasn't sure anything existed, let alone the therapist. eventually things calmed down, once i saw that my worst fears--like not existing, or that everything my senses were telling me was sham--either could not come to pass (if i don't exist then there's no "me" to be anxious (going back to Descartes), or if true, then: "ok, things might be sham, but sitting in this sham park on a sunny day seems ok, so what now?" it's human to look for certitude in everything, but there are questions about life we can't answer, and we have to make that leap of faith.
Hello Gene,
Thank you for sharing your insightful perspective! This will be helpful to many readers. (By the way, I'm a fan of Descarte and like the reference.)
Exactly this! I have been struggling with the "nothing is real" mentality myself recently. I'm happy I read this because it is a great way to see the world and cope with my anxiety. Thank you so much.
I thought maybe I simply had a problem with depression?, my brain?, mental issues?.....etc...etc...etc....to the point of getting therapy, BUT I read your website! It was an epiphany for me! This website described me to a T! Just tell me were I can get more info and read more on Existential Angst and working through it! Let me also say
" I believe the good Lord directed me to your website!"
Hello Sherrie,
How wonderful that you discovered something helpful! I'm happy that this resonated with you (existential and meaning-making resonates with me, too). I think the best resources are books about existentialism. Their themes are usually broader than "just" anxiety, but their ideas still apply. Bookstores have books on existentialism, and so do libraries. A pioneer in existential counseling is Rollo May, and he wrote many books. I have some of his books, and I like them for their content but not so much the writing style. :) Enjoy pursuing this topic. By your interest, you've already begun working through existential angst.
thank you very much.it is because from now on.i know my.part.what do i have to do regardding with my problems meet.
Hello edralin,
Thanks for reading and commenting! It can be empowering to know that we have a part to play and things we can do to overcome problems and challenges. We truly do. While it's not always easy, especially at first, we can indeed define our lives and make them worth living in spite of problems. Enjoy taking the steps!
Thank you so much Tanya, its a really big help for me. I've been suffering anxiety for long time. All i know is just anxiety. But when i read all this, Baaaaam! This is such helpful tip in surpassing the anxiety attack. sleep and bathing or even massages can cure anxiety for a second but not working at all.
Hello Iris,
I'm happy that this was helpful to you! I agree with you (from my own experience) that sleep, bathing, massages, etc. can indeed be helpful but aren't long-term cures. Many times, anxiety is linked to the deeper things in life. Realizing that (and continuing to remind myself of that) is helpful to me. I'm glad that it could be helpful to you as well!
Hey, thanks Tanya for writing this post about anxiety, I have anxiety which falls in MANY different categories so I'm not sure what to make of mine or what to call it. For example I have; separation, existential, social & generalized anxiety, worry and panic attacks, I suffer from almost every phobia known to be either relevant or irrelevant (I only use that word to describe fears most people may see as ridiculous) all rolled up into one "disorder" lucky me! this is causing me to have to apply to disability and is in general ruining my life. I just wanted to take the time to thank you as I didn't know existential anxiety "was a thing" I know for a fact I have felt the way you have described things and it opens my mind to at least understanding the concept of it and what I am feeling so great webpage.
Hello Chris,
Thank you so much for your feedback and comment. I appreciate knowing that the article was helpful to you. (As you are likely aware, anxiety can make us question the quality of our work!) I'm happy that you have a new understanding of an aspect of anxiety. Understanding helps people better deal with things. Disability exists to help people in your situation, so don't be anxious about being on it. :) It can give you the chance to regroup and figure out what you'd like for your life so it doesn't feel ruined. That can help you develop a plan for it. Best of luck to you as you deal with anxiety.
Very helpful and succinctly written article. Thanks Tanya.
I think I started deep-thinking (day dreaming) too much from age 10 onwards! Anyway, you learn to live with it, although it has hampered me along the way no doubt.
Hello Benjamin,
Thank you for the feedback! I agree with you -- we learn to live with it. It can definitely be irritating and sometimes block us. Learning to live with it is helpful. It's not the final step. Learning to live with it means, in part, not fighting it, which allows us to better address it and even transcend it. By the way, I've been doing this since childhood, too. :)
Thank you for this article. I woke up this morning and just had this 'why does anything exist' anxiety in my head! A great way to start the day :-) It's nothing I haven't thought before. Anxiety has a way of replacing one distressing thought with another. I have been jumping from one to the other quite a bit lately, not always existential. I want to reach a place where I just accept everything.....
Hi Nicki,
Striving to be in a place of acceptance is a great goal (I say this because it's one of my goals, too!) Jumping from thought to thought, overthinking, mind-reading, and more are frustrating and exhausting things anxiety does in our brains. Quieting the mind and meeting things with calm acceptance is a journey. It's attainable, too, because we are in charge of our journeys. Notice improvements along the way, and you'll find anxiety steadily calming down. Enjoy the journey!
How do I help my 7 year old boy who has existential anxiety? Any books? Ideas? He is gifted and these racing thoughts are scaring him about our existence
Hello Margaret,
Children can definitely experience anxiety and anxiety disorders. Anxiety can be especially problematic for gifted children because they are intelligent and curious enough to read about "adult" issues, yet developmentally they are children. At 7, your son doesn't have adult thinking and processing patterns or the life experience necessary to put the big existential issues in perspective. Why Smart Kids Worry and What Parents Can Do To Help by Allison Edwards, LPC is a helpful resource. Dr. Dan Peters has written two books on kids and anxiety that are also good resources, but they're not written specifically for gifted children. Play therapy techniques could be excellent for helping your son deal with anxiety. Play therapy allows children to explore and work through things in ways other than talking. Even gifted children, because of their developmental age, can have a difficult time articulating the extent of their anxiety. Play therapy is a technique whose effectiveness with issues like anxiety, depression, trauma, and more has been proven. Many communities have play therapists, and you can also read about it on your own. Encouraging your son to just play in an unstructured way could also be very beneficial.
listening to music makes it a little better-or if you find something you can hold in your hand and focus on that (if you have one thing it becomes a very important little thing)
Hi Lola,
You highlight something important and quite accurate: engaging the senses helps us be intentionally mindful and thus pulls our thoughts away from anxiety. That's very powerful. Thanks for sharing something that works for you!
hearing more from peterson regarding my situation with existential anxiety
Is it odd I suffer from this and I just turned 15?I always get in trouble from my mom because "I'm so negative." But I'm just afraid or I don't like alot of things. Life is stressful at the moment but I've been writing and that kind of helps me.
Hi Denise,
It's not odd at all. Unfortunately, anxiety doesn't have age boundaries, even existential anxiety (maybe especially existential anxiety). This type of anxiety is always there, and we really can't control what thoughts it's going to put into our head and when. That said, we have a great deal of control over how much attention we give it. It seems that you're already zeroing on one of the best ways to deal with anxiety. Despite all of the stresses and anxious thoughts, find something you love to do. Having a purpose and passions helps you focus on what's important. You can pay attention to these things rather than onto the negative. So keep doing what you've discovered!
ive been searching all over because ive been feeling like this. i was even in bed with my husband and before i opened my eyes i was like in my head, "life is so weird, ill probably open my eyes and think my husband looks strange." Then when i opened my eyes and looked at him, BAM, i got scared. is this kinda the same thing? like anything and everything can trigger the scary fear feeling, sometimes things trigger it one day and then other times they wont. i also researched hyperawareness ocd and they say the automation of life and bodily processes can create disturbing feelings. i believe i have a mixture of existential anxiety, panic attacks, ocd, hyperawareness, dissociaton (derealization) it sucks. please try and give me some insight. im on a waiting list to see a psychologist. i feel normal, more normal than alot of people but have just been seemingly "locked" inside my head.
Hi Nina,
The experience of feeling locked inside your head is a frustrating one to say the least. It's great that you are on a list to see a psychologist (not great that there's a waiting list, but great that you have put yourself on it!). In the meantime, you might want to investigate mindfulness. Mindfulness helps people stay out of their head and in the present moment and is used for many different challenges by many different people. It's not an instant fix, but it really is very helpful in allowing people to life in each moment. For example, rather than thinking your husband looks strange, mindfulness would allow you to use all your senses to observe things as they are while the other thoughts just exist quietly in the background, eventually floating away.
I feel my anxiety falls into this category. I have had it for about 20 years and have always felt I was alone. It is refreshing to find other people who suffer from simply being afraid of being alive. I was always afraid to tell people because I thought they would perceive me as suicidal by saying I was completely terrified of life itself. Almost like I live my life sub consciously, going through the motions, and I stop to think and realize this is real...and I get an extreme sense of terror where I have had to punch things or yell at the top of my lungs to hope the fear subsides. It is a dibilitating feeling. I have lost jobs over it. I am glad I am finally looking into getting help more than my PCP, but it has come of the hands of some of the worst panic attacks from this to date. It's been almost constant for three weeks. I have been taking Valerian Root and my Xanax to help stay calm, but I really think I need to take the step to go talk to someone. I need help with better thoughts and ways to cope when my panic happens.
Hi Dustin,
Your description sounds frustrating and miserable. While these are of course very real and legitimate experiences (the fear, the feelings, the reactions, the panic -- all of it), you don't have to live with them forever. You're already taking charge (but it probably doesn't feel that way yet) by reading information and taking the step to talk to a mental health professional. This is something you're dealing with. "You" -- your very self -- are much bigger. Hang in there and keep at it.
Hello its really relaxing to see that people feel this too. I have experienced this for 2 weeks now and it feels terrible. I look at the things around me and ask myself why do they exist? Why are they formed like this? How come the world is in this shape? It scares the hell out of me. It has locked me in my bed and I really hope that this can get better. Thank you for this wonderful writing.
Hello Rai,
I'm so glad that you feel better about this and know that you're not alone. Yes, this can definitely get better. Also, you sound like one of your strengths is curiosity. You could use some of your thoughts as opportunities for exploration. :)
Can you highlight a handful of things to do to help this? My symptoms are similar to what you've written about in the above article and I also have some relatable to in the comments here. Just wondering why I'm here and why im doing the things I am. It's freaking me out big time and really hope I can fix it.
Hi Zander,
Existential anxiety can indeed freak us out big time. Speaking from experience, I'd say that's a great way to describe it. In dealing with existential anxiety, two very important concepts are often helpful: values and action. With many things, working on thoughts can help, but in my personal and professional experience, focusing on thoughts and "fixing" them isn't helpful at all. In fact, it can make things work. You might consider trying identifying your values -- what is important to you, what makes a quality life, etc. Then, with your values in mind, determine actions, steps that you can take every day to live those values. It's a process rather than a quick-fix, but it's one that can bring a sense of peace to who you are and how you are living your life.
Such apt description for existential anxiety. Any suggestion on concrete methods to overcome this anxiety and live in the present; basically be handle the intruding existential thoughts and come back to the present
Hi Ali,
Many people recommend both meditation and mindfulness as ways of dealing with existential anxiety. Meditation trains the mind to be calm and focused on the present moment and to let intrusive thoughts "simply" pass through without getting caught up in them. Mindfulness involves using many different senses to focus on the present moment. Attending to sensory input crowds out anxious thoughts. Both take practice and patience, but they're worth it. I use both, although I am far from a master.
But how do you get over the fact that time, money, economy, government and society is all man made and means nothing? I feel like I've found a door to the outside and lost the key and now I can't get back into the mainstream view of the world. How can I go back?
Hi Rei,
I find that having things I care about/am passionate about grounds me in the world. I'm curious what other people do to get back!
Yes. This is exactly what I'm struggling with. I am only 19, and I feel like I'm too young to be dealing with something like this. But one day, I just up and realized that one day, I and everyone I know is going to die, and literally everything in the world around us - society, money, government, culture, social media - are all manmade things and, in the grand scale, mean nothing. I don't know how to snap out of it. I don't know how to feel like I'm back to normal. This is driving me insane.
Hi Sara,
Actually, you're not too young at all. At 19, you're an adult -- but a new one. You have new perspectives and ideas without tons of independent life experience to check those ideas against. You also must be a great thinker and quite intelligent. As you probably suspect, there isn't a definitive answer or solution to the things you're wrestling with. If you like to read, you might get a lot out of looking into Viktor Frankl. He founded what's called logotherapy, or therapy using meaning. He was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, as were his wife and other family members. As you can imagine, he witnessed and experienced great horrors, and he lost everyone but a sister who moved away after the war. He wondered how it was that some people remained emotionally strong in the camps while others were crushed. He himself wanted to survive in every sense of the word. He was already an existentialist when he entered the camps (he had been a psychiatrist before his imprisonment), and he noticed the theme of meaning. When people make meaning, find a tangible reason to live and have joy despite death, destruction, and the possible fall of society, they can thrive despite all these problems and more. You'll be able to find many of his books at a library, and of course they're on Amazon, B&N, etc. There is a Viktor Frankl Institute online, but not all of it's information is useful. Some is rather esoteric and unhelpful. His information overall, though, might be very insightful for you.
I'm happy more people feel this way I always look for answers about life and the after life i hope and wish that this isn't it that death it self isn't the end. I felt better by hearing Near death experiences but pretty much could say that curiosity sucks because I also question our population and how would we all transfer to the the after life. I am self aware and the existantial anxiety makes me feel like I'm only going to see life through my own shoes and no one else's and I question everything about why some die young and some old
Hi Mrs. Peterson, I am 15 years old and I have existential depression along with adhdh and social anxiety. Adhd along with a 136 iq is what I believe causes me to contemplate about my existence. I am entertained by close to nothing, and one of the only things I find stimulating (video games) is only allowed on rare occasions by my parents. My question is, how can I stop thinking what I am doing is meaningless, and how can I find a purpose?
Hi Trent,
You just touched on the Catch-22 of existential anxiety/depression/world view: It can lead to the sense of meaninglessness you mentioned, but meaning is what decreases the sense of existential angst (which, by the way, is a co-conspirator of teenage angst. It's a developmental experience.) This does not mean that you have to live without meaning and purpose. Knowing that you want to create a purpose already puts you ahead of the game. Think of this as an adventure of discovery. Take interest inventories such as the Strong, O*Net, Career Cluster Interest Survey (just Google them). The problem with these is that they're not free, plus I'm not sure if individuals can access them (as opposed to school counseling programs or therapists). I checked, and it looks like you can, but I didn't click through. You can search "interest inventories" to find free tests. They're not scientifically valid and can be a bit superficial; however, you can still gain insights into your interests. Knowing your interests will help you create purpose. Also, what about volunteering in different programs and community organizations? That is tough with social anxiety, so don't feel the need to jump into something full force. Find a need in your community and do even small things to help fill it. Connecting with a greater purpose is a powerful meaning-maker. If you like to read, consider reading works by Viktor Frankl or Rollo May. These books are decades old but offer a lot of insight. I have a distinct feeling that you'll understand them. (Warning. They're packed with meaning but are rather dry). Hopefully you feel like you have some starting points or even ideas to generate more. Accept that this is a process, but it is a rewarding one.
Turning forty (last year) has increased my existential anxiety. I don't feel as though I have found my passion. Few or non of the jobs I have done so far have stimulated me intellectually and at the same time my low self-esteem has prevented me from pursuing avenues which would take more bravery. I feel adrift and anxious regarding my career. Thankfully my home life is settled and pleasant. Working life appears a game to me - some people know how to play it and I don't. When suggestions are given to me as to how to get outf this rut I pursue them half-heartedly (probably because my base-line belief is that I'll never have enough courage to make the necessarychanges in my llife).
Hi Alison,
Oh, how self-confidence and our self-concept can be nasty to us. It's very hard to find courage to make changes when self-doubt is in our way. And this is very much related to existential anxiety. Have you ever visited the Building Self-Esteem blog here on HealthyPlace? There are excellent articles like this one: https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/buildingselfesteem/2017/06/change-your-self-esteem-and… You just might find some useful information there.
I want to point out how insightful it is that you can separate different areas of your life and find good things, like your home life. Sometimes, it's hard for people to do this. This ability is a very important part of mental health and wellbeing. :)
Hi Tanya,
You're opening paragraph really made me laugh and perked me up "Thats a fun concept, isnt it?" (no pun intended)!!! I'm finally accepting after a lot of soul searching, yoga and an enormous amount of reading over the last few years that I'm suffering from life long anxiety issue that is getting worse really. I have yet to speak to a therapist about it but I know its stemming from being abused as a child and the trauma (and the rest) associated with this past event, nearly 30 years ago now but feels like last year. Great article glad I stumbled across it✌
Take care,
Alan
Hi Alan,
I just now stumbled across your comment. I'm a bit late to the party, but I hope it's better late than never. I'm happy that you enjoyed the article and my humor that many people just don't appreciate. :D I hope that you have found some peace over the last few months and have maybe even reached out to a therapist. Doing so is a great idea. Abuse and trauma are really hard for someone to deal with on his own. May you keep finding things that make you laugh and perk you up.