“I have everything I want in life, but I feel empty. “This phrase is constantly repeated in psychological consultations. The person has everything they want and still doesn’t feel happy. When this happens, it’s quite common for people to do it. anything to distract yourself and not feel that feeling of emptiness.
However, there usually comes a day when he can’t take it anymore, at that point the person thinks that dealing with the void is the right thing to do, but doing so is harder than it seems. it can be painful, but it’s necessary.
- Words are missing to describe the feeling of emptiness.
- If you’ve had that feeling at some point in your life or feel it now.
- You know what we’re talking about.
- Sometimes this sense of emptiness becomes an “existential crisis” because it confuses all ideas about the meaning of life.
This feeling of emptiness implies great discomfort. In fact, it’s so intense that people do all sorts of things to stop it, but it’s in vain. Controlling the feeling of emptiness can be like trying to form a bowl with your hands and trying to retain water. This discomfort, in addition to the uncertainty of not knowing where to go or what to do, can leave anyone hopeless.
Many people define it as a feeling of dissatisfaction, even though everything is going well in their life and nothing is missing significantly, there is another way to look at it: imagine that you are reaching a long-term goal with a lot of effort and dedication. You thought you’d feel happy and done at the time, but you wouldn’t.
The feeling of emptiness is so disturbing that the initial impulse is to fill this void as quickly as possible. People who feel this void make several attempts to alleviate this feeling with tools that don’t work in the long run.
One of the strategies they use most is to fill time with multiple activities of all kinds, the goal is not to give free time to reflect on the existential crisis they are going through, in addition, it should be noted that they often have strong feelings of anxiety in times of inactivity or free time.
Another resource they use to reduce the feeling of emptiness has to do with the acquisition of physical goods, it is common for them to try to disguise feelings of discomfort by buying compulsively, that is, acquiring things without actually having to. , may resort to certain addictions, such as alcohol, gambling, binge eating, among others.
Without a doubt, all these strategies have in common to be palliative momentary to the feeling of emptiness, in addition, this type of addictive behavior can lead to other health problems, economic or relationship, which usually require the person to seek help.
The feeling of emptiness is associated with symptoms related to mood and what is called anhedonia, which is the inability to enjoy what previously provided pleasure, it should be noted that it is related to different brain functions.
People with a feeling of emptiness have less activity in striatum, a component of the brain closely related to the sensation of pleasure.
In addition, this sensation is linked to several psychological pathologies or moments of life, some of the most important are:
The feeling of emptiness is related to a deep, nonspecific discomfort, the person feels very agitated and does not know how to stop feeling that way.
In addition, the emotions caused by this vacuum can be so intense that people often try to alleviate them through quick strategies (being busy, certain addictions and compulsive purchases), however, these behaviors are just a temporary thing that can create more difficulties than the initial problems themselves.
The causes of this sensation are very diverse. In fact, they usually depend on the person’s age; However, when the feeling of emptiness becomes chronic, a mood disorder, such as depression, can develop.
While it is painful to recognize this, moments of emptiness or existential crises are necessary at certain stages of life, since they are a great engine of change, and in the face of this emptiness there is nothing left but to deepen until the cause of it is found. discomfort.
This research even allows us to reconstruct a new and better identity with which the person can feel better and happier. Sometimes self-inspection is what you need to reinvent yourself.