Surviving an Existential Crisis
If you’re searching for a way to get through crazy times, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed, restless, or stuck in deep questions about life, meaning, and the state of the world.
An existential crisis often shows up during times of political tension, climate fear, social change, personal loss, or major life transitions. You may find yourself asking:
What’s the point of all this?
Is anything I do actually making a difference?
Why do I feel so awful all the time?
These thoughts are common. They are human. And they don’t mean something is wrong with you.
In fact, an existential crisis is often a sign that you care deeply about your life and the world around you.
The key isn’t to eliminate anxiety. The key is to balance it.
This post will walk you through a practical way to manage existential anxiety:
Match your anxiety sources to your action outlets.
What Is an Existential Crisis?
An existential crisis happens when you begin questioning meaning, purpose, identity, or your role in the world. It often includes:
Persistent anxiety
Rumination and overthinking
Feeling stuck or powerless
Doom-scrolling and information overload
Restlessness without direction
Unlike everyday stress, existential anxiety feels bigger. It’s not just about a deadline. It’s about existence itself.
And here’s the important part: existential anxiety carries energy.
Your body responds to perceived threats — even abstract ones — with activation. Increased heart rate. Tension. Mental urgency. A push to do something.
But what happens when there is nowhere for that energy to go?
That’s when anxiety becomes overwhelming.
The Core Problem: Mismatched Anxiety and Action
Here’s the pattern many people fall into:
They consume large amounts of information.
They become highly activated and anxious.
They take little or no action.
The energy stays trapped in their body.
Anxiety builds.
They use that anxiety to consume more information.
The result? Exhaustion, irritability, hopelessness, or panic.
The human nervous system is designed for action. If you activate it repeatedly without giving it a productive outlet, it doesn’t know how to shut off.
This is especially common in people who care deeply about social issues, politics, climate change, or community concerns.
Activism is good. Awareness is good. Information is good.
But only if it has somewhere to go.
Step One: Limit Anxiety Sources to Match Your Action Outlets
One of the most practical ways to survive an existential crisis is to control how much activation you’re creating.
Ask yourself:
How much news am I consuming?
How much social media am I scrolling?
How often am I reading alarming content?
How many causes am I trying to care about at once?
Now ask:
How much meaningful action am I taking?
If you are consuming 3 hours of anxiety-producing content per day but taking 20 minutes of action per week, that mismatch will create distress.
This doesn’t mean you need to ignore the world.
It means you need to right-size your intake to match your capacity to respond.
Practical Tips
Set a news limit (e.g., 20–30 minutes per day).
Choose 1–2 issues you can realistically engage with.
Avoid doom-scrolling late at night.
Take one day per week fully off from news.
When anxiety intake decreases, your nervous system has a chance to reset.
Step Two: Increase Engagement to Utilize Anxiety
Anxiety when matched with action, becomes motivation. When unmatched, it becomes rumination.
If you feel deeply concerned about an issue, ask:
What is one concrete action I can take?
Who can I join?
Where can I volunteer?
Who can I call?
What meeting can I attend?
Action does not need to be dramatic. It needs to be tangible.
Examples of productive engagement:
Volunteering two hours per month.
Donating within your means.
Writing to or calling a representative.
Joining a local organization.
Attending a community meeting.
The goal is to give your anxiety a place to land.
When your body feels the cycle complete — activation followed by action — it can relax.
Why Rumination Increases Existential Anxiety
Rumination feels productive, but it usually isn’t.
When you replay worries in your head without action, your brain treats the threat as ongoing. Stress hormones remain elevated. You feel stuck.
This is why people experiencing existential anxiety often report:
Difficulty sleeping
Tight chest or stomach
Racing thoughts
Feeling emotionally flooded
The solution is not to stop caring.
It’s to interrupt the loop.
A helpful rule:
If you’ve thought about something three times, either act on it or set it down.
This prevents mental energy from recycling endlessly.
Step Three: Use the Energy When You Need It
Anxiety has a purpose. It prepares you for meaningful moments.
If you are preparing to:
Speak publicly
Engage in activism
Have a hard conversation
Show up to a meeting
Take a bold step
Anxiety is your ally.
It sharpens focus. It increases alertness. It gives you urgency.
But many people try to suppress anxiety entirely, rather than directing it.
Instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this feeling?”
Ask, “Where does this energy belong?”
When you channel anxiety into purposeful action, it becomes empowering.
Step Four: Don’t Get Stuck With Energy You Don’t Need
Here’s the other side of the balancing act.
If you are not actively engaging in something that requires high alertness, your body should not remain in high alert.
Chronic activation leads to burnout.
Signs you’re stuck in unnecessary activation:
Snapping at loved ones
Feeling constantly on edge
Difficulty relaxing
Losing joy in hobbies
Physical tension
To discharge excess energy:
Exercise (walking, lifting, yoga)
Deep breathing
Time outdoors
Play
Physical touch
Creative outlets
Movement is especially powerful. Anxiety is physiological. Your body needs to move through it.
If action is not available, discharge.
The Balancing Formula for Existential Anxiety
You can think of it as an equation:
Information Intake ≤ Action Capacity
If intake exceeds action, anxiety rises.
If action matches intake, anxiety stabilizes.
If intake is high and action is zero, anxiety becomes overwhelming.
This is not about perfection. It’s about awareness.
Activism Without Burnout
Many people experiencing existential crises are deeply values-driven. They want to make a difference. The risk is overextending.
Sustainable engagement looks like:
Long-term participation, not short bursts of intensity.
Choosing one lane rather than trying to fix everything.
Rest as part of responsibility.
Community rather than isolation.
Burnout helps no cause.
If your activism leaves you emotionally shut down, irritable, or hopeless, the balance is off.
When an Existential Crisis Becomes Clinical Anxiety
Sometimes existential distress crosses into clinical anxiety.
Consider seeking counseling or therapy if you experience:
Panic attacks
Persistent insomnia
Constant intrusive thoughts
Loss of functioning at work or home
Feeling detached or numb
Ongoing hopelessness
An existential crisis is normal.
Chronic dysregulation is not something you have to handle alone.
Counseling can help you:
Identify activation patterns
Develop emotional regulation skills
Clarify your values
Create a sustainable action plan
Reduce rumination
You don’t need to stop caring to feel better. You need structure.
Surviving an Existential Crisis in Cedar Falls and Beyond
If you’re in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Waverly, or the broader Cedar Valley, it’s important to know that many others are wrestling with similar concerns.
An existential crisis doesn’t mean you’re weak. It often means you are aware.
The goal is not to eliminate awareness.
The goal is to regulate it.
When anxiety has:
A clear boundary
A defined outlet
A physical release
It becomes manageable.
When it has no direction, it becomes overwhelming.
Anxiety Is Energy
Surviving an existential crisis is less about finding perfect answers and more about managing activation.
Remember these three principles:
Limit anxiety sources to match action outlets.
Increase engagement to utilize anxiety productively.
Use the energy when needed, discharge it when not.
Existential anxiety is not a flaw. It is a sign that you care about your life and your world.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsure how to create that balance, therapy can help you organize the energy instead of being consumed by it.
You don’t have to carry the weight of existence alone.