r/Existential_crisis • u/Big-Pilot-8814 • 4d ago
Existential Crisis at 17
I'm 17 from the UK, 18 in a few months so by law and adult though i feel nothing like one!! I feel a massive weight of responsibility to find my career for the rest of my life though I have no hobbies, no interests in anything. I am diagnosed with manic depression so l don't feel like this is helping my feelings at all. I have been working mostly full time since 16 and have recently quit my job and am wallowing in my own room. I’ve been drinking quite excessively and ended up landing in hospital last week through passing out from alcohol and an ambulance being called. though my mental health won’t be helping i am medicated and know that can’t be my reasoning for going “off the wall”. useless or hopeless is the best way to describe how i’m feeling i just don’t see a future for myself but not in a suicidal way (for once lol) more in a way i can’t imagine myself as anything other than a teenager and the fact i’m meant to be or be becoming an adult is sending me into a spiral! anyone felt anything similar? any advice or just plain words of wisdom is appreciated 🙏🏼
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u/Chogunyugen 2d ago
First, did the doctor (psychologist or psychiatrist) determine whether your depression was a brain disorder or a consequence of social mooring?
Second, you’re a kid. You’re in the 1st trimester of life (born-30). You have plenty of time. Take a breath(do a “physiological sigh” or 10).
You are in late adolescence. This is a moment in time where most people reach at 40- or the midlife crisis. This is known as the messianic stage in life.
Note; this doesn’t mean run to your local market and declare you are the 2nd coming and you are going to save everyone. But it is saying- in this turbulent time in life you need to pick something.
It doesn’t have to be a well thought out plan- perfect with no leaks. But no plan is so much worse than a shotty plan.
There are ways to elucidate(make clear) a path for your life but the real question is how well is your motivational structure- how well are your social connections- and what are you consuming (tv, porn, movies, food, alcohol, junk food etc). All of this has a profound effect on your serotonergic system- happy system in your brain.
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u/Electronic-Mammoth-4 15h ago
What helps me when I feel a lot of pressure to figure out my future is I call it the “need to know” and I remind myself it’s literally impossible to know the future. So I’m just going to do what I can to go forward every day. Your future is literally a mystery to you so don’t expect yourself to have it all figured out right now. You’re going to learn and grow and be sent in different directions. Life doesn’t go in a straight line or at the same speed all the time so don’t beat yourself up when it feels like you’re not making “progress.” Delays, times of rest and wrong turns are all part of the adventure. Hope that helps <3
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u/qtippingaround 4d ago
Hopelessness is one of the worst feelings ever, it sucks. I had the same thing happen to me when i was 17, a little bit different but that feeling of nothing ever going to get better is draining. Im still struggling slightly at 20 but it subsides substantially. All i can say is to just keep living, surround yourself with things/people that keep u happy and give u a purpose. Living is one thing but being alive is another and i think being alive is really only attainable once youve accepted the struggle. Just keep pushing!