Finding Purpose in a Chaotic World: Lessons from Existentialism (With a Side of Laughs)

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Let’s be honest – life is weird. One day, you’re a carefree kid who thinks your biggest problem is finishing your ice cream before it melts. The next, you’re an adult staring at a pile of bills, wondering if you accidentally signed up for a subscription to Pain and Confusion Monthly.

Welcome to the chaos!

But before you spiral into an existential crisis (or another late-night binge of cat videos), let’s talk about existentialism – the philosophical movement that basically said, “Yeah, life is absurd… so what?”

Existentialism 101: A Quick (and Painless) Introduction

Imagine you wake up, look around, and realize that life has no built-in instructions. No rulebook, no cheat codes, not even a half-decent tutorial. Existentialists – like Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir – believed that life doesn’t come with a pre-packaged meaning. Instead, it’s up to us to create our own.

Sounds empowering, right? Well, yes… but also terrifying. Because this means you are entirely responsible for your own existence. That’s right – no blaming the universe, destiny, or Mercury in retrograde.

The Absurdity of It All (And Why It’s Actually Kinda Great)