#lifecrises

Saturday morning, two men and a woman form a triangle in a sentient laundromat that gets into their minds and tells their stories. When the laundry is done, their lives are suddenly clean and each is ready for a new start.

Saturday morning, two men and a woman form a triangle in a sentient laundromat that gets into their minds and tells their stories. When the laundry is done, their lives are suddenly clean and each is ready for a new start.

“What is the meaning of a good life?”

“Is the most important purpose in life to find happiness?”

Existentialism is the struggle to work and emerge through life’s crisis and to grow toward becoming fully human. To exist means to search the meaning of our lives in our world, which is written as being-in-the world. This theory proposes that to exist is not an easy task and people tend to suffer from anxiety and despair due to the alienation of ourselves from the world. The philosophical questions mentioned  are the foundation of Rollo May’s theory - Existential Psychology.

From a personal perspective, just like anyone my age, I have gone through a lot of existential crises that made me question my very existence. Though generally, I have no underlying issues regarding my relationship with the natural world, there was this specific point where I dealt with an overwhelming surge of self-doubt that caused me anxiety. It was when I was unsure of what course and university to pursue in college. This may be a shallow problem for others, but with imposed pressure and expectation they have for me, finding and choosing the right answer to this question was impossible for me during that time. It was expected of me to study in the University of the Philippines; hence I was anxious if I will pass the UPCAT or not. This feeling of anxiousness was recurring, which pilled up my self-doubt. I was questioning whether I was really intelligent enough to pass the entrance exam, more so, if I wanted to be in UP or if I just wanted to live to the expectations of others. I was lost and empty. However, through this existential dilemma, I discovered different meanings of my life that I would not have known if I had not been faced with such a personal hardship. Like May, who began to explore the true purpose of his life when he was faced with death, the struggle I went through was also a turning point for me to assess my life.