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Original poster

To cope and take comfort from the fact everything is pointless and in 100 years we’ll be dust

139 replies

Ramalam · 11/09/2025 22:39

I have a very stressful job. My coping mechanism is to stop, consider that in the grand scheme of the world everything I’m doing is utterly pointless, and that in 100 years I’ll be dead and none of this will matter one jot?

I used to live opposite a graveyard and it was full of people who had lives full of hopes, fears, ambitious, happiness, sadness. And now none of it matters; it died with them. So best not to
worry.

I don’t know what I’m asking - is this unreasonable or weird?

OP posts:
blueshoes · 12/09/2025 22:23

I prefer "today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday and all is well".

Life goes on. The world turns. It matters. You matter. Try to make a difference to someone else's life.

Eyesopenwideawake · 12/09/2025 22:22

I love the saying* "Americans think life is serious but not hopeless. The English know that life is hopeless but not serious".

*I may have paraphrased it but the sentiment is there ;)

Chick981 · 12/09/2025 22:21

I’m similar but instead of thinking about graves and everything turning to dust, I like to look up at the stars and remind myself that in the grand scheme of the whole universe, we are nothing more than teeny tiny ants and whatever we do doesn’t really matter. Sounds depressing but actually find it comforting.

UsernameMcUsername · 12/09/2025 22:16

SunnieShine · 12/09/2025 22:02

🤢

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Genuinely, why dunk on this? Its not particularly wrong. We can even objectively measure the negative impact of lacking love, care and interaction - look at the plight of affection / attention-starved babies or the physical affects of loneliness.

DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 22:16

SunnieShine · 12/09/2025 22:02

🤢

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😂

DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 22:12

Ramalam · 12/09/2025 21:57

Well, and oxygen.

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Not when you’re dead!

UsernameMcUsername · 12/09/2025 22:10

Is this specific to your work or just generally? I'm Christian, but even if I was a complete atheist I wouldn't think like that. We all quietly contribute in millions of ways to making the world better or worse, leaving a more or less hopeful future for our children and their children etc etc. I guess I think of myself as a link in a chain - I was largely raised by my grandmother, who loved me and absolutely did her best, enabling me to love my children and do my best by them, and hopefully some or all my children will carry that forward. I don't think anyone honestly thinks that "nothing matters" - ask them how they were parented, listen to the response and then try arguing that the parenting in question didn't matter 😂

magimedi · 12/09/2025 22:08

Not a person I admire much but he got it right with this poem:

"From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there's nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends".

Hilaire Belloc

TheSixthBestOption · 12/09/2025 22:03

You should read Ecclesiastes: everything is meaningless. It's oddly comforting.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastes

SunnieShine · 12/09/2025 22:02

DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 21:55

The only thing that matters is love.

🤢

AllrightNowBaby · 12/09/2025 21:59

DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 21:55

The only thing that matters is love.

True…..

Sarah2891 · 12/09/2025 21:58

Completely agree, OP. For a second I wondered if this was a thread title I'd written and forgot about lol.

Original poster
Ramalam · 12/09/2025 21:57

DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 21:55

The only thing that matters is love.

Well, and oxygen.

OP posts:
DaisyBeatrice · 12/09/2025 21:55

The only thing that matters is love.

AllrightNowBaby · 12/09/2025 21:54

MoltenLasagne · 12/09/2025 06:39

For me it's a bit of a balance between being insignificant to the universe, but having great potential within the lives of others.

Have you heard the story of the boy throwing starfish back into the ocean after a storm? An older man points out that he can't possibly save all the starfish and the boy replies, "I made a difference for that one".

So there's that, and then there's also the difference that can be made by us doing something great together. Look at the Great Green Wall in Africa and how it is pushing back the Sahara. A lot of the people involved only dug and planted ten trees, but their combined efforts is having a transformative effect on the local environment.

https://www.unccd.int/our-work/ggwi

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Hadn’t heard of the Great Green Wall but thanks it has really cheered me up. ❤️

PickUpYourCross · 12/09/2025 21:52

Apparently the happiest people in the world think about their own death 5 times a day 💁‍♀️

Lesina · 12/09/2025 21:50

Completely agree. I have recently started to think even more short term. Why worry about my pension investments when world war 3 is about to start. It’s quite comforting really.

nopiesleftinthisvehicle · 12/09/2025 21:49

There's a good clip on YouTube about this. Wish I could remember who it was, but it's about how you won't even be a passing thought to anyone in a generation or less after your death.
It's all about living for now and actually being selfish sometimes.
On a wider scale: The human race, the planet, the solar system (when Andromeda smashes into the Milky way) will all be gone too😬
Eventually..

Oldglasses · 12/09/2025 21:48

I think like that sometimes, plus we are so insignificant in the universe.

Sidebeforeself · 12/09/2025 21:48

Although…Im still obsessing over that chip in my new paintwork!

Sidebeforeself · 12/09/2025 21:47

Yep..all the things I have will go to landfill or whatever. No one will look at my photos ( I dont mean that in a sad way, I just mean I dont look at photos of relatives from 100 years ago). All my money will be gone. My flat will be lived in by strangers etc.

If you suffer from anxiety its actually quite a positive, comforting thought.

GeorgeClooneyshouldhavemarriedme · 12/09/2025 21:45

I just saw this Tik Tok today.
In a hundred years.....blah blah.

But I'm 58 so I can take it down to 50.
In 50 years someone else will be living in my house.
My car will be scrap.
And my great grandkids will not even know my full name.

Sobering thoughts.

heybabeyourhairsalright · 12/09/2025 21:44

Whatever gets you through today is good!

RedRiverShore5 · 12/09/2025 21:44

It will be less than 100 years surely and after about another 50 years it's like you never existed

Dogaredabomb · 12/09/2025 21:43

I was thinking about how long is there a connection through the generations. My great grandfather was born in 1869, my father remembered him, my youngest remembers my father and, God willing, should live to 2100 ish - so there's a tangible thread of almost 250 years.