to think life is a bit pointless

[citrusc]

I know it sounds terribly depressing and I'm not!

It just makes me stop and think. You're born, study, work, die. You're gone, forgotten, replaced. We're all in this cycle. For some it's a bit more rocky, for others not so much but it's pretty much the same for everyone.
We're all chasing things, it's never ending, there's something and then it just ends.

Woah, bit of an intense thought but this has made me realise that, as far as I know, there are now only 7 people alive who remember my great grandmother. That seems sad for a lady who lived into her 90's and presumably met many people in her life

I agree and I had this very thought the other day.
Like you I’m not depressed, but my last child will leave home soon and then what ?
My dog makes me happy, and I’d like another, but I just see working/cleaning/cooking until I cock my toes up.

I find it quite comforting....it takes the pressure off. None of it matters really....who cares if I failed an exam really, for example

Just enjoy the ride 🤷‍♀️

I think we do have an instinct for religion though....to help with these thoughts

My MIL is still alive at 95 but she just exists, she doesn’t ‘live’.
I think a shorter good life is better than a drawn out adequate one.

Well we have dopamine receptors for a reason.The point is surely to at least try to utilise them once in a while.

Or, as my late, beloved FIL told me;

"You're born, you eat, you shit, you shag and then you die"

I've always struggled with this too. I don't care about no one remembering me when I'm dead, but more that life is an endless cycle of rubbish until we die!

I'm really struggling with my depression at the moment, caused by my workload (teaching) and that my house is very slowly being down up so it's messy and tatty.

So I keep reminding myself of a goal I have - in the next few years, I will sell my house and buy one with a garden and a view (I have my eyes on the road I want, I just need a couple more years of saving behind me!). Then I will move and go part time at work.

I have no kids, so I will get a dog and some rabbits (possibly bad combination but I'll find a way). I will have enough money to live, and I will spend my days off enjoying nature and animals and cooking and having baths - all the small pleasures in life.

@Ilovemaisie Could I ask what the book you mention was called? It sounds lovely.

Was just coming on to ask about the book ilovemaisie!

The book is actually a children's book. There is a 2021 edition.

I didn't get the 2021 one though because I was worried I might jinx the year

Life is a sexually transmitted terminal disease.

Concentrate on what makes you happy as everything else is just filler that doesn't ultimately matter.

@Ilovemaisie Thank you for sharing, it looks great. But yeah, might aim for the 2022 edition!

OP that's very true - but since you're alive now there's no point in thinking about it.. might as well enjoy it while it lasts

*I say this as someone for whom these thoughts always creep up
At least you were lucky enough to experience nice sensations... if you're born reasonably healthy with enough good food and clean water.

It does make petty squabbles, like 99% of the threads on Mumsnet seem very trivial and unimportant

Totally agree. Have struggled with these thoughts since my teens and it's part of the reason I won't be having children. I too don't want a long life.

I know what you mean. I push it from my head. It took me until about 48 to really realise how precious the time I have left is. So, I want to live, but yeh, I sometimes feel like a battery in a device that eats batteries. Or something like that.

Seek God.

Answers are found in the Bible.

Seeking God is a way of denying that life ends though. That's not going to help you accept the fact that life ends, for all of us. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Religious or not, our lives end. Live like time is precious because it is! There is nothing to be gained really from deluding yourself that there is somehow more time in an after life.

Seek Philosophy I say. And accept that the answer is staring us in the face, we just don't like it . All of these thoughts have been thought my many illustrious characters before us, and it is comforting to realise that these thoughts and fears are so universal and perpetual and natural.

Yes. Unless you are religious (which I'm not personally) then it is indeed pointless. And most people make no mark upon, or difference to, the world.

It can plague you if you let it ... I'm sure it's a the root of some "madness" - in inverted commas because who is to say that those people aren't seeing the most clearly of all? - and depression.

I think all one can do is try to be happy.

Yeah it's pointless.
Waste our childhood wanting to be grown up.
Waste our youth over thinking and worrying over how we look, are we keeping up with peers in life stages etc, are we fat?
Then kids come and staple our feet to the ground and clip our wings
Then we realise why older women were so grouchy when we were young women
Then our bits start falling off and we disappear
Then our friends and family start dying off
Our kids grow up... Not sure of that mine is 14
All set to a stressful backdrop of costs, pressures, shitty job, relationship issues.
Only to retire a pauper or spunk it all on care homes and die leaving relatives to pick over the carcass.
Punctuated by the odd bright, short livedburst of happiness which quickly loses its shine crushed by monotony.

I've always thought this OP, again not in a depressing way, more of a pragmatic way. Given that humans are only one species in a universe so large we can't even conceive, we are just cogs, playing our part like every other species. To what aim, we have no more idea than the sheep in the field.

It is ultimately pointless as our drive to survive is likely no more than biological survival instinct.

But I think everyone has the capacity to improve things for those who come after them, so I try to keep that as a kind of purpose. Whether that's in small ways like cleaning up after yourself, medium/ordinary like being kind to people, donating to good causes, rescuing animals or raising good children, or big things like working on scientific discoveries, improving processes, inventing things, creating resources.

Flipping heck @Eyevorbig0ne. I feel a bit down now.

I think one of the curses of being human is knowing that life is actually essentially pointless, all we are really designed to do is procreate and then pop our clogs.

But there is also so much beauty in the world, that I feel blessed to be part of it. Just watching the birds in the garden gives me joy. And

I'm another who finds the pointlessness sort of comforting. The enormous size of the universe, and the miniscule dot that is me, puts things into perspective. If we do end up wiping out the human race due to a catastrophic climate-related event or series of events, it's kind of reassuring to know that the universe will continue with barely a ripple.

In the meantime, I'm the sort of person who finds lots of happiness from the small things in life.

I see it as a positive thing. You realise it doesn’t really matter what you do. So just grab happiness where you can. I live in the moment. I don’t concern myself with even a week from now, let alone months or years.

Each day I might have some boring things to do, but always try and do something I like. Might be reading a book or having a cuppa in the garden, nothing major. If anyone asks me aren’t you worried about this or that I just say “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it”. I will add that adopting this attitude has had no negative consequences for me and in fact it’s turned out to be true that things often work themselves out without needing to worry or take action.

I genuinely enjoy life more now I’ve let go of always questioning what this or that was for.