OPTIMISTIC NIHILISM

 Optimistic Nihilism. When I sat down to write my Common App Essay just a few months ago, while learning about piths and life turning points, this is the only concept I could think of. Obviously, I was told to “tie it back to myself” and make it “about me”, but stubborn as I am, I ended up adding countless tangents about random topics throughout my essay, with optimistic nihilism being one of them. I’ll start off by defining it for you (I’m aware that this is the worst way to start off any writing.

Optimistic nihilism: the belief that there is no underlying meaning to life from a perspective of hope. 

Hope. An extremely odd trait to be tied to nihilism, I agree, but it makes living on this Earth so much easier. If you’ve been on social media any time recently,  you may see a concept called “Floating Rock Mentality”, or the idea that we essentially just live on a rock. Drill down from the land that we stand on and you will eventually reach the Earth’s core, and what will you find? Rock. The basis of ‘Floating Rock Mentality’: we stand on rock every day and there is no significant reason that we were put on this Earth. Fast forward a few hundred years and the fact that we ever existed will be completely wiped from anyone’s memory, let alone our miniscule actions throughout our daily lives. Now that we’ve covered the nihilistic part of ‘optimistic nihilism’, let’s revert back to hope, or optimism. So let’s say that we were placed on this floating rock for absolutely no reason. Every single action we take on a daily basis, including the ones we stress over for years or months or weeks or days, make absolutely no difference in the grand scheme of things. Nothing we do matters, and that is truly amazing. We could go skydiving, bungee jumping, open up a bookshop, book a flight to Antarctica or Italy, or road trip across the country right now, and absolutely nothing matters. Now, I’m not encouraging you to run away from home (Yes, I am), but just the thought of knowing that our options are limitless takes stress off my shoulders. Life has no meaning, but you can GIVE it meaning. Embrace the unknown, because you have the power in your own life. 

Carpe Diem. Seize the day.

Life is short, don’t spend it doing things that won’t make you or anyone else happy. Instead of worrying over things out of your control, control what you can. Make a difference. Give your life meaning, since obviously the universe has not given it one.