How a meaningless life could make you happier in 2022

Nihilism, the belief that life is meaningless, is not something we typically associate with millennials who have grown up in the age of the side hustle, the “be the change you want to see” #inspo and sometimes toxic #girlboss culture. But for Syfret, the idea that life could have no point gave her the perspective she needed to become happy, and as ... See more

In moments of high stress...When you feel overwhelmed by a situation, consider its impact in a month, a year, or (stick with me) when you’re dead and gone. In almost all cases, no one will remember it. It, like almost all things you do with your life, will have no impact on the wider world. In the larger scheme of things it’s meaningless. So, why a... See more

Enjoying the little things...Ideas of meaning and purpose exist on a huge scale, but they remove us from the value in the everyday. Instead of worrying about what it all “means” in the face of eternity ask: what if I only had today? This wakes you up to the preciousness of pointless and forgettable moments.

Society, Syfret believes, has commodified “meaningfulness” so much that our quest to live purposeful lives — is only leaving us all stressed out, unfulfilled and unhappy.

“mindful nihilism”, which is essentially a mindset that gives you the space to enjoy the simple moments in life available to you

The consequence of having your sense of value “artificially inflated” in this way can be particularly toxic in today’s workplace, she warns.

In theory it seems like it’s rewarding but when everything is such a thing it makes everything exhausting”.

Taking a wider perspective and looking at the bigger picture, say, by considering your job, income or relationship in the context of the universe, can be deeply “freeing”, she argues. “It makes you feel very small and, yes, that can be existentially terrifying but it also makes your problems feel very small.”

If you can’t quantify your time in an understandably valuable way, people start looking for this opaque sense of meaning in their work, otherwise you’re just confronted with the fact that you’re doing all of this and not really getting anything out of it.”