When everything feels meaningless, where might the feeling come from? Read how loss of meaning links to depression and how to rebuild meaning step by step.
You get up in the morning, go to work, eat, look at your phone, go to bed. The next day, the same. The goals that once excited you, conversations with the people you love, weekend plans... all of it feels like scenes from a film you are watching from behind glass. The question "What for?" settles over everything. Everything feels meaningless, and you cannot fully explain this feeling to anyone, because from the outside there seems to be no obvious problem in your life. In this article we look at what loss of meaning is, how it relates to depression, the possible causes that feed this feeling, and ways of rebuilding meaning not all at once but through small steps. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself while reading this, please look first at the section "When Should You Seek Professional Support?"
What Is Happening When Everything Feels Meaningless?
A sense of meaning is the feeling that the things we do connect to something, serve a value and matter to us. This feeling usually works quietly in the background without our noticing: when you drop your child at school in the morning, help a friend or finish a piece of work you love, you do not ask "What's the point of this?"; the meaning is simply there.
When meaning is lost, however, this background falls silent. People describe the experience in different words:
- "I do everything on autopilot."
- "It's as if nothing matters."
- "Whatever I do, I'll end up in the same place."
- "I feel empty inside; nothing touches me."
- "I'm alive, but I'm not inside life."
Sometimes this feeling is a passing pessimism lasting a few days. At other times it turns into a picture that lasts weeks or months and envelops the whole of a person's life. Understanding the difference matters for deciding what needs to be done.
Loss of Meaning and Depression: How Are They Related?
A sense of meaninglessness is one of the experiences that most often accompanies depression. In depression, the brain's reward system slows down; the person can no longer enjoy the things they used to enjoy. This is called anhedonia; we described it in detail in our article on anhedonia. Where enjoyment disappears, meaning easily disappears too. The person concludes, "Nothing does me any good, so nothing has any meaning."
But loss of meaning does not always mean depression. Sometimes a person's life has not matched their values for a long time; sometimes a major loss or change has removed old sources of meaning; and sometimes a person is facing the fundamental questions of being human (death, freedom, loneliness, meaning) this directly for the first time. This last situation is called existential questioning, and on its own it is not an illness; in fact it is often part of a process of maturing.
To make a rough distinction:
- In existential questioning, the person asks questions, thinks, reads and talks; painful as it may be, the search is alive. Sleep, appetite and daily functioning are mostly preserved.
- In depression, the search itself has gone out. Low mood, fatigue, loss of enjoyment, changes in sleep and appetite, worthlessness and hopelessness persist for most of the day for at least two weeks.
The two can also become intertwined. This is why talking to a specialist about a long-lasting loss of meaning helps you understand what you are facing.
Why Does Everything Feel Meaningless?
Long-Term Exhaustion and Burnout
Someone who has worked beyond their capacity for a long time, who is a carer, or who is constantly managing crises shuts down emotionally at some point. Burnout is one of the first areas where meaning disappears: the person begins to feel that the work they do changes nothing.
Drifting Away From Your Values
Living according to other people's expectations for many years can cause a person to drift further and further from their own values. Someone who "has everything" from the outside may feel that nothing inside belongs to them.
Losses and Major Changes
The death of someone close, the end of a relationship, retirement, migration or children leaving home can suddenly remove the structures that gave a person's life meaning. The old sources of meaning have gone, and new ones have not yet been found.
Collective Hopelessness
Many people in Turkey carry, alongside the difficulties of their personal lives, a sense of collective helplessness. The feeling that however hard you work you cannot keep up with the cost of living, the deep wound left by the 6 February 2023 earthquakes, a news agenda constantly full of negative stories and the thought "Nothing ever changes in this country" can overshadow individual hopes as well. Especially among young people, the belief "However hard I try, I won't get anywhere" can become a powerful source feeding the loss of meaning.
Disconnection
People find meaning largely in the connections they build with others. Becoming isolated, relationships staying superficial or the feeling that nobody really sees us quietly erodes the sense of meaning.
Let us say a 24-year-old university graduate, after months of job-hunting, has started working at a call centre. Every morning he takes the same staff bus, puts on the same headset and repeats the same sentences hundreds of times a day. When he gets home in the evening he watches videos on his phone for hours but remembers none of them. At university he loved painting and long conversations with friends; now all of that feels "pointless" to him. One night he asks himself, "Was all my effort for this?" and finds no answer. For this young man, the loss of meaning comes from a combination of a job far from his values, exhaustion, loneliness and hopelessness about the future.
Meaning is rarely found by thinking; it is rediscovered by living, inside small actions.
Small Steps for Rebuilding Meaning
The hardest thing about a sense of meaninglessness is that it pushes a person to do nothing: "There's no point anyway, so why do it?" Yet the sense of meaning usually returns not before action but within it. The steps below are small but concrete.
Look After Your Body First
Irregular sleep, poor nutrition and inactivity make the mind see everything as greyer. Getting up at the same time every day, starting the day with a short walk in daylight and eating regular meals are not the foundation of the search for meaning, but they are the ground beneath it.
Act Without Waiting to Feel Like It
In depressive periods, the thought "I'll do it when I feel like it" usually does not work, because the desire comes after the action. Choose an activity you once loved and do a small part of it: read a single page, play the guitar for five minutes, send a friend a single message. This approach is known as behavioural activation and is one of the effective methods used in treating depression.
Shrink the Big Question
The question "What is the meaning of my life?" crushes a person. Instead, ask small questions such as "Who or what could I do a little good for today?" or "What made me feel alive today, even for a moment?" Writing a one-sentence answer to these questions every evening gradually makes the small traces of meaning visible.
Remember Your Values
Think of the moments in different periods of your life when you felt most alive. Which value was at the front in those moments: helping, creating, learning, being close to nature, connecting with loved ones? Try making room this week, however small, for one of these values.
Reach Out to Others
One of the strongest sources of meaning is making a small difference in someone else's life. Helping a neighbour, volunteering with an association, visiting an elderly relative or spending a few hours at an animal shelter offers concrete evidence against the thought "Nothing matters."
Look at the Traces of Meaning in Your Past
Even if nothing seems to carry any meaning right now, there have been things that gave you meaning at different times in your life. Open a notebook and, under the heading "Moments in my life when I felt I truly mattered", write down five memories that come to mind: perhaps a summer when you helped a sibling study, perhaps a night when you stood by a friend on a hard day, perhaps a weekend when you made something with your own hands. Next to each memory, note what kept you alive in that moment. This list reminds you that meaning has not disappeared entirely but is only sitting somewhere hard to reach right now, and it gives you clues about which direction you could take a small step in.
Because everything feels meaningless, you may hear an inner voice trying to devalue these memories: "That was different; it doesn't matter any more." This voice is also part of the loss of meaning; rather than arguing with it, it is enough to notice it and keep writing.
Reduce the Load of News and Screens
A constantly negative news agenda and endlessly scrolling content both feed hopelessness and use up the time that could go to real experiences. Limiting the times of day when you check the news opens up space for the mind to breathe.
Do Not Overlook Faith and Spirituality
For many people, religious belief, spirituality or a bond with nature is an important source of meaning. If these sources matter to you, reconnecting with them can be supportive. What matters is that this is lived not as guilt or obligation but as a bond that does you good.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
If the sense of meaninglessness lasts a long time, is becoming more intense or is affecting more than one area of your life, it is important to seek support from a specialist. In particular, it is advisable not to wait in the following situations:
- If the feeling has lasted for most of the day for more than two weeks,
- If you cannot enjoy anything you love,
- If there are marked changes in your sleep, appetite and energy levels,
- If you are finding it hard to keep going with your work, studies or relationships,
- If you feel worthless, a burden or helpless,
- If thoughts such as "There's no point in living" or "If I disappeared, nobody would notice" go through your mind.
A sense of meaninglessness can sometimes come together with thoughts of ending one's life. If you have such thoughts, do not carry them alone; talk to someone you trust and to a specialist. If these thoughts have become intense, if there is a plan or preparation, or if you do not feel safe, call 112 (emergency services) without waiting or go to the nearest emergency department. Where depression is severe, an assessment by a psychiatrist may also be needed.
How Is Loss of Meaning Addressed in Therapy?
In therapy, loss of meaning is approached both as a symptom and as a message that deserves careful listening. The main approaches used in work on depression and mood are:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Absolute thoughts such as "Nothing matters" or "Whatever I do is pointless" are noticed and tested. Through behavioural activation, small activities that carry value are gradually brought back into daily life, and the relationship between mood and activity is tracked together.
- Values-based work: Drawing on acceptance and commitment therapy, the person's values are clarified. The aim is not to "find" meaning but to begin "living" meaning again through small steps in line with those values.
- Existential approach: Fundamental human questions such as death, freedom, loneliness and meaning are treated not as subjects to be avoided but as questions to think through together. For more about this approach, you can read our article on existential therapy.
- Schema-focused work: If the loss of meaning rests on early beliefs such as "I don't matter" or "My needs don't count", the roots of these beliefs and their effect on the present are understood.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is questioning the meaning of life a sign of illness?
No. Questioning the meaning of life is a natural part of being human and often accompanies maturing. However, if this questioning comes with long-lasting low mood, loss of enjoyment and hopelessness, an assessment for depression may be needed.
Will this feeling pass on its own?
Sometimes, especially if it is linked to temporary exhaustion or a difficult period, it may ease as circumstances change. However, rather than waiting out a sense of meaninglessness that lasts for weeks and keeps getting heavier, seeking support both shortens its duration and reduces the risks.
Does everyone have to have a purpose in life?
No. You do not have to find one big, single purpose in life. For many people, meaning comes not from one great goal but from the sum of relationships, small contributions and everyday moments that fit their values.
Someone close to me keeps saying "Nothing has any meaning." What should I do?
Listen without brushing the sentence aside and without judging, and ask how long they have been feeling this way. Asking openly whether they are thinking of ending their life does not trigger the thought; on the contrary, it opens the door to conversation. If there is a risk, do not hesitate to call 112 and accompany them to see a specialist.
Bu yazı genel bilgilendirme amaçlıdır; tanı veya tedavi yerine geçmez. Yaşadığınız güçlükler için bir ruh sağlığı uzmanına başvurmanız önerilir. Acil bir durumda lütfen 112'yi arayın.
Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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