Causes of Emptiness: What to Do When You Feel Empty

Emptiness is a negative emotional experience characterized by the feeling of abandonment, discomfort, sadness, hopelessness and confusion. Emotional emptiness can be mistaken for depression but there are slide differences. Feeling empty can be a sign of depression according to experts, however, while depression is a confirmed mental health challenge, feeling empty can be momentary and circumstantial, even among those who are not depressed.

Possible Reasons You Feel Empty

Any of the following may be the reason you are feeling empty:

• Lack of purpose and direction: Lack of specific goals in life lead to the development of personal questions of life's purpose. Without life goals and direction, you are bound to feel like life is meaningless, hence, the feeling of emptiness. Goals give hope and purpose and offer direction that guide one's path in life. Without hope, it feels like the future is empty and void.

• Confusion associated with choice and decision-making: Multiple choices can be hard to handle, especially if such choices are difficult ones. Finding yourself getting pushed to the corner of difficult decision-making can bring thoughts that makes you feel confused and lost.

• Disconnection from loved ones: Staying far away from your family and loved ones, especially when you have not met for a long time or heard from them can make you feel deserted. This sadness can be associated with a sense of loneliness, hopelessness or emptiness. However, it is good to know that when missing someone makes you feel this way, it is actually a sign of the healthy relationship you share with them.

• Fear of uncertainty: Getting stuck in situation that you do not know what the future holds brings fear of the uncertainty. People who are working in uncomfortable environments and finding it hard to make changes or doing boring things can easily have moments where they feel empty.

• Past experiences: Having experience of traumatic conditions in the past can create anxiety and sometimes makes you feel empty, sad and depressed. This happen mostly when you do not forget about your past and fail to let it go.

• Unresolved challenges: Being in same condition and facing same challenge for a long time is another popular cause of emotional emptiness. Such challenges may include sickness, hardship, poverty, unemployment or other challenging situations. When one tries all best without yielding positive result, life feels empty and hopeless.

• Internal and external conflicts: Finding oneself in conflicts that is hard to settle makes life tiring, hence, the feeling of emptiness. Conflicts of this nature might be emotional or those associated with external factors like torture, abuse and blackmail.

• Unhealthy relationships: When a promising relationship or marriage fails, a lot can come to mind. The feeling of emptiness associated in an unhealthy relationship is common when one cannot move on from such a relationship. This feeling is common among couples whose marriages are at the blink of collapse, and those with complex family issues. Feeling empty can also come when one does not have true friends, or someone they can share emotional conversations with.

• Unnecessary deep thoughts: It is not healthy to think too much, especially if your thoughts always get negative. Thinking beyond the scope of your capacity can make you feel empty because there are some questions that surely have not answer.

What to do When You Feel Empty: Tips to overcoming emotional emptiness

If you constantly feel empty, do the following to feel better and beat your emotion for a positive turnaround.

1. Keep Yourself Busy

It is often said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. Laziness gives you time to recall bad memories and think about unnecessary things. It is when you are not busy that you would likely begin to miss people, think negative and possibly feel empty. When you keep busy, the feeling of emptiness hardly comes.

2. Set goals

Begin to create a plan for the future. What do you want to accomplish in the next 5-10 years? When you set goals, whether such goals are short-term or long-term, you will begin to feel hopeful against all odds. When there is no specific goal-setting, hopelessness sets in and that brings a feeling of emptiness. Of course, without vision, you are empty whenever the thought of tomorrow comes.

3. Embrace life's purpose

Everything around us have a purpose; from tools we use to animals as tiny as ants. That alone should make you to understand that you too have a purpose. Life cannot just be about living it without the purpose of being alive, that would be an empty existence.

Although the journey of finding one's purpose is complex, the thing is that people keep searching for life purposes that is already before them. We sometimes think that a purpose is found when one discovers his ability to develop a spiderman's strength. No, you can find a purpose in simple things like helping people around us, teaching others, sharing life's experience, writing to educate others or engaging in community services. These simple activities make you more useful to the society and offers a sense of fulfilment that is hard to comprehend. Finding a purpose through these means can help fill-up your emptiness.

4. Build better relationships

People you have around you as friends, family or loved ones can bring unimaginable hope, they can also make you feel hopeless and empty. You see, it is not just about who is in relationship with you but how a relationship goes. A stranger can become a close friend that adds value more than a biological relationship. Learn to build a sound and healthy relationship with friends and people around you and begin to see your emptiness fading away.

"We don't live for ourselves alone; we live for others and others live for us." - Abas Obot

5. Stay calm when it gets unbearable

It is normal to face an unbearable situation. When you find yourself in a tough time as such, stay calm and do not overthink. When you focus more on the negative side of life, it overwhelms your emotion negatively and bring the feeling of emptiness. Start to embrace the fact that it will all be over, and you will be filled.

6. Speak up

There is power in sharing personal struggles with others. Your story can be a lesson to someone and can as well help your recovery process. Tell someone how you feel, they may find a way to get you through. Sometimes, it can be shameful to share one's secret life and experience, but there are people that you can share it with, who also have real advice to offer to you. You can contact our team, and we will link you up with a counselor to offer you useful advice.

7. Adjust your thoughts and mindset

Your thought is a powerful weapon and healing medicine in your life. How you think can help your healing process and can also get you sick and empty. Therefore, always try to divert your thoughts toward positivity, ignoring every mindset that brings negative emotions like emptiness. Always remember that thoughts influence our real life, behaviors, lifestyle and health.

Emotional Emptiness Conclusion

After reading this article, we believe you should be able to find a way to cope with your feeling of emptiness. Meanwhile, it is good to know that feeling empty is an emotional subject. You have what it takes to control your emotion, to feel the way you want, to cheer up and even become very happy when you are in sad situation. Learning to adjust your thoughts, reviewing your mental health and setting goals for yourself can help you overcome emotional emptiness. Be filled!