Let’s imagine the situation when you struggle with ignoring and escaping the feeling of extreme purposelessness and emptiness. Although you know a little about what you enjoy, want from life and what you want to achieve in future, you are still tortured by the episodes of loneliness. When you’re feeling empty, what does this mean exactly?
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What It Means When You’re Feeling Empty
Inner emptiness is caused by a lack of love according to psychology expert, Dr. Margaret Paul.[1] When you don’t love yourself, ignore your feelings and always try to get attention and approval from others, you can experience the inner emptiness.
All people are creative and full of potential, but not all of them use this potential and thus, waste their time and energy. We try to fill the void with food, relationships, work, and things that are supposed to distract our attention.
Symptoms of Emptiness and Void
In order to find the solution to the problem, we should learn how to tell whether we’re feeling empty inside. Understanding emptiness calls us to learn more about our inner feelings.
Let’s have a look at the most common symptoms of emptiness and void:
- You don’t understand who you are and your purpose in life;
- You are full of negative thoughts;
- You always seek for approval from family and friends;
- You don’t know how to explain your feelings.
Sometimes, emptiness feels like an inner void, vacuum or a black hole.
Why Do You Feel Empty?
The most important thing to realize is that emptiness is a state of lack.
Majority of people who struggle with a chronic sense of emptiness had parents who were incapable of intimate relationships with them. When you do not get enough love and attention in the childhood, you start to believe that you are not good enough. That means that the real cause of inner emptiness is a lack of emotional connection and demonstration of love.[2]
As a result, this feeling can travel through our lives like baggage. The lack of belonging becomes a traumatic imprint that becomes so acutely uncomfortable that we are willing to do anything we can to get away from that particular feeling.
Although this feeling is not uncommon for many people, if left unattended, it can result in a chronic disorder such as depression. Furthermore, people tend to get out of this feeling with alcohol and drugs, which increases the chance of drug or alcohol addiction. That’s why having a clue about what is really important to you will help to know what causes you to feel empty inside.
How to Deal with Inner Emptiness
The key is fighting emptiness is to find out what you are missing. Is it a sense of belonging, meaning or interpersonal connection? Here are several suggestions from leading experts of how to recognize and deal with inner emptiness.
1. Refocus and Rebalance Yourself
According to Kaitlyn Slight, a marriage and family therapist in Raleigh, N.C., we should focus on ourselves and spend more time thinking about our desires.[3]
In order to be in a positive state of body and mind, you can spend several minutes meditating or exercising.
The easiest way to rebalance yourself emotionally and physically is to take a warm bath.[4] Many researches have shown that bathing has a lot of benefits including pain relief, enhanced mobility, and improved psychological well-being.[5]
While it’s easy to get distracted by all the negative emotions you’re feeling, it’s important to recenter yourself by taking good care of yourself. Try to pick up some of these 30 Self-Care Habits for a Strong and Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit.
2. Find Your Needs with the Help of Others
Everybody has needs, but what makes the needs painful is when we think we cannot get what we need. We think that we have to meet them by ourselves, but sometimes, it is important to take action to get up and find someone to meet the need.
Asking for help can resolve many life issues and can be a first step towards meeting your needs. For example, if your need is for the company you don’t have to spend your time to figure out how to be your own company. Just go find a company.
If you find it difficult to ask for help, check out these tips: How to Ask for Help When You Feel Silly to Do So
3. Appreciate and Treasure What You Have
Another way to heal your inner emptiness is through gratitude. Research suggests that feeling grateful is a very important positive emotion that allows people to expand their worldview and the view of themselves, which later leads to building better social relations and skills.[6] This means that individuals who are thankful are also more satisfied with their relationships with friends and family as well as they are less stressed and much happier.
Try to be appreciative for what is around you by noticing all good things we take for granted. A simple compliment given during the day will show you how much positive energy you can create.
These 32 Things You Should Be Grateful For can inspire you to be more grateful today.
4. Never Stop Exploring Something New
Neurobiologists have found out that learning something new has motivational effects similar to dopamine which leads to the emotional arousal.[7] That’s why each time you review the information you’ve learned before, add a couple of new facts.
Another good tip is to change your environment. Even such little things as changing lighting or temperature in your room can have a positive effect on your emotional state.
5. Ask for a Professional Help If Needed
Many people cannot identify the reason behind this feeling no matter how long they psychoanalyzed themselves and searched for a problem. The main thing is not to give up!
Find a good therapist who will help you to find the causations of the inner void from the past and bring them to the present moment so that you can become whole again.
Final Thoughts
Finding the cause of inner emptiness can be a challenging and long process. But instead of distracting yourself by filling this emptiness with things like shopping, food, alcohol and drugs, you’d better find out what makes you feel incomplete and regain your happiness.
More About Happiness
- How to Cope with Empty Nest Syndrome and Stop Feeling Lonely
- 7 Things To Remember When You Feel Broken Inside
- 10 Things That Happen When You Start to Enjoy Being Alone
Featured photo credit: Fabrizio Verrecchia via unsplash.com
Reference
| [1] | ^ | Dr. Margaret Paul: Are You Living Your Life or Just Getting It Over With? |
| [2] | ^ | Huffington Post: The Real Cause of Inner Emptiness (And What to Do About It) |
| [3] | ^ | PsychCentral: When You Feel Empty: What It Means & What to Do |
| [4] | ^ | ArjoHuntleigh: Therapeutic benefit of a hot bath |
| [5] | ^ | Better Bathrooms: The physiological and psychological effects of bathing |
| [6] | ^ | Positive Psychology Program: Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions (+PDF) |
| [7] | ^ | Science Daily: Pure Novelty Spurs The Brain |
