On Doomerism

According to a user on Urban Dictionary, a doomer is, “A person (usually a millennial or generation Z and male) who has experienced apparent hardship (relationship breakup, job loss, failure etc.) and has became fully immersed in apathy, self-hatred, depression and generally being a loner. Usually asleep or tired in the day and more active at the night, spending time on the internet or going on long night walks ruminating.”

Personally, I can completely understand this sentiment. Today, it really seems as if the world if burning. We have politicians so old, that they can’t even communicate properly, or function. Tensions are brewing in the middle-east, and now Putin is friends with Kim Jong Un. The economy is crashing, and things just keep getting more and more expensive. Why wouldn’t anyone be upset? Or feeling doomed? I, myself, am a doomer. I struggle with depression, PTSD, substance-abuse, and autism. I also moderate a discord server for doomers, so I completely understand.

But what is there to do about Doomerism? What can we do to alleviate this feeling of being doomed?

What helped me as having a purpose. I found writing at a very treacherous time in my life. I had just escaped an abusive environment, and had a head full of rage. Once I started writing and realized, “Hey, I’m actually kinda good at this,” it all changed for me. In a way, writing saved me.

So when I wrote, I fucking wrote. While writing my first novel, H, I would wake up at five P.M. and start writing around eight P.M. I would then stay up all night writing and go to sleep around four or five-in-the-morning. I would barely eat, and lived off a diet of cigarettes, caffeine, and cereal. That was my life for seven-months. Two drafts later (and a whole round of edits), I finished my novel.

During that time, I’d go on nightwalks around town, just like many doomers. My headphones would always play some sad rock, and I’d walk upwards of three-miles.

It seems that many doomers I’ve talked too, have the same life. They’re stuck working a dead-end job, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and are very isolated. Put simply, they are without purpose. And if you think about it, it kind of makes sense why their lives are devoid of purpose. In school, we’re taught what to do in life. Graduate school, go to college, work, and then retire at sixty-five. But where’s the purpose in that? Where’s the honor in being just another cog in the capitalist machine?

If these doomers had a purpose, it would certainly help them, but there’s another thing. Even if you have something you like to do, and maybe it’s all that you want to do, you still have to make money. So there you are again, working a shitty nine-to-five, kissing your boss’ ass for a dollar raise, and dividing your time between what you hate, and what you love.

My purpose is writing, but I haven’t been able to make money off it yet. I’m stuck working a job for a couple weeks, then I tell my boss (or someone else) to fuck off, and then I’m out of a job again. So maybe your purpose doesn’t have to be something to make money off of. I know many people who find purpose in being fathers or mothers.

What I’m trying to get at here, is that your purpose can really be, well, anything. Your life is yours. It is created by your choices, likes, dislikes, and what you spend your time on. Do not get lulled into the trap of feeling like there’s nothing out there. Do not believe that nothing will change. Everything in life is temporary. Everything in life is born, and then dies. Each plant is born from a seed, then grows, has sex with mother nature, and dies. It’s the beautiful cycle of destruction and creation.

So my message to you doomers, is this: Try everything. Live your life. Nothing matters, and that’s a beautiful thing. Have the urge to do something, but not sure if you can? Say, “fuck it,” and put all your chips in. Your life, is yours to live.