Coaching practices for How to Apply Existentialism
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Apply Existentialism, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’m facing a real decision and I realize I’m about to choose what my family or my role or "what one does" expects of me, not what I actually value
- I keep saying "that’s just who I am"
- I can’t make myself believe the comforting answers anymore, but I don’t want to just throw up my hands and say nothing matters either
- Some part of me keeps asking “what’s the point?” and using that to not bother, and I’m tired of waiting to feel like it matters before I do anything
- I’m always living for the next thing
Practices that may help
- Existentialism and Radical Choice
Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism holds that human beings have no fixed nature — "existence precedes essence" — and are therefore radically free to define themselves through their choices. The practical implication is that you cannot hide behind role, instinct, or circumstance: you are always already choosing, including when you tell yourself you have no choice. This is philosophical rather than clinical; its overlap with ACT and CBT is real but indirect. - Choose authentically — from your own values, not from expectation
Make choices that reflect your actual values rather than the role others have assigned you.
Existentialism and Radical Choice - Take seriously that you have no fixed nature
Stop treating your personality, role, or past as a given — you are always in the process of defining yourself.
Existentialism and Radical Choice - Acknowledge the absurd without flinching
See the gap between your hunger for meaning and the universe’s silence — and stay with both, without resolving them.
Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite - Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite
Albert Camus argued that humans crave meaning in a universe that offers none — this collision is the "absurd." His answer was not despair or denial but revolt: keep asking for meaning, know you won’t find a cosmic answer, and live fully anyway. The practical implication is that meaning is made by the living, not discovered in the world — and that lucid, committed engagement with life is possible even without certainty. This is philosophical rather than clinical; overlaps with acceptance-based approaches are real but indirect. - Revolt: keep living fully despite the absurd
Camus’s answer to meaninglessness is not acceptance or surrender but revolt — keeping going with full awareness.
Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite - Be fully present without hoping for something else
Camus advocates full presence in the actual moment — not as a way to escape it but as its own form of aliveness.
Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite - Spot bad faith in yourself
Notice when you are treating yourself as a thing determined by role, instinct, or expectation — and claim the choice.
Existentialism and Radical Choice - Define yourself by actions, not intentions
You are not your intentions or your self-image — you are the accumulation of what you actually do.
Existentialism and Radical Choice - Build meaning through concrete love and solidarity
Camus locates the best available meaning in care for specific people — not in grand ideologies or metaphysical certainties.
Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite
Related concerns
- Bad Faith Sartre
Notice when you are treating yourself as a thing determined by role, instinct, or expectation — and claim the choice.
Spot bad faith in yourself
- Existentialism Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism holds that human beings have no fixed nature — "existence precedes essence" — and are therefore radically free to define themselves through their choices. The practical implication is that you cannot hide behind role, instinct, or circumstance: you are always already choosing, including when you tell yourself you have no choice. This is philosophical rather than clinical; its overlap with ACT and CBT is real but indirect.
- Radical Responsibility Sartre
Own every choice completely — including its unintended consequences and the unchosen conditions within which you chose.
Take radical responsibility for your choices
- Absurdism Camus
Albert Camus argued that humans crave meaning in a universe that offers none — this collision is the "absurd." His answer was not despair or denial but revolt: keep asking for meaning, know you won’t find a cosmic answer, and live fully anyway. The practical implication is that meaning is made by the living, not discovered in the world — and that lucid, committed engagement with life is possible even without certainty. This is philosophical rather than clinical; overlaps with acceptance-based approaches are real but indirect.
- Authentic Choice Sartre
Make choices that reflect your actual values rather than the role others have assigned you.
Choose authentically — from your own values, not from expectation
- Camus Revolt Philosophy
Camus’s answer to meaninglessness is not acceptance or surrender but revolt — keeping going with full awareness.
Revolt: keep living fully despite the absurd
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