# Crisis of Meaning

Source: https://www.theminimalists.com/crisis/
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2024-06-12
Author: The Minimalists

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In recent decades, the American [Dream](https://www.theminimalists.com/dream/) has been replaced by consumerism, gluttony, and multiple drug epidemics. Yes, these troubles are undeniably real, but perhaps they are symptoms of a larger problem.

Maybe we’re buying nonessentials because we’re looking for something we’ve lost. Maybe we’re overeating because we’re trying to fill a void. Maybe we don’t have an opioid crisis so much as we have a crisis of meaning.

To find *meaning* is to find something that fulfills us, that propels us forward during the finite time we have on Earth. Hoarding, gourmandism, and substance abuse do the opposite: these addictions drag us in a direction we don’t want to travel.

The antidote, then, isn’t to simply abstain from everything. Abstinence alone leaves a void. Rather, we must walk toward the activities that provide purpose in our daily lives—creativity, community, contribution—to walk away from our vices.

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