How would you define an 'existential hangover'?

Question

How would you define an 'existential hangover'?

Answer 1

The core concept of a hangover is that it is a kind of awakening... an unpleasant one.  You have spent a time in a pleasant euphoria, but now it is not only over but you are suffering for it.  What passed before you earlier like a dream is now revealed in the cold morning light as a much more sober and sorrowful reality.

And that is where it becomes relevant to existentialism.  An existentialist believes that there is no intrinsic meaning to the universe; that things don't have a built-in purpose or mission.  Something is what you make of it and nothing more.

So you can see how many hangovers might not be existential in nature:  some people after getting drunk just want to get drunk again, some just suffer in silence (or not) and then just go on about their business.  If your hangover (drug-induced or otherwise) causes you instead to reflect on what it is you are doing and why, to reassess your values and reconsider what you are doing with yourself, then your hangover is an existential one.

You can see this term used in a variety of contexts.  Some alchologics having an existential hangover decide that they are destroying the things they love and swear to reform their lives, some college graduates have an existential hangover on graduation when they discover the world at large is not a place of learning and discussion like the schools they have spent most of their life in, or a person who had a near-death encounter might experience an existential hangover and decide to quit their job and spend more time with their family.  Or, when the hangover passes, they may just again go back to what they were doing before.  So it goes.

Answer 2

Seriously negative Karma. Except I don't believe in Karma.

Answer 3

The results of existentialism in excess.

Answer 4

I would define it as being the moment in someones life when they become so over exhausted with trying to figure out all the unanswerable questions of life and they are unable to just let the self be without tangible reasonable answers.

Answer 5

...still feel the effects from the 4th of JUL...

Answer 6

When I get pissed off I put myself on time out and feel better.  I am a married woman so I am not a kid.  There are many causes of anger and mine is Post Alcohol Withdrawl Syndrome.  I finally know my problem of existence and my family and I get along better.

Answer 7

An existential hangover happens after perhaps a bout of depression (sometimes cause by drinking too much alcohol!) and you doubt the value of your life your existence and the kind of legacy you will leave behind when you die (like will they remember you as an alcoholic!)

Answer 8

Exhausted and spent as a result of being an opposing force or idea.

Answer 9

discovering that your purpose in life is learn when to say enough!

Answer 10

When you wake up in the morning after having dominated the conversation the night before about how your ideas on life and philosophy are superior to gods and realize that no one gives a **** and you really don't know what you are talking about.

Answer 11

An existential hangover? Well to be existential one asks his or her self " what is the meaning of life" or "what is my purpose in life". So an existential hangover could be a hangover that causes the person to question the meaning or purpose of his or her life.

Answer 12

...still feel the effects from the 4th of JUL...

...hanging in there, thanks for asking...

Answer 13

Well, I'd say it's either:

1. A hangover so severe that it makes you question the value of all existence and human life.

or

2. A temporary rejection of existentialist despair in favor of a more life-affirming philosophy, with an eventual return to existentialism.

Answer 14

Its like despairing in the meaninglessness of life.

Existential philosophy often finds that life either has no meaning or if it does, you'll never know it.  We live, we work so hard, and suffer and then we die... Why?  What is the purpose of it all?

Answer 15

Wow I have no idea what this is alluding to...

Let's see, 'existential' is...  self-empowerment

And 'hangover' is... sickness due to over-consumption

Being full of one's self?

Being sick of one's self?

This is a difficult question.

Answer 16

I think being overwhelmed with one's self is an 'existential hangover'.  You know, being so full of one's self that' it has an overwhelming effect on one's being.

Answer 17

Most of these answers are great. I am reminded of my own (to many) existentialist hangovers. However, I believe the worst hangover that I've dealt with came from reading one of the parents of existentialism. Nietzsche's eternal return--everything repeats itself--is somehow a hangover that never goes away. Bartender, how bout one more for the road!

Answer 18

You become tired and bored with everything.

Everything seems to be all chaotic in your head, like a constant, slight confusion.

Maybe it seems like nothing makes too much sense at the moment. Perhaps you get the feeling like you're going a little crazy.

All you can do is wait it out.

Answer 19

Dunno. Feeling sick and tired of life?