So I saw this illustration on Facebook the other day and it felt so accurate that I am bringing it here, I finally found the illustrator, Shen. I’m grateful for their wisdom and hope I have done justice to their ideas.
The thing about existential dread is how it drains
The color from every wall in your head, how it grows past
Every other emotion, the way a shadow can inflate itself
Until it is taller than the thing the light is hitting, whether
Self or other. The trick with existential dread is to move
So that the shadow must run if it wants to keep up:
Vacuum the rug, do cardio, chase the cat through
The living room—the room for living not simply existing—
Follow the cat’s example and live in the present moment,
This present moment, the only one we ever really have,
The one so hard to stay in. Don’t let the existential dread
Set in, don’t let it set in. Make pasta if you must, add pesto,
Eat it with gusto. Shop for a new tie to look dapper in. Don’t
Let the existential dread set in. Don’t let it set in. Keep moving.
buildingapoem 
I love this
LikeLike
Why, thank you!
LikeLike
Cats are the purrrfect cure for just about anything. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Musashi certainly thinks so.
LikeLike
Strangely, the little guy (person) there in the drawing reminds me of the figure in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which is all about existential dread.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The creator is Shen of Bluechair Comics: http://www.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/bluechair/ep-59-busy-work/viewer?title_no=199&episode_no=61
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
No prob. 🙂 He’s got some pretty good stuff, but I think the one you’ve got above is really the home run of them all!
LikeLike
It took me an hour but I dug up the original comic: http://www.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/bluechair/ep-59-busy-work/viewer?title_no=199&episode_no=61
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
God I’m so glad that I found this post! Thank you, it really spoke volumes to me. Blessings – I’m going to go and pet the cat of my friend that I’m staying with!!! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wrote this at the end of January and it has wildly outstripped the popularity of anything I have written in the last year and a half. Which might be worrying… Glad I could help!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is really good especially your words. It is difficult to remember to live. I should write that somewhere. LIVE.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I completely understand. This used to be a major problem for me, to the point where I became best friends with my bed.
Meditation and spending a lot of time outside helped a lot. And I mean *a lot*. It helped me to realize that there actually is meaning to life and existence, despite how weird things can get.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are you going to update with a link to the creator’s original work?
LikeLike
so this means you have to literally physically attempt to move away from your inability to be still and silent – it just makes you restless.
LikeLike
Not inability to be still and silent. Ability to accept the possible meaninglessness of existence. Or come up with meaning faster than the anxiety can catch up with me.
LikeLike