Why Everything Feels Existential Right Now - Daily Laterals #8

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Welcome to Day 8 of Daily Laterals - a race against myself to see who crumbles first: my will to write daily shorts like these or time itself.

Daily Laterals (weekends not included) covers a short concept/idea I’m currently thinking about or thoughts on a piece of information I’ve recently read.

It’s meant to sprinkle a bit of food for thought next to all the brainrot.

Feeling existential lately? There’s a reason for that.

Every day, someone, somewhere, is trying to make you feel like your life isn’t enough. Including me.

Because that’s the easiest way to sell you something.

It’s industrialized existential dread.

Every product now wants to tap into your identity, your purpose, your sense of meaning. “This isn’t just coffee,” they say. “It’s who you are before 9AM.” “This isn’t a mattress. It’s your future self, finally sleeping like a billionaire monk.”

“This isn’t a water bottle. It’s discipline in liquid form.”

The result? Every choice starts to feel like a referendum on who you are as a person.

You can’t just buy something. You have to be something.

The bad (or good?) news is that it works.

Take biohacking. It took the chaos and joy of partying and turned it into guilt.

Where once there was “shots on Friday,” now there’s “cold plunges at 5AM.” Alcohol became “toxins.” Sleep tracking became a moral compass. The same dopamine hits, just repackaged in the language of optimization.

It’s genius marketing. They rebranded being boring into something cool. I’m part of that crowd too, so don’t take this as an insult, but as genuine admiration.

And it’s everywhere. You don’t exercise anymore; you “build longevity.”

You don’t eat lunch; you “track your macros”

The economy of meaning has replaced the economy of stuff. And every brand wants a piece of your soul, not (just) your wallet.

That’s why everything feels existential. Because everyone’s competing for your sense of purpose.

Another perfect example in this (real) ad I’m running: it’s telling you your current tech stack sucks, which is probably true, and offering you a way to be better professional.

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