I've had the same experience. Multiple friends dying young of cancer, others to war and it shook my core beliefs about who and what is important. In almost every case, each of them were "the best of us" and were top performers destined for greatness.
A philosophical nitpick too, you're likely describing absurdism, not nihilism. Nihilism doesn't accept the self-application of meaning/purpose. Whereas other forms of existentialism do accept that self application of purpose is valid, with absurdism being the only one which offers that any self assigned purpose is equally valid to others.
I only say this because both handle the question of suicide differently. I'm on the fence between being a nihilist and an absurdist weekly.
> A philosophical nitpick too, you're likely describing absurdism, not nihilism.
You're right, thanks for the clarification! I got confused between existentialism and nihilism, I admit I don't know the differences beyond what's infiltrated pop consciousness. You sent me on a wikibrowsing quest ;)
A philosophical nitpick too, you're likely describing absurdism, not nihilism. Nihilism doesn't accept the self-application of meaning/purpose. Whereas other forms of existentialism do accept that self application of purpose is valid, with absurdism being the only one which offers that any self assigned purpose is equally valid to others.
I only say this because both handle the question of suicide differently. I'm on the fence between being a nihilist and an absurdist weekly.