When Success Feels Empty: Existential Meaninglessness in Careers

You've done it, everything looks right on paper.

You've worked hard, studied, climbed and proven yourself. You've hit the milestones you once believed would bring security, pride or satisfaction. Maybe you're respected in your field or organisation, financially stable, or finally in the role you used to imagine yourself in.

But why does it feel anti-climatic? Why does it feel like something is missing? Where do you go now?

For many of us, we are fortunate enough to reach our career goals, yet instead of fulfilment, there's this quiet flatness or a sense of emptiness. Is this it? We reach these positions, which on paper are the ultimate aim and one many are envious of. This constant striving has given our life meaning, a sense of direction, yet now we've achieved it. What is our meaning now? And so, you may feel strangely disconnected from the world beyond the office, restless and wanting more, or even guilty for feeling dissatisfied when you "should" be grateful.

This experience is more common than many of professional realise, and it often has less to do with burnout or stress, and more to do with something called existential meaninglessness. Something I work with a lot in my therapy practice as an existentialist.

From a young age, we are taught explicitly or implicitly that success will deliver meaning and that we should amount to something in name, role or achievement. Especially those of us, who came from poorer households, where our way out being on the breadline was through education and climbing the career ladder. The ultimate vision of our parents was for us to have stability, progression, recognition, respectability and a dignity where they never had. These goals can be motivating and necessary, particularly early in life.

But when those goals are reached and realised, they sometimes fail to deliver what was imagined for us.

The climb itself can be energising. After all, there is momentum, direction, a sense of becoming our own person, reaching something we can be proud of. However, when that climb levels out, what's left can feel oddly hollow. Without a clear next step or next rung, the question emerges:

Who am I now that I've arrived?

This is often when existential concerns begin to surface, particularly those around meaning and our sense of direction in life. For many high-achieving professionals that I see, career development has quietly taken priority over other areas of life. Relationships, creativity, self-care, travel and self-exploration may have been placed on hold for many years with the idea that there will be time later. But by putting our life on hold and sacrificing it all for our careers, later brings into our awareness a painful imbalance.

We begin to realise that we have a strong professional identity, one that is recognised and celebrated in workplace, in the office, but when we leave at the end of the day and go home to an empty house or even to a full house where we are a stranger in our own home. Suddenly, it dawns on us that we lack a clear personal identity and one we can't name or identify.

You may be reading this and thinking that only through these achievements, can we have the means to explore other interests including travelling, raising children etc. Whilst that is true, I'm referring to putting these career goals and the career ladder ahead of emotional nourishment, something which cannot be sustainable long-term.

Underneath it all, it's worth reflecting on ourselves and considering this: we may have external validation from colleagues, team members and peers, but is that sufficient to fill the void of internal satisfaction? Meaning, is it enough to be liked and admired by others, whilst neglecting our personal goals such as loving relationships, parenthood, community and connection, and personal interests and hobbies?

This neglect can lead to a sense of being lost, because something important is missing and our deeper, personal needs are not being met. This feeling may come up in the morning coffee queue before heading into the office, on the train home, in the shower or late at night in bed. The more we neglect our personal life and keep putting our careers first, the stronger this negative feeling becomes until it becomes all consuming and something snaps.

Feeling empty after success does not mean you made the wrong choices or that your career was a mistake. It often signals something more subtle and human. There is simply a mismatch between achievement and meaning. So, where do we take this, how do we move through conflict and find a solution?

Existential psychology suggests that meaning is not something we receive automatically through status or success. It is something we actively create through values, relationships, responsibility and authenticity. This lack of meaning and the search for purpose and meaning in our lives shows that we are experiencing an existential crisis and one that needs addressing through self-reflection and possible professional support through therapists like me.

When life has been structured around external markers or milestones such as promotions, income and reputation, it can take time to notice that these do not automatically answer deeper questions such as

• What genuinely matter to me?

• How do I want to live, not just function?

• What gives my life texture, depth and purpose?

These questions tend to emerge precisely when survival and striving ease off.

Existential meaninglessness is often accompanied by confusion, anxiety, or low mood because it disrupts a familiar identity. If your sense of self has been tightly linked to what you do, then reaching the peak can feel like the ground has disappeared beneath you. Many people describe it as a sense of emotional numbness or emptiness, think of that dead behind the eyes look. For others, it can be a loss of motivation despite "having it all", also it brings up an anxiety about wasted time or missed opportunities.

This fear stays buried because there is a guilt, they should feel happy for the position they are in and should not be complaining. Why? Because these feelings don't fit the success narrative, they're often minimised or hidden, which can intensify isolation and a feeling of being alone.

Overcoming existential meaninglessness in the workplace isn't about finding a single grand purpose nor is it making impulsive life changes. It's about reconnecting with meaning at a human level and a helpful starting point includes:

Reflecting on personal values rather than external expectations. Why are we placing so much value and emphasis on other's opinions and beliefs rather than what we as individuals need and want from life? Can we be bold enough to reject the pressure to conform and be happy with the career position alone to provide us with a fulfilling life, and are we able to live with the choices we make to enrich our personal lives, regardless of the disappointment of friends and family?

Re-examining neglected areas of life such as relationships, creativity or rest enables us to identify those areas that need a change in attitude towards them or a change in the relationship with them. That might be adjusting working patterns to make room for hobbies, spending time with family, children and friends, travelling or pursuing other personal interests.

Allowing uncertainty instead of rushing to fix the feeling. Only through sitting with the uncertainty and working through it, can you push through those negative feelings and get to a point, where you have meaning and purpose. It's not a symptom that can be diagnosed and cured, so it requires us to reflect on life philosophically.

Recognising that meaning evolves and needs tending, not achieving. Your purpose and meaning in life is not fixed and can change as you get older or as circumstances change. A lack of meaning, purpose or motivation is often a sign of you growing.

These are all questions and ideas we must consider individually and come to our own individual conclusions that align with our needs and long term personal goals. However, this is a process that takes time and often benefits from being explored with support rather than alone.

Working with a therapist can provide a space to slow down and explore these questions without judgement or pressure to perform. In therapy, you can make sense of the emptiness rather than trying to diagnose it, explore who you are beyond your professional role, reconnect with values that feel personally meaningful, sit with uncertainty in a supported and contained way as well as develop a more integrated life that includes, but isn't dominated by, work.

Existential therapy, in particular, recognises that feelings of meaninglessness are not symptoms to be eliminated, but signals pointing towards growth, reorientation and deeper self-understanding and exploration.

Reaching career goals doesn't mark the end of the journey, it marks a transition. One that takes you from striving and climbing to finding enjoyment in the world and the excitement around exploring what makes you happy beyond the workplace. If success has left you feeling empty or lost, it may be inviting you to ask yourself different questions, ones that go beyond productivity and status.

You don't have to have all the answers, and you don't have to navigate this alone. With curiosity, compassion and the right support, it's possible to move from a life built around achievement to one grounded in meaning, connection and choice. That shift stops being a crisis and becomes a turning point, one we can benefit from and one that marks an exciting new stage in our lives.

If you relate to the issues I've raised in this article, get in touch to discuss personal therapy and how I can help you work through any existential doubts you are currently experiencing.