At some point in life, almost everyone encounters the same nagging question: Do I choose what feels meaningful or do I choose what is more practical to me?
Sometimes the dilemma is obvious. You may want to spend more time raising your children and being present for moments you’ll never get back, but financial realities demand that both parents work. Perhaps you dream of returning to school to study philosophy, literature, psychology, or another subject you genuinely love, yet the uncertainty of changing careers feels too risky. Maybe you feel trapped in a profession that pays well but leaves you emotionally empty, unsure whether pursuing something more meaningful would be courageous or irresponsible.
These aren’t simply career questions or financial questions. They are existential questions. They ask us not merely how we want to live, but who we want to become.
And because there are no perfect answers, they often linger in the background of our lives, resurfacing whenever we stand at a crossroads.
The Culture of Practicality
In Singapore, the language of practicality is almost impossible to escape.
Conversations about education often lead to discussions about employability. Career choices are evaluated based on income potential and future prospects. Even personal passions are frequently measured against practical outcomes: Will it pay the bills? Is there a market for it? Is the risk worth taking?
Of course, there are good reasons for this mindset. Practical decisions provide security in an uncertain world. They help individuals support their families, prepare for emergencies, and build stable futures. There is nothing inherently wrong with valuing practicality.
Yet when practicality becomes the only lens through which life is viewed, something begins to feel missing.
Human beings are not creatures motivated solely by material needs. We also seek purpose. We seek belonging. We seek experiences that make us feel alive. We want to feel that our days add up to something more than simply surviving until the next paycheck, promotion, or milestone.
This is where the tension begins to emerge. Practicality tells us how to navigate the world. Meaning tells us why the journey matters in the first place.
What Existentialism Reveals About This Struggle
Existentialist thinkers understood this tension perhaps better than anyone.
At the heart of existentialism is the recognition that life does not arrive with a ready-made instruction manual. There is no universal blueprint that tells us what career to pursue, what relationships to prioritize, or how much sacrifice is worthwhile in exchange for stability.
Instead, we find ourselves thrown into a world already full of expectations, responsibilities, limitations, and obligations. We inherit circumstances we never chose: our family background, our economic conditions, our social environment, and countless other factors that shape our possibilities.
Yet despite these constraints, we remain responsible for our choices.
This is where existential anxiety comes from. We are free enough to choose, but not free enough to choose without consequences.
Every path closes off another path. Every “yes” contains a hidden “no.”
The stable corporate career might mean less time for creative pursuits. The passion project might mean years of financial uncertainty. The choice to prioritize family might slow professional advancement. The pursuit of ambition might require sacrifices elsewhere.
Existentialism does not offer a way to eliminate these tensions. Instead, it asks us to confront them honestly.
Meaning and Practicality are Not Opposites
We often imagine meaning and practicality as rivals locked in an endless battle.
One side whispers, “Follow your passion.” The other counters, “Be realistic.”
But life rarely unfolds in such neat categories.
A parent working long hours may be driven by something profoundly meaningful: the desire to provide for their children. What appears to be a practical decision is simultaneously an expression of love, responsibility, and purpose.
Likewise, someone who chooses to pursue art, teaching, research, or social work may appear to be prioritizing meaning over practicality, but their choice is often grounded in practical concerns about living a life they can wake up feeling proud of.
This is why the distinction becomes blurry.
Meaning often hides inside practical decisions. Practical concerns often shape meaningful pursuits.
Rather than existing at opposite ends of a battlefield, they frequently overlap in ways that are difficult to recognize while we’re living through them.
Living Between Two Poles
Perhaps a better metaphor is not a battle but a pendulum. Throughout life, we swing between meaning and practicality.
When we’re younger, we may gravitate toward dreams, exploration, and self-discovery. As responsibilities accumulate, practicality often moves to the forefront. Later in life, after achieving some degree of stability, many people once again begin searching for deeper meaning.
Even within a single year, our priorities can shift dramatically.
A job that once felt meaningful may begin to feel hollow. A practical obligation that once seemed burdensome may reveal unexpected purpose. The child-rearing years might require certain sacrifices that later become cherished memories. The career we pursued for security may eventually provide opportunities for contribution and impact that we never anticipated.
Life is rarely about finding a permanent equilibrium.
It is more like balancing on a moving ship. Conditions change. Priorities shift. New information emerges. What mattered yesterday may not matter tomorrow.
The challenge is not remaining perfectly balanced. It is in remaining conscious as we adjust.
Making Meaning
Perhaps one of existentialism’s most radical insights is that meaning is not something waiting out there to be discovered like buried treasure.
Meaning emerges through engagement.
It is created through the commitments we choose to make, the responsibilities we accept, the relationships we nurture, and the values we embody.
This means meaning is not reserved for extraordinary lives.
We often think meaning has to come from grand achievements, but more often it reveals itself in everyday commitments: a parent choosing one more bedtime story over rest, a student that pushes to still feed their curiosity despite exhaustion, a worker finding purpose in caring for loved ones, or an artist creating simply because they feel compelled to do so.
The meaning is not necessarily found in the activity itself but in the significance we bring to it.
And this realization changes the relationship between meaning and practicality entirely. Sometimes meaning is not something we pursue instead of practicality. Sometimes meaning emerges through practicality itself.
Autonomy in a World of Constraints
The modern world often presents life as a series of forced choices. We can easily begin to feel trapped by circumstances, institutions, expectations, and responsibilities.
Yet existentialism reminds us that even within limitations, there remains a space for agency.
We may not control every circumstance, but we can reflect on how we respond to them.
We can examine our values, acknowledge our fears, and take ownership of our decisions rather than attributing them entirely to external forces.
This is not absolute freedom. It is something quieter and perhaps more realistic: the freedom to choose our orientation toward life.
And perhaps that is where authenticity begins.
Not in escaping every constraint, but in choosing deliberately despite them.
The Real Question
The more I think about it, the less convinced I am that meaning and practicality are truly opposing forces.
The real question may not be whether we should choose one over the other.
The real question is whether we are aware of where we stand at any given moment.
- Are we sacrificing too much meaning in pursuit of security?
- Are we ignoring practical realities in pursuit of an idealised vision of purpose?
- Are our current choices still aligned with the person we want to become?
Life may never offer a perfect balance and the tension itself may be permanent.
But by cultivating awareness, we gain something valuable: the ability to choose consciously rather than by default.
And in that act of choosing, despite uncertainty, trade-offs, and risk, we reclaim a measure of autonomy in a world that often feels determined to make our decisions for us.
That may not solve the existential tension between meaning and practicality. But it may be enough to help us live with it, and perhaps even find meaning within it.
About the Author
I am a BPS-accredited and SPS-accredited Counselling Psychologist with a Doctorate in Existential Psychology from the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in London, U.K. My care philosophy is not to diagnose, label, or categorise but rather to work with the individual in front of me in the here and now.
My clinical credentials certainly play a significant role in defining my professional identity. But to foster a deeper connection and authenticity, I invite you to discover my other “Selves”, the various facets of who I am.
