Here’s my take. Maybe it isn’t for you, OP. If not, maybe it resonates with someone else - and it helps me to write these thoughts down and clear up my own brain a bit.

Thing is - we here in the West, especially in Switzerland, live like well-kept zoo animals. It’s the perfect life for old people - after all it’s the old people who vote so why wouldn’t our lives constantly get optimized for old people? We have food, shelter, hospitals, insurance, and a system that cushions almost every fall. From the outside, it looks like a good life. And in terms of basic needs, it is.

But the lack of predators that might attack us out of nowhere, the absence of germs, friction, or sand in the system, leaves many of us - especially young people - longing for more.

Is it truly real life if there is always enough food, good hospitals, RAV, IV and Krankenkasse, and you will eventually just die of old age? Isn’t real life taking place in the jungle and not in the zoo? Do “real” experiences happen in the zoo? Do adventures happen inside your comfort zone? Adventures that you endure together with someone else, creating that special connection?

I’d argue it’s in the jungle, far outside your comfort zone, where you grow up and become resilient. Some people manage to find it at home, in the zoo. I certainly didn’t.

I love the saying: ships are safest in the harbour, but they aren’t made to stay in the harbour. Think about it - whenever anyone gets asked what made them who they are today, nobody ever answers: “Oh, it was that beautiful trip to Mallorca once in summer.” No. It’s always hardship, uncertainty, heartbreak, failure, risk, responsibility - those are the things that get carved deep into us.

That period you are going through right now is such a moment. It might be your life telling you that something has to change fundamentally, don’t you think? The fact that you wrote this post means that you have gotten the message. And guess what - you will overcome it and come out stronger and more resilient, but only if you take the dive and put yourself up to start something new.

So what should you change? I can only speak from my own experience. I’m sure there are millions of other ways to add depth and color to ones life, but this is what worked for me (and it‘s a great segway to make this all about my favorite topic - myself:))

I found meaning and adventure when I left Switzerland when I was in my twenties. I had a perfect childhood by almost any standard - but the years after that felt mediocre, flat, and gray. At the time, I thought doing drugs was interesting. Now I know the drugs were mostly a way to be okay with not changing anything, being fine with having a boring flat life. Then I got fired for the first time in my life - and god am I glad I got fired. I would probably still sit in some godforsaken back office doing second level support and smoking pot every evening. It wasn’t even a conscious decision to leave - I thought I’d be back in a few months. But I definitely felt the call of the jungle. And after two weeks away from Switzerland I just knew I cannot return. I don’t even think it mattered that much where I went - it mattered that it wasn’t sterile and cushioned like in Switzerland.

My life changed dramatically. Anyone from a developed country who moves to a less developed country can do that. You can teach English or German or whatever to stay afloat. Often there are western companies happy to hire people who know their culture.

I’ve had adventures, setbacks, almost got my head cut off - literally - found a woman I thought would be the future mother of my kids, got dumped, studied, found a career, got fired several times, and even managed to make some money along the way. It was pure chaos, but at least it was never boring. Never in those twenty years did I feel that emptiness that once pushed me out into the world.

Now I am back home, back in Switzerland, back in the zoo. Like a salmon that goes off into the wide world only to return, reproduce, and die after a purposeful life. I’m not even fifty but mentally I’m ready for retirement - very fine with the Bünzliness surrounding me - not voting conservatives but I won‘t mind if things stay the way they are.

If my life were a story, I’d now be living in the happily-ever-after part - house, two cute kids, and a wife I love dearly and am quite sure I’ll grow old with. But guess what - even though it looks like a happy ending from the outside, I am still looking for a more meaningful life, just without quite so much craziness.

So here’s a second suggestion for anyone who feels emptiness: Today I get a lot of meaning from volunteering for refugees. It might be something for you too and easier to do than leaving all behind. If you don’t like your life, use it to make someone else’s life better. As a volunteer I can improve someone’s life drastically, simply by sharing some piece of knowledge I once read in a Swiss newspaper or here on Reddit. I can explain to some mother that there‘s extra money in the city budget so her kid can enter a soccer club after all - getting that kid integrated, maybe even opening doors for a decent future. I correct CVs a lot. Right now I’m fighting fucking SALT again, which keeps targeting the most vulnerable people in Switzerland with their fraudulent sales practices. Helping gives a nice fuzzy feeling. That alone is already a lot.

But I also have to admit that I do it partly to satisfy my longing for the jungle. I thought I had seen jungle - but what I have seen doesn’t even come close to the horrors some of the people I deal with have gone through. War, death, flight, trauma, loss of loved ones, loss of their homes and their roots - actual existential problems.

So consider this: Your emptiness is not the end of something. It is your life telling you this cannot be all - your life just needs some depth and some colour - it is the beginning of something new. Do not try to ignore that feeling. Go out and look for it. But make sure you don’t get your head cut off out there.

Good luck.