DISCLAIMER: DONT KILL YOURSELF. I DON’T ADVOCATE SUICIDE.

I don’t know a whole lot about Nihilism but I do know a whole lot about Absurdism. I’ve recently joined this sub and seen some posts saying that nihilism isn’t inherently bad and that it’s okay if nothing matters. Isn’t that more of an absurdist point of view? To realizing your natural search for meaning is futile and responding by telling the universe to fuck off and NOT killing yourself and instead experience meaning despite the circumstances. Like enjoying your pet or that first sip of coffee or getting a promotion or standing in one place and just being alive. Those are all meaningless tasks that one chooses to enjoy (or at least be comforted in the fact that they don’t matter).

To summarize, I think nihilism IS depressing and doom and gloom. From my limited knowledge nihilism is a RESPONSE TO the realization that nothing matters. And that response is depression or suicide. Because if you truly view the meaninglessness of the universe as a BAD thing then why wouldn’t you kill yourself? (To be clear I’m not encouraging suicide.) If you view the meaningless of the universe as a GOOD thing that frees you to do whatever you want than you are an Absurdist. On top of that an absurdist belief in a that suicide is succumbing to the absurd and letting the universe win. that you always have the option to experience/create meaning and that choosing to not find any and killing yourself is just you getting in your own way. Am I correct in thinking nihilism actually is depressing and that suicide is a logical reaction to the belief that nothing mattering is bad and that viewing the fact that nothing matters and a good or okay thing is actually Absurdism?

EDIT: A good quote to sum up what I’m talking about is from Albert Camus (The guy who basically invented Contemporary Absurdism) “The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself”

EDIT: After reading a comment I am making the following statement. I think it’s important to remember that a lot of people who aren’t Nihilists (such as myself. Kinda.) and are talking about nihilism are usually referring to Moral Nihilism and Existential Nihilism as being one of the same where as people who are Nihilism are usually referring to just existential nihilism. It’s also important to note that Absurdism is a subsection of Existential Nihilism. Thank you to the commenter who brought this to my attention.