How many of you lot are at peace with the whole thing?
Posted by Leather-Sun-1737@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 258 comments
Collapse can get ya down. for sure. There's a whole subreddit dedicated to it r/collapsesupport... But in my experience both personally and with other collapse aware people I know eventually you reach a state of acceptance.
It's a form of grief really. The true realization of the inevitably and horror of our futures. And similarly to grieving a deceased loved one or a past relationship, eventually you accept it and it stops bothering you. Even slightly.
How many people here would see themselves at this stage? Personally I know I have frequented this sub a lot less since becoming okay about collapse. So perhaps others who are, aren't here either.
Nevertheless, I wonder, anyone else here on this boat?
Crow_Nomad@reddit
Yup. Totally at peace with it. I can't stop it, so I don't stress about. It's the whole terminal disease analogy. I don't discuss it with anyone, because the majority of humans are not emotionally capable of dealing with it. I just sit back and with every super wildfire, super hurricane, super flood or house falling into the sea, I quietly say to myself..."I told you so."
Enjoy the time you have left. Screw society's rules and just enjoy yourself. I am.
BryceCrisps@reddit
My old man wants to kick me out because I just left my dead end job. Think I'm going to be stuck slaving away until the last day.
WestGotIt1967@reddit
MY old man was hell bent on driving me in to poverty and forcing me to pay insane 50% of paycheck rent. So I could never buy my own house. Never get ahead. It was his revenge for hating himself. He died alone btw
MarcusXL@reddit
Man, the number of Boomers who are positively gleeful about "taking it all to the grave" with them is astounding. They know they're leaving a much worse world to their kids and they don't care. In fact they're pleased about it.
Crow_Nomad@reddit
You are talking crap. Nothing could be further from the truth. You are just looking for someone to blame for something you were complicit in. Boomers have families who they care about, and we are not "pleased about" the planet dying.
If you live in a society in any city, you are equally to blame for what is happening right now.
MarcusXL@reddit
We all have a share of blame for our predicament as a species. But I can tell you truthfully, I have personally met many boomers who happily spend time trying to denying the next generations even a modicum of the privileges they had.
I don't know you and I don't need to. Maybe your experience is different. But I have seen this phenomenon myself, too many times to count.
Neogeo71@reddit
Sorry to hear. I am leaving my house to my kids. Planned on selling and downsizing if and when I retire but want my kids to always have a home.
Although at rate property taxes are rising soon that will be like a mortgage payment in itself...
craziest_bird_lady_@reddit
Mine made sure I would lose both family homes by not paying mortgages that were worth millions. He is also in the process of dying alone
Armouredmonk989@reddit
Sorry that happened to you.
Armouredmonk989@reddit
Alot of us found collapse because we are trapped as slaves in a dying capitalist system.
Crow_Nomad@reddit
You are slaves because you let yourself be. It is easier to believe the capitalist con game and just go with the flow. Now it's backfiring it's all, boohoo, poor me.
"Slaves don't fight".
TheOldPug@reddit
I agree about the comparison to a terminal disease. You were always going to die anyway, but now it looks like it will be sooner than you thought. Only thing is, if you actually had a terminal disease, no one would blame you for quitting your job and enjoying the time you had left. In fact, there are probably those in your life who would support you during that time. Now? You still have to go back to the office and sit there every day for money anyway.
redditmodsRrussians@reddit
Smoke em if you got em because in a few years its gonna be time to "go over the top, boys!" We are in the dumbest timeline and get to experience the horrors that led us to WWI where all the great powers had brain rot filled leaders that put everyone on a collision course.
PervyNonsense@reddit
Id be at peace with it if we could actually talk about it like it's real. I find it unbearable to know a truth I cant discuss.
It's like being forced into a plane with not enough fuel to get to a runway and any mention of fuel or crashing is reacted to like treason and the cause, and that the right way to manage this is to "stay optimistic" and pretend the plane lands even if it's a physical impossibility.
And I wouldn't even have a problem with people deciding that for themselves, as a reaction to the reality, but it's the fact that the controlling narrative is that everything is going to be ok, when that should be more like a fringe belief, and we should be able to openly discuss whether or not it makes any sense to get on the plane and not just plant our feet on the tarmac, but no, everything is going to be fine and im the asshole for trying to get someone to look at the math.
This is the tragedy that should unite humanity... instead, we're planning retirement and making babies and saving for their education and it's insane
bowsmountainer@reddit
There’s a very simple reason for it; people can’t bear to accept it, and would rather live in a delusion than accept the ugly truth. It’s the same reason who so many people believe in heaven and think they will go there after death. Because the reality that death is the end is too hard to accept.
memecrusader_@reddit
There’s a reason Cypher wished he took the Blue Pill.
owoah323@reddit
I’ve never resonated with a comment so much as yours.
I looked at a graph yesterday that showed how much CO2 is in the air. It was showing a huge outlier for 2024 compared to, oh yeah you guessed it, hundreds of millions of fucking years.
I then I can’t help but think the exact same thoughts expressed in your closing sentence.
Butt_acorn@reddit
Feels about right.
Meeting with my sister the other day, she asked what I’d been up to, and I told her about how I’d been watching the LA fires closely, and told her about Thwaites glacier cracking dramatically overnight.
She was unconcerned with all of that, but was concerned for my mental health. Did I need to do something to make climate change better? Should I talk with a therapist about this? Is it healthy to pay such close attention to such things?
Like, yeah, those are all important points and valuable tools… but I’m not stressing anymore. I’ve warned this was coming for years; I’m not surprised or particularly moved. I still want to be able to look at it and talk about it—especially with the people closest to me. Collapse is fascinating, and relevant to everybody. But people either treat you like you’re crazy or overreacting.
5Dprairiedog@reddit
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” - Krishnamurti
LotusHeals@reddit
Perfectly quoted
6rwoods@reddit
Same here! You tell them about clear and core issues about our world and their response basically is “YOUR mental health is the only issue here, because that’s the only explanation I can accept for your concern for these issues.” Like they can’t overcome a mental block that allows them to see the threats for what they are, so they must find another explanation for why WE are thinking about these things that won’t mess with their own sense of security. Basically, we’re hysteric or doomscrolling too much and all we really need is some paid professional to tell us we just have anxiety and that’s going to sort it out!
LotusHeals@reddit
Their denial is exactly why they don't do anything about attempting to stop this collapse. They carry on with life in the same way and at the same pace as usual, because they think all is ok.
5Dprairiedog@reddit
These will be the same people shrieking about how "NoOne WaRnEd Us" when shit hits the fan.
Shilo788@reddit
Been hearing that for thirty damn years. Now many still don’t believe it.
KaMilAnRavgs@reddit
Yes is terrifying. Everyone around me deny it and also act like nothing is happening continuing with their lives..
Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit
THIS is what makes me feel crazy--people acting like I'm being hysterical, as I watch a tsunami getting closer and closer. It's now looming directly over our heads
Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit
What happened to the Thwaites glacier? I don't see any recent news
Middle_Manager_Karen@reddit
Same, so I got a therapist. Wish people would stop calling me crazy
craziest_bird_lady_@reddit
Everyone I know is so drugged up on psych meds that they can barely take care of themselves. They are no longer capable of coherent thoughts really, and are unable to follow this. We are the lucky ones to be able to understand and cope and plan to make these last year's the most comfortable we can before the heat becomes unbearable.
blackcatwizard@reddit
This is the crux of it all I think - human psychology is, for lack of a better word, crazy. In the face of acute and significant stress we can all react differently (although we can group those into a handful of categories/labels). Your sister's response is " normal " , but the way she is responding is such that she shouldn't be making decisions about how to react/respond to what's going on. The problem is a lot of people in power have the same reaction and don't realise it and/or refuse to give up their power for others to act. Our downfall, in a way, books down to a shitty path in our own evolution that ultimately doesn't allow us to help ourselves.
Yaro482@reddit
I feel you, brother. Stay strong, stay resilient. You are not crazy; you are a realist. You see the world for what it is.
Busy-Support4047@reddit
Yeah, this. It's just very lonely when you can't talk to people about the only thing that really matters because they can't handle it, but they're happy to go on about trivialities all day long. Feels like you're surrounded by Oblivion NPCs and triggers that creepy hollow realization you've spent so much time in a fake place with fake people... even though it's real life.
robotjyanai@reddit
This is how I feel. It’s crazy how many people have their heads in the sand and that governments don’t even want to seem to talk about climate change anymore and act like it’s not an issue.
traveledhermit@reddit
Most of my friends and family know it’s real but are in deep optimistic denial simultaneously.
kupo_moogle@reddit
I’m kind of in this state - I know it’s real, but I’m still carrying on as if it’s not, because what choice do I have? I don’t have an exact timeline and today’s bills need to be paid today.
I also live in a fairly rural part of eastern Canada, and as selfish and horrible as it is, I have this hope that we will be affected later than others and somehow watching the collective fuckery of the world as collapse begins to affect more and more places will somehow shock the local population into action.
We can’t stop it, but maybe we can survive it. Maybe warm water fish will migrate to our northern waters and the locals and pull in enough of a haul to supplement whatever people figure out how to grow.
Maybe it spends some time at Great Depression levels of hunger before it hits total famine and everyone gets their shit together and starts backyard farms and people learn how to preserve food.
I don’t know. If I knew sure sure WHEN, I could make a plan, but for now all I can do is keep a deep pantry, learn some skills and watch and wait.
Professional-Cut-490@reddit
Another Canadian here, but I'm in the Maritimes. I feel the same. there's not much I can do now. Just have to hope it's not too bad and that I have saved enough to eat when I'm old. I'm older, GenX, and had no kids.
Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit
I think SOME people will survive. Humanity won't be completely wiped out. But things will get really bad. I'm trying to figure out how we should be preparing people who are children right now. I haven't gotten past "instill resilience."
CharleyZia@reddit
Wilderness training.
Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit
That's a great idea! I think older kids, like 8+, would really enjoy this. I think I'll try to recruit a wilderness survival expert for a group class.
robotjyanai@reddit
Everyone in my inner circle is terrified. We talk about it and then get depressed because our government doesn’t seem to care. They’re just focused on trying to get as many tourists as possible and the birth rate.
AndrewSChapman@reddit
Yup this is most people. They are convinced that there's some scientific miracle that will save us, or that it "won't be that bad".
trickortreat89@reddit
There’s also that moment where you just have to realize the plane is crashing, you are gonna die, and then you just use the last few moments of your life to maybe think back on the greatest memories, the most meaningful relationships you had and you simply just sit there and exist in silence and somehow with a strange peace of mind, hanging on to the last experience you will ever have with existence. That’s the phase I am going into myself.
Shilo788@reddit
For me yes as at am in my mid sixties, but for my daughter who has a hard time dealing with this reality who is in her 30s I fear and worry for.
craziest_bird_lady_@reddit
Yep! This is exactly what I've done, and checking off things from bucket list, spending money NOW because it will be worthless later, etc. It's a beautiful ending
trickortreat89@reddit
Yes, and I am deeply regretful for each moment I don’t use just enjoying my existence from now on. I’m trying to take it all in and just be happy for all the good memories I’m so lucky I got the chance to have. Weird that the collapse would be the catalyst for this, as many people will get to this realization in general about life.
darkpsychicenergy@reddit
The feeling is relatable. However, there is so much intense disagreement and denialism even amongst the (at least purportedly) “collapse aware” that I no longer really think this makes much difference.
Imagine how much more maddening it would be to have even more of the general “normie” population weighing in on what the causes are and what to do or not do about it. It would never get anywhere, we’d go round and round bickering and fracturing into factions for essentially the same reasons that many just keep their heads deep down in the sand. The truth hurts.
Choice_Ad_888@reddit
'Id be at peace with it if we could actually talk about it like it's real. I find it unbearable to know a truth I cant discuss' - that's such a good way of putting it
thee_lad@reddit
It’s actually terrifying of the complete disregard from governments the more you think about it. Like they know the plane is beyond repair so they’re just giving max throttle, driving it faster into the ground
Ghostwoods@reddit
I mean, that is exactly the situation.
6rwoods@reddit
Problem is governments rely on voted to stay in power. Most of these have struggled to meaningfully improve standards of living for their citizens for years now, and people are angry and wanting immediate change, not more of the pats on the head and reminders that “we’ll see to you soon, there’s just one more long term radical project we have to get through first”. If those in power say shit like that, they lose their power and often it’s an even worse party that takes over to again prioritise immediate economic relief and/or convenient scapegoating over the climate.
Because fixing climate change is ultimately about fixing capitalism, globalisation, and the even more complex innate greed and desire to consume that all animals have and that we humans are far too good at satisfying. No one really has holistic answers to these core problems, and even if they did it would be very hard to implement it all without massive disruption to people’s lives.
Yes, there are other smaller measures that could be adopted more easily if they were prioritised, but at the end of the day they won’t make the biggest difference anyway.
thee_lad@reddit
Like there is so much evidence not to know the exact future, but even just A TINY TINY AMOUNT of evidence out there is true you can at least agree that we cannot keep the current state of the world as it is now. We’re running on fumes on enormous machine that will soon be starved and will seize. It’s just a matter of when m. Thats why I’m enjoying the bread and circus for now
Correctthecorrectors@reddit
I’m sorry, but not everything needs to sound so goddamn clever or charming or likeable all the time.
Sometimes we need to just be able to say things to one another.
We need to hear things.
Look, let’s establish, once again, that there is a huge comet headed towards Earth.
And the reason we know that there is a comet is because we saw it.
We saw it with our own eyes using a telescope.
I mean, for God’s sake, we took a fucking picture of it!
What other proof do we need?
And if we can’t all agree at the bare minimum that a giant comet the size of Mount Everest hurtling its way towards planet Earth is not a fucking good thing, then what the hell happened to us?
I mean, my God, how do… How do we even talk to each other?
What’ve we… What’ve we done to ourselves? How do we fix it?
DominaVesta@reddit
Fixing it is terrifying, though. It will not be a good time if worldwide everyone figures it out next week and starts openly talking about it.
slayingadah@reddit
Mainly because we quite literally can't fix it.
DominaVesta@reddit
Apologies, what i meant was: "Fixing the problem of being isolated and unable to talk openly about collapse awareness" I should have realized what I had typed was not clear and obvious.
slayingadah@reddit
Oh, friend, I know. I also apologize, for spilling my saltiness onto you.
ne1c4n@reddit
Is it though? Sure it wouldn't be an easy road, but if you think our current trajectory is, I've got some bad news for you.
vraimentaleatoire@reddit
Every time another friend pops out a baby I lose a friend. We are not on the same wavelength. The ignorance is astounding.
Jorgenlykken@reddit
This was very well put! Exactly what I feel to. We have gathered a group of more or less collapse aware people in my hometown with the purpose of supporting each other in these strange times. Even within this group this question is difficult since there are different stages of reality acceptance. For instance, I am quite alone in viewing AI as the BIG catalysator for collapse on all areas.
mezmekizer@reddit
All areas of life need voices of reason. Your voice matters
fitbootyqueenfan2017@reddit
just don't tell 2 many normies tho, I want this crashing circus to last until a NASA human moon landing live stream on youtube happens (delayed until 2027 now ffs) and maybe a mars event around 2030.
ElasticSpaceCat@reddit
Excellent analogy. To my mind we have to rest in the bigger story that this world was never promised to humans and that we are one species in the procession of change on scales far beyond our ability to comprehend them.
alacp1234@reddit
It’s this, I’ve we can just have an honest conversation about it and how we will approach it, I’d be fine. It’s the pretending everything will be alright when all the evidence points to we won’t. It’s the denial of reality and the obvious that infuriates me.
Gingerbread-Cake@reddit
I am seeing this bleed over into other areas of life, too, where people seem more inclined to consciously deny the reality of their situations.
I am encountering far too many people who are paralyzed into inaction by something like, say, not being able to pay the water bill this month. I think may just be the final thing that gets them; it isn’t a log that broke the camels back, I guess, and this is just the last straw.
I have also watched people go from “they’ll think of something” into full “I don’t believe it’s happening, so therefore it is NOT happening”.
I’ve been at peace with it for a couple of decades, now, but I have the advantage of having a sense of history.
PunkBiBiBi@reddit
Yeah, I'd more people would take it serious and acknowledge how bad it is it would be a little less stressful. But I feel like until that happens I'm living in some alternative reality than everyone else, some fucked up never ending purgatory.
HardNut420@reddit
Savings?
hurricanesherri@reddit
If it was just humanity taking out humanity, I think maybe I could be ok with it... but us taking out the rest of the species that have played no role in bringing about collapse?
No. I can't ever be at peace with that.
Majestic_Michonne@reddit
This is why I always cry when standing outside watching the wild critters wander through my yard and flying overhead. I do whatever I can to help them, provide brushpiles for skunk/opossum habitat, put out seed and suet feeders year 'round, and tend a huge garden that draws insects both above and below ground.
I will be inconsolable when the spring peepers no longer sing.
hurricanesherri@reddit
I feel exactly the same way. 💗
ProximtyCoverageOnly@reddit
Exactly. I don't begrudge anyone their peace, but to me it feels... so off the mark. So utterly having lost the plot. There is no peace for me in this life while my cancerous species rapes and pillages its way through the biosphere.
trickortreat89@reddit
Everything will die at some point anyways, and turn back to dust. Nothing lasts forever. It kinda sounds cruel and in some way not right, but it’s just to say that we know very little about existence overall, we don’t even know how life began, and now we will never find out either.
hurricanesherri@reddit
Yes, everything dies.
But, there is a big difference between individuals dying a normal death after some normal lifespan... and massive numbers of species being simultaneously wiped out by the bad behavior of one other species (Homo sapiens).
Humans are causing the sixth MASS EXTINCTION event on planet Earth.
There is nothing ok or normal about that.
Also, we know LOTS about how life evolved after that first species of archaea arose/arrived on Earth. We have lots of clues about how life could have arisen in the first place (abiogenesis), as well.
Lacking a complete understand of abiogenesis in no way excuses humanity from blame in the ongoing destruction of our biosphere. And it certainly shouldn't justify this response to extinguishing our fellow Earthlings: 🤷♂️
trickortreat89@reddit
We haven’t been able to replicate how life began, there might be theories about it, but as far as I know we haven’t observed life forming from “scratch”?
And I never said we shouldn’t care, I am simply just stating that all that is alive today will die. What defines life is that it can die?
I also disagree that one species wiping out others isn’t normal. It is normal for simple life forms to compete over ressources and not in particular showing a great deal of empathy for others as long as they can survive themselves. Yet other life forms can cooperate and share resources, but only very complex life forms can show compassion, empathy and even be conscious about this at the same time. Humans had the potential I guess, but overall as a species we’ve failed being complex enough to live in harmony with other species on earth and share resources amongst us.
hurricanesherri@reddit
Ok, so-- full disclosure-- I am a biology professor and have been teaching all of this for over 20y.
No, we have not (to my knowledge) replicated abiogenesis... but that really has nothing to do with how we feel about the existence, and current mass extinction, of life on Earth... does it?
Life is not defined by death.
Living things have specific traits that define then as living, including the ability to actively obtain energy/matter, the ability to maintain some level of homeostasis, and the ability to reproduce without the help of a host. This last item is why viruses are not considered living, while bacteria are.
I never said one species wiping out another species was abnormal: I said one species causing the mass extinction of countless other species is.
5Dprairiedog@reddit
Cyanobacteria caused the first mass extinction, although I doubt there were countless other species 2.4 billion years ago. The way humans are behaving is normal, and the fact we are causing a mass extinction by such behavior is a consequence of normal behavior. Finding fossil fuels enabled us to find a "cheat code" for expansion through food production - as synthetic fertilizer (made from fossil fuels) is responsible for almost 50% of the world's population. Like any species, we will have a population boom when excess food is present. In 1944, 29 reindeer were transported to the island of St. Matthew - a place where they had no predators and an abundance of food (lichen). By 1962 there were 6,000 reindeer. A few years later only 42 reindeer remained, having exceeded the carrying capacity of the island, 99% of the reindeer died of starvation.
hurricanesherri@reddit
Yes, cyanobacteria did cause a "mass extinction" (though not counted as one of the six big ones)... of their fellow prokaryotes, 2.7BY ago.
That makes them and us, two species of the millions of known extant and extinct species to have caused a mass extinction-- still abnormal.
Technology is what has allowed our species to do so much damage. Technology is not normal among species, either: all tech provides cheat codes.
But natural selection and ecosystem controls on population can only be outrun for so long.
We're getting there...
yixdy@reddit
Life sprang from deep sea thermal vents, due to a shit load of amino acids boiling around down there. My understanding is we've actually observed it occurring at this point and they have a specific word for it but it's quite early where I am and I can't remember right now lol
hurricanesherri@reddit
abiogenesis
yixdy@reddit
Why thank you
darkpsychicenergy@reddit
I could not agree more. Probably the most resplendently biologically diverse and magnificent epoch in the history of the planet and one cancerous, freak species, which considers itself superior, the apex, god’s gift, is entirely responsible for destroying all of it. And then they sit back and say “just enjoy yourself bro, smoke em if you got em, yolo”.
Sleeksnail@reddit
This right here. This is the real tragedy.
Bitter_Astronaut_758@reddit
I'm not afraid to say it will bring me satisfaction to see it all burn. There is peace knowing that the shit-stain of humanity will be cleaned from the earth by deep time. In a million years, there will be no trace of us. We will be forgotten, the earth will renew itself. Perhaps something will come along and find some fossil evidence and put it in a museum as a warning.
roadrussian@reddit
Absolutely and fully. I knew shit would hit the fan in a very anti climactic way, just human nature. Back in college days I asked the teacher why each class ended on a positive note ala the inconvenient truth. He said that you always have to stay positive, otherwise what, just lay down and give up?
Well this is the price of positivity, business as usual
Cultural-Answer-321@reddit
If anyone wants to mistake my stone cold calculations for personal survival as "peace", then yeah, sure.
Peace it is.
drquackinducks@reddit
Imagine for a moment, the entirety of the universe. Entropy and the fundamental forces doing their thing over Eons. It's hard to imagine, let alone believe that in all of this that we are truly important(I'm surely not). We were here yes. Surely consciousness and life are some of the greatest mysteries in the universe, and we are made of those things. But ultimately: the cosmos doesn't give a fuck about us. We're lucky we get to witness any single part of creation; even better we can peer into the machinations of it with science. Even the most mundane shit in your life is fascinating if you ponder it deeply enough.
"Man suffers because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun" -Alan Watts
If you seek meaning in all of this you will only find suffering.
There are people who care about you, and sometimes it's a beautiful day. That alone could be enough for me.
JakobieJones@reddit
I’d say I’m getting there, it’s not easy though. Though I still read about radical solutions to our polycrisis, such as degrowth (a man can dream can’t he?) so maybe I’m not really there yet. That said, I am trying to embrace stoicism, do a little bucket listing, but not too much, not be too destructive by driving very little, eating less meat, and trying to use less energy in general. I’m not perfect of course, but I try to do my best. It’s so weird trying to find a career in all of this. I majored in environmental science, and quickly became collapse aware during college. I still haven’t figured out what I want career wise, largely because it all feels Sisyphean. I used to want to “save the earth or die trying”. Silly me. Right now I’m working at a fellowship to research strategies for reducing a city’s road salt use. Pay isn’t great, but I’ve been lucky enough to find a small, cheap apartment and to have no debt, and I try to live simply and within my means. I don’t know how much my work will help, but if even a few pounds less salt ends up in those streams and the fish are a bit more likely to survive, then I’m doing my part to say fuck you to the all consuming entropy of the universe. Sometimes I consider just going All out on Learning permaculture and eventually trying to acquire a scrap of land somewhere less shitty in the climate projections. The more I think about it the more I realize that I’m a creature of civilization, and probably would not have much luck eeking out a living from the land under the best of circumstances, maybe I’ll still try, but it all feels like I’m just denying the ultimate truth of collapse, and indeed the ultimate truth of life, that we all die. I’ve lived a longer life than many a medieval peasant would have, so I’m grateful for that. I try not to be bitter towards my parents, even if their ignorance is a bit exasperating at times. I only wish I could talk to the people I love about it, or even just a therapist, but I don’t feel comfortable bringing this knowledge upon my loved ones or upon my therapist, it just feels like it would crush them. I mostly feel for all the non humans and relatively innocent humans we’re taking with us. So I try to do what I can to reduce suffering and not be too shitty of a person.
traveledhermit@reddit
I’d rather it wasn’t happening, but I’ve been expecting it for so long that I’m past the existential crises.
Sleeksnail@reddit
Yeah this year I'm at 3 decades of collapse awareness. The book Silent Spring was more than enough to open my eyes. I did activism for much of those 3 decades but at this point I'm trying to figure out where to go that it will just be less bad. I really wish I had a community to work with. That's the hardest part.
gnostic_savage@reddit
Thank you. In the 1950s rivers were on fire from our industrial waste, and portions of the Great Lakes were so polluted that people were told not to even stand in the water at the shore. There were large dead zones in the lakes, and, as Carson pointed out, we were driving birds of prey to extinction. We didn't start the EPA because we were being so responsible and aware. We started it because it was evident that we were already grossly irresponsible.
Like you state, I was active in petitioning to save dolphins from tuna fishermen who were too heartless to keep from killing 250K excruciatingly intelligent animals a year just off the coast of California, and increasing awareness of environmental issues. Then, Reagan was elected, it was "morning" in America, and we were suddenly "competing" with the slums of Calcutta to see how much misery we could inflict on people and everything else.
I planned on going someplace that it might be less bad in the 1980s, and soon made my way to the far north. For more than a decade it was magical! I saw things and did things that most people only dream of. I have sat on the bank of a river and watched a grizzly sow with two cubs chillin' in the early fall sunshine. I saw her stand and stand off against two wolves that came upon her and her babies. I have followed wolf prints in the snow and seen the mouths of rivers boil with tens of thousands of salmon coming in on a tide, followed by seals and orcas, with eagles diving the waters and bears waiting on the shore. What a beautiful, generous, abundant thing Nature was. One can only imagine what it was like before the 1900s.
It's bad everywhere now. Wildlife populations are plummeting by the millions, fisheries of billions of marine stocks are dead or dying, conifer forests are ravaged by bark beetles and subject to horrific wildfires, and the future is as uncertain in the wilderness as anywhere. But the well water is still good (I think, a neighbor tested it a few years ago), the air is still the cleanest in the North America, and I was able to build a shack with my own little hands that has stood for 34 years even at -38F temperatures for six weeks at a time. The whole thing cost me less than $50K back then and it's been good enough for me and I'm happy knowing I deprived bankers and capitalists of a mortgage and 30 years of my life working just to put a roof over my head. I can burn those dead trees on my property in the wood stove to keep warm in the winter. But it's still very, very frightening, and I'm really glad I'm old. It's not the old age I would have liked to see, but it's better here than in the south.
No one should believe that some people in remote areas will survive what is coming. This shit is bad. I have made a peace with it. But my greatest peace comes from spiritual convictions. This world isn't the only world there is. If not for those convictions, I wouldn't have made it this far in life.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent illusion. Albert Einstein
TipToeThruLife@reddit
I am at peace but I believe we super empaths are the helpers and the healers of our world. Our combined ability to see, clearly, what is happening is a super power. It's just how we are wired. (and I believe how the soul within radiates out) For example some people are color blind and others can see all the colors. Do we get mad at those who are color blind? Nope. We accept that is all they can see and we don't badger them. Some eventually find the tools to see clearly but we can't count on that. Instead I believe there are enough of us more experienced Souls who's combined energy will shift this world into healing. (I had an NDE a few years ago. Basically I was shown either end result was totally fine. This is just an experience. A detour for each Soul. And I was told we take it way too seriously and to "Lighten up" as it will be over soon as our lives are so short.)
gnostic_savage@reddit
Thank you for your reply. I am certainly an empath. I love the other animals. Living where I see nature and wildlife all the time has made such a difference in my happiness. There was a time when I saw bears and foxes regularly on my property, and porcupines. I still have to be wary of moose every time I exit a door. Despite the potential danger, I'd rather live with them than not see those huge creatures outside the window regularly.
I ate salmon for many years, but beyond that I have been a vegetarian for decades at this point.
I had an NDE 50 years ago. It changed everything for me. I get how important they are. People are never the same after a real one. I dislike the recent habit some people have of calling a close brush with death but no vision a "near death" experience. I've had a few equally profound experiences since then, and studied NDEs at length since that time. Have you seen Jeffrey Long's website, the near death experience research foundation? It's a great website.
babywantmilky@reddit
I’ve found a good community with like-minded, accepting, kind people at a Universalist Unitarian church. It’s not about religion, rather specifically more about community; atheists and people from many religions go. It’s not perfect, but what is?
shapeofthings@reddit
I grew up in the eighties thinking the world would end in thermonuclear war in my lifetime. it still could. I now suspect it is more likely to continue to slowly collapse as the rich and greedy drive us head first at ever greater speeds into a climate extinction.
yourknotwrite1@reddit
This makes sense for me in relation to how quickly I dealt with becoming collapse aware. We grew up expecting the world to turn to shit at any moment.
yourknotwrite1@reddit
I sometimes forget who I'm talking to and assume they're collapse aware. It's usually just some off hand comment like-"if we're still around by then". I try to be a little more careful around my high school students (juniors and seniors). They already know so what's the point of pushing the upcoming shit show on them. They'll adapt.
TheArcticFox444@reddit
Shifted my allegiance from humanity to biodiversity.
LPCarter79@reddit
I feel this weird sort of relief. Most of my life was spent wondering how long this ridiculous amount of consumption could go on for. The thought of the amount of pain and suffering that goes on in other parts of the world for the procurement of raw materials and cheap manufacturing is soul sucking. Western society’s need for having the latest and greatest gadget is pathetic. Admittedly,I also feel a huge amount of disappointment in knowing that we have or rather had the ability for such greater things that could have bettered society across the globe in general but greed got in the way every fucking time. Watching greedy folks scratch and claw for every last bit of whatever resource is left is going to be horrible. Hopefully I’m long gone by then.
Pootle001@reddit
I have preps for a couple of months then the means to end it. I'm cool.
Wrong-Branch5953@reddit
I have two kids who won’t be adults for another 6-8 years and although I have accepted our predicament within the reality of climate collapse, I fear the future.
I was able to email Michael Dowd a few months before he unexpectedly passed away and I asked him if he would be able to do a video on climate acceptance concerning parents with young children. He was thoughtful in his reply and said he was in works of making one. His sudden passing made me learn that life is not a guarantee. All the plans we lay out for ourselves and our lives is fragile to change and outside circumstances.
So I continue to try to live life consciously and give my kids the joy of being alive. What’s going to go down is out of my control and the sooner I accepted that, the faster I got to living. Are my kids going to go to college? Probably not. Will I have the future I optimistically dreamed about when I was younger and starting out in the world? No, but all I have is today and I’m not going to waste it by exuding anxiety and doom.
Pootle001@reddit
I really miss him
zombiegirl2010@reddit
I wouldn’t say I’m at peace, but rather have accepted that life is about to get wild and potentially violent.
zer9002@reddit
Probably a lot of people who seem at peace and even say they’re with it, aren’t in reality. It’s easy to accept when you still have a home, food in the grocery stores, electricity, internet, etc. When collapse truly hits and SHTF is when that reality will set in. It’s so easy to say you’ve accepted it currently, but when it gets ugly, I’d venture to say, not many will be okay with it.
algaeface@reddit
At peace? I don’t know about that. Do I viscerally hate this world & the majority of other humans for their ignorance & self-seeking behavior? Oh yes, yes yes.
BirryMays@reddit
I’m happy to one day see intensive animal husbandry no longer be profitable and finally come to an end
Classic-Bread-8248@reddit
I have made peace with the fact that we will never stop human caused climate change. I don’t have to like it. I don’t like the fact that we are not doing anything to stop it. But I have made peace with the inevitability of it changing life as we know in the global north, just as it has already started to impact the global south. As it will change all life on earth forever.
little__wisp@reddit
I'm fine with the Cataclysm.
Don't get me wrong, I'd would prefer we create a society where we can exist freely, not arbitrarily selecting entire groups of people to turn into outcasts for idiotic reasons, and I would prefer we live in harmony with nature as opposed to destroying it. I would prefer a world in which we as humans can live meaningful lives instead of wasting away as wage slaves, and I will speak for that ideal world until I can't anymore. But all of the money and power is in the hands of the people maintaining the status quo (corporations, politicians...)
I can't do anything about that as an individual. The powers that be do not possess the cognitive ability to stop themselves for the benefit of others. So comes my acceptance that we're probably not getting the "good" ending to this story we call human civilization.
Northernmagi@reddit
If someone told me the exact time and day of my death, how should I react? Should I spend that time being angry and resentful or should I enjoy each day as a precious gift? There is no point in being angry at what you cannot change.
Simplicityobsessed@reddit
I feel like I’ve been here for years - and it’s eerie as those around me are just starting to come to the realization. The more realistic it becomes the more I prepare, but I also radically accept I cannot prepare for everything and there is still a good chance it takes me, and a lot of people out.
It is what it is. I do what I can, and accept what I can’t control.
SoapyRiley@reddit
You nailed it. People don’t think I’m so crazy for all my prepping anymore, and they’re laying their own plans using what I’ve done as a guide.
MadAxxxx@reddit
Honestly I grieve my current life more than I grieve what life will be like post-collapse. Waking up early and going to work is getting old. I dream of a day where I live in the woods and grow my own food and have to worry about thieves or murderers coming after me. I need a few more years to prepare but otherwise, bring it on! 😂 I think I started grieving when Trump got elected the first time and I realized my voice in politics means very little. Since then I’ve come to terms with the world and I strategize my way through it but it’s boring. Let’s spice it up!
Dulcette@reddit
I've come to terms with most of it. Peace? Probably never. BUT! I've found myself saying Hedonism 2025 a lot. For Christmas, I replaced my 250k miles, 20 year old beater car for a new luxury car. I figure, collapse is coming and I'm doing all the things I've wanted to do but didn't because I let being frugal and saving more than having experiences get in the way. I'm not completely throwing caution to the wind. I'm just buying my dream car now instead of at "retirement." 🙄 I'm going to concerts again. I'm eating out more than buying groceries. Might as well. Inviting my favorite people out to experience more. Helping my community in the realm of food insecurity. My close friends and I definitely prepare for climate collapse ramifications, but it doesn't dominate our headspace anymore.
allurbass_@reddit
I just booked an appointment with a psychologist, curious how it will go. I've been collapse aware since 2008/2009, but I have to admit I know a lot more today than I did then. Back then, a lot of things were speculation. Today, every single metric is screaming "faster than expected". I feel myself skipping between the stages of grief. Some days, I feel acceptance. But other days I slide back in to depression/anger.
My friends and partner are quite progressive and are aware of climate change, but nobody sees things as bleak as me and I just don't want to be the party-pooper. In my mid-30's, a lot of friends have young kids. I'm not going to discuss collapse with them, what's the fucking point in that. Nobody is waiting on the "your kid might starve" arc. Looking back, I'd rather not know myself since I don't feel it's adding a lot of value to my life. My partner is struggling with her own mental issues and I don't want to add existential angst to those struggles. So I suffered mostly alone, in silence, for nearly 2 decades now. It's hard seeing the world through this lens and not being able to have deep, meaningful conversations about it.
Last summer, I was hiking with some friends. On one side of us, there were fields for as far as the eye could see. On the other side of us, there was a spruce plantation. One of my friends commented "how beautiful nature was" but all I could see was an ecological desert. Death and destruction. I couldn't hear a single bird in the middle of summer. That was a moment where I truly felt in my core how different our views on the world were, even though she's aware of climate change.
I used to cope through escapism. First, through video games, later through drugs & partying (weed all day every day and MDMA + techno music quite frequently). Being collapse aware, I learned to appreciate the value of money (while simultaneously despising it for causing all of this). As much as I despise it, money can buy me security, comfort, food & distractions. It helps me future-proof my house & garden. So after my partying stage, I started working in renewable energy and used this as escapism, working 60-hour weeks, trying to at least pretend to make a difference (and as much money as possible).
The last 2 years have been a slap in the fucking face. Global temperatures going banana's and nearing 1.6°C for 2024. Blowing every prediction out of the water. Fossil fuel emissions at an all-time high. Carbon sinks reducing, .... And so the thing I used as escapism (work) started, yet again, to feel more and more futile.
So now I'm here. And frankly, I don't fucking know how to deal with this anymore. I don't want to go back to drugs but I can't continue on my current path either. I need to talk to someone about it who doesn't look at me like I'm fucking crazy because I'm at the end of my rope here.
My last psychologist (a couple of years ago) had young kids and couldn't handle it herself when I opened up about my worries. Instead of treating me, she tried convincing me "that it probably wouldn't be as bad as I was thinking" so I ended those sessions quite quickly & I stopped looking for professional help.
This time I'm more determined to do the work and find peace within myself.
I don't really know why I wrote this, but I hope this maybe helps someone else to also seek professional help.
Godspeed everyone.
x
RaisinToastie@reddit
Mushrooms and ayahuasca, my friend
Ok_Tumbleweed3350@reddit
Thanks for sharing. I relate HARD to the way you expressed how you feel about money. Value it, but at the same time despise the concept/consequences of it. People may think I’m cheap but it’s so hard to explain this feeling.
Edgecrusher2140@reddit
I’m almost 40, I’ve basically lived my life and it’s been difficult, disappointing, and painful the whole time, so now I just focus on the small moments of accomplishment that make it worth going on. I’m planning on being crushed to death when the cascadia fault hits.
warren_55@reddit
I am not at peace with it. I never will be at peace with it. I accept that I will die in the collapse if I don't die of old age first (I'm a boomer). But accepting the destruction of an entire planet, an entire ecosystem, and most of what's living on it? I don't see how anyone could be at peace with that.
confettihopphopp@reddit
I'm at peace with it. More than that, I often find myself glad and grateful AF to be alive and experience tiny beautiful moments that people who are in denial, anger, depression or bargaining can't be aware of because they are too busy "doing something".
Funny thing is, acceptance looks like denial to the ones who are in the anger stage. I'm hanging out less and less with activist types, they are just so tense and wasting their time.
percyjeandavenger@reddit
I'm only at peace because my own house is still standing and I have food to eat an power and water and internet but I figured I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. No use stressing about something that isn't happening yet. I mean also I've known this stuff was coming since before a lot of you were born. I don't even blame people who are ignorant or choose to ignore it. I'm actually kind of envious that they get to live their lives right up to the end without having to have this huge existential crisis hanging over their heads.
MembershipNo9626@reddit
I for one am at peace. I went to the Buddhist and the Hindus and looked at their world view. As someone who studied philosophy I learned a lot about descartes and many of the enlightment philosophers who were far more focused on the economics and being able to use what is now science for their own benefit. The problem with that is what we have now, western philosophy brought us to a breaking point. Eastern philosophy argues for the collective and being one with nature and the damage nature does, especially in the ancient texts like the rigveda and the Theravada school of buddhism
Poodlesghost@reddit
I think of a song lyric from Nahko and Medicine for the people that goes, "...I know I didn't come to make it out alive..." and another one that goes, "...we're interconnected in the wreckage of a paradigm on its way out..." and those thoughts help me feel ok.
Crepuscular_Apricity@reddit
I'm at peace with the very real possibility that humanity won't see the next century, and definitely not the end of the next one. I'm at war with the system that got us here and that refuses to do anything but make empty promises before doubling down. I can't change the damage we've done to the climate and biosphere, but that doesn't mean I'm content to let the comically evil but tragically real politicians and billionaires screw us over.
AureEntuluva70@reddit
Gonna die regardless, let’s go out with a bang.
ObedMain35fart@reddit
I’m at peace with it. Unsure if what I do is going to make a tangible difference nor if it even matters but I’m still going to try. What I’m not at peace with is having a hard time talking to anyone about how all of our daily lives choices matter more than just the big ones.
TuneGlum7903@reddit
As someone who writes about the Climate Crisis I have been asked "what value" there is in being "collapse aware" when you can do nothing to change the outcome and foreknowledge feels like a burden or curse. It seems like a self inflicted form of exquisite cruelty that has no point.
In this case knowledge is not power and ignorance is a form of bliss.
I don't know that foreknowledge is a "gift" I am passing onto my readers or if it's a "burden". What it is, is INFORMATION.
Information that allows those of us who are "Collapse Aware" to come to terms with what's happening in our world.
Information that allows us to consider our response to living in a dying civilization and to decide how we want to use the last "good years" before the DESCENT begins in earnest.
It gives you an opportunity to "put your affairs in order" on both the material and emotional levels.
As depressing as foreknowledge can be, that's a privilege.
You cannot control the world. BUT, you can control your response to what the world is and is becoming. You can be a "light in the darkness" for those around you, or you can be part of the darkness.
One of my readers told me how depressing it was to KNOW that.
"Eventually I and everyone I love is going to die"
This has ALWAYS been true.
I would reply, "it's not about the AMOUNT of time you get, it's about what you DO with that time".
Hallam9000@reddit
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
salamipope@reddit
i actually intentionally sat down and watched LOTR for the first time because i thought it might help me find a way to cope with this. But i dont think were getting up to that volcano, and i feel pretty lost and hopeless.
TuneGlum7903@reddit
LOL, bonus claps 👏 for the LOTR reference!
tnemmoc_on@reddit
Well one very important result your work may have is convincing people not to have kids.
slayingadah@reddit
As an infant/toddler caregiver and coach, I weep to my spouse every time I get a new cohort. These babies will be 25 years old in 2050. If they live that long. I love the tiny humans and have been fascinated w early development for decades, so I stay with them. But it has become so much harder to cope w knowing what their future has in store.
Future-Remove8733@reddit
I run a forest school in my community. We openly talk about what is happening and how the skills learned now will help them in a world that will be much different. The copium I smoke is that on the off-chance humans can make it through, maybe because of me, it will be these kind-hearted, caring, and aware children will be the ones that manage ot make it through.
slayingadah@reddit
When I recommend k-12 schools, they are always either Forest or nature-Reggio schools. Thank you for taking the babies once they grow out of my programs.
5Dprairiedog@reddit
This reads like having an incurable disease that will kill you.
Ghostwoods@reddit
Ignorance would be bliss, but I crossed that boundary thirty years ago, and I'm aboslutely shit at lying to myself (just one of many superb human coping strats I don't have access too +sigh+). The knowledge you work so hard to offer us is vital -- it gives me indespensible insight into how bad things are right now, how soon 'faster than expected' might be, how to even begin to parse modern reality.
The depressing part of the foreknowledge is front-loaded. Having passed that threshhold, information is absolutely your friend.
shitclock_is_ticking@reddit
I appreciate you taking the time to share information. You said recently that some people were saying you post too much. As a counterpoint I and many others in this sub enjoy your posts and look forward to them, despite the sobering content.
finishedarticle@reddit
And many thanks for taking the time and effort to educate people about our predicament.
WestGotIt1967@reddit
Buddhism posits that you need to see the world as it actually is. It's actually a good idea. Gaslighting myself is not an option.
Codyss3y@reddit
Peace will come when the last human dies
crystal-torch@reddit
I’m at peace with it as much as one can be at peace with any massive loss. I’ve known the grief of losing a baby and you never get over it but you do come to a level of acceptance. Occasionally grief pops up if something reminds you of the loss or sometimes totally randomly.
With collapse and climate change new information and confirmations cause grief anew but even that process I’ve become accustomed to.
I’m Buddhist and have spent a good bit of time on the contemplation, you will lose everyone you love. It’s good preparation
sframtdr@reddit
Collapse economic or otherwise is a horrible thing. Civilized society is what keeps us civilized. When there is a shortage of food/water/electricity, things we are so used to having and take for granted, that's where the real ugly begins. It's like the leaders & politicians who act tough & threaten war but never experienced what war is actually like. Yes people may be at peace and come to accept it but if there truly is collapse it will get very ugly very fast.
WonderIntelligent777@reddit
Peace is a complex thing. I have a 3 year old cat. A lot of what I do is hope he knows comfort & peace in his lifespan. We'll see how it goes.
Debas3r11@reddit
I'm at acceptance, but I'm still trying to make a difference (not saying you aren't). My career is focused on green energy and I try to spread awareness to people I care about so hopefully they're more motivated to help/prepare. I also and focused on making sure my family and community is as prepared as possible.
I'm at acceptance, but not apathetic.
evanallenrose@reddit
I’m fine. Made good money and didn’t have kids. I can check out whenever I want
wam2112@reddit
I’ve been a PCP for 20+ years and have seen plenty of death. It’s been my constant companion and I made peace with my mortality. I think! We’ll see when it happens. My concern is for my kids and their generation. They know how I feel. I read How Everything Can Collapse on our last vacation for my beach reading after all. I have a sliver of hope for a miracle but generally expect a shit show. My y wife feel’s similarly to me but she doesn’t dwell on it. I’m just living for the day, enjoying every sandwich like Warren Zevon said.
psychosil444@reddit
Hate me for it, but I still believe we have a chance.
anarchobuttstuff@reddit
I don’t know how to feel. Mostly I just accept that I don’t truly know how it will all play out, because I actually don’t. The climate crisis seems intractable, but I also have no idea what technologies may be just over the horizon. The breakdown of social order sounds scary and sad, but I have my s/o who I love and whose wellbeing I can prioritize to give me some purpose.
There’s lots of bad in the world, but also silver linings in my life personally. So mostly I just wait in ambivalence.
Kiss_of_Cultural@reddit
I am in a mixed boat. If it were solely about me looking out for myself, and my hubby, I’d be calm and resolved. Im 40, have had a happy life, and achieved most of my goals.
But we had a stupid glimmer of optimism 13 years ago and we have a child who hasn’t had an opportunity to live. My existence is for them now.
So instead of hopium and play pretend, I fall on Jon Stewart’s “Action is the anecdote.” I know climate change and societal collapse will come for us all. But i can make the end more comfortable, and i can maybe buy my kid a few years that might not be complete hell. So we bought property where we think flood and fire are reduced risk, far from large cities. We are working on self-reliance with food, water, power, and growing resilience. And there is enough space that, if collapse unsettles friends and family enough, we can build a small community.
Rip1072@reddit
Don't stress over circumstances that won't be changed. Understand what you can change to survive, if that's your choice, many will just accept the fate of the circumstance.
NtBtFan@reddit
im almost 40 and i made my peace with it when i was still in high school- i knew then that i didnt want kids for reasons related to what i would come to know as collapse, and i also knew then that exchanging my time for money should not be my first priority, but rather a means to an end.
i've done a lot of 'working holiday' type travels and turned down promotions(nothing fancy, im mostly just a service industry worker, but i have machinist skills too when that work is available) if i felt it was goiing to saddle me with responsibilities that i would feel guilty about simply walking away from whenever i felt like.
most people in my life dont really get it they just think im a quirky guy who cant hold down a job, it doesnt bother me im not going to try to 'enlighten' them if they aren't particularly interested. i have some other friends who have at least decided not to have kids, and others who have kids- we talk about it from time to time but mostly those with kids just chalk it up as pessimism and they shrug it off.
they are enjoying their lives, and i am enjoying mine so whats the difference.
Absolute-Nobody0079@reddit
I would be at peace when no amount of distraction on social media can mask the collapse. I am sick of this manufactured social division and I just want it to end.
Perhaps people will stop gaslighting each other online when they realize their next meals are never guaranteed.
jo_ker94@reddit
I am at peace because this is the natural way humanity is headed. We evolved and developed our existence and became dependant upon destructive processing. What are we supposed to do? Unite and end climate change and prevent collapse? How many of us still drive cars and use plastic and burn fossil fuels or use and consume products made by these destructive processes. It has become ingrained in our very existence and impossible to survive without. Our time is limited and that is how it should be. My biggest regret are the countless species that we have dragged down with us.
RegalBeagleX@reddit
I am. We as individual have never had control over anything except our own behavior and actions. And even then sometimes the brain acts without warning. Acceptance of this is really the key everything. We are not powerless now, we have always been. Live your best life and try to be empathetic to other. Prepare your children for the future and live in the moment.
LittleMiss_Raincloud@reddit
I'm not I feel very much on the constant edge of depersonalization and derealization. I feel paranoid because I don't understand why everything keeps marching forward so nonchalantly and if I bring up any of it, I get chuckles and eye rolls. Nobody seems to match my serious take. Im having a hard time caring about anything or anyone
KAVyit@reddit
I'm fine with it.
haystackneedle1@reddit
I look at this like that classic Carter Family song, Lonesome Valley. We all have to walk this valley by ourselves. And that sucks. Like another commenter said, it would be easier if we could discuss it like its real. But we can’t, most people are going to stay in denial until the end.
skyward_diamond@reddit
Weird to say but honestly I think it just need to happen yeah on the beginning it going to be bad let not get that wrong I think honestly just a new slate
Gloomy_Stay_7862@reddit
Maybe this is a “fringe belief” in this sub, but I take solace in the fact that nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen.
There’s no question that we entered the Anthropocene a long time ago and that climate change related travesties (and perhaps mass extinction) will ensue. That being said, I’m not convinced that humans will go extinct or the planet will die. Scientists themselves make their predictions with considerable error margins.
One could call this denial in the face of all the evidence that global societal collapse is likely. But I feel like I can’t afford to view it any other way for my own sanity. I’m also aided by the fact that I don’t have children to worry about. If in fact we’re doomed to witness a climate apocalypse - and the powers that be leave us powerless to alter that inevitability - I personally see no better alternative than to cross that bridge when we come to it.
gaia1234567@reddit
I’ve come to a place of peace with collapse. I quit my stressful job over a year ago and have been doing creative things like making YouTube videos, playing music, and writing. A lot of the subject matter for my creative activities deals with collapse and it helps me sublimate my feelings about it. I’m learning to love myself and the beings around me. And also learn to protect myself from people who don’t want to face the truth as best I can as we all go down with this ship. With the time I have left, I’m going to spend it with friends and loved ones who also love and care for me too.
potatohead-san@reddit
I've accepted that if/when collapse happens, my wife and I are probably screwed. We live in a city and have no ability to make/find our own food. I used to think about preparing, getting a homestead somewhere outside the city and developing a high level of self-sufficiency. But that's incredibly hard and expensive to do, and even if there was collapse and I was successful in preparing with a mostly self-sufficient homestead protecting that in a lawless and desperate world seems extremely unlikely. I think fantasizing about preparation is part of the bargaining stage of grief. At least for most people. I'm sure there are some badasses out there built for collapse, but I'm not one of them.
I thought maybe we could all adapt, learn to consume less, develop new green technology but now I things are moving too fast for that kind of adaptation and despite significant growth in green energy, we aren't spewing out any less carbon.
I live as if collapse is not going to happen, because even though I think it is inevitable, I don't know the timing or how it will play out. I'm not going to fight it. My wife and I are on the same page. No kids. For now, our lives are good and we're going to enjoy them. Eventually our health will fail, society collapse, or something else will ruin things, but that's life and always has been.
As for the rest of humanity - our fate is sad, but also who could say we don't as a species have it coming. Look at what we've done to the planet. It's also a big universe, and in the grand scheme of things maybe the story of humanity isn't so unique.
Commandmanda@reddit
This is so untrue! Well, unless you live in a closet. I know a few people who do, but if you have a regular sized apartment with a fire escape and/or access to the roof or a rooftop/alcove then you can grow your own food.
Start small. Try a small fruit tree. Learn about micro greens! Try lettuce or arugula! Grape tomatoes are easy to grow! These plants take up very little space, produce quickly, and give bountiful harvests.
Access to a roof, fire escape or alcove gives you tons of room and sunlight to grow. Please try just one or two plants. I promise, they will give you tons of peace and joy.
After_Resource5224@reddit
It's freeing, actually, to finally accept it. I don't worry about relationships anymore, not romantically. I can't be involved with someone who isn't collapse aware. I'm just over here enjoying the fall of rome. Enjoy yourselves. It's later than you think.
middleagerioter@reddit
I'm at the point where I'm just sticking around out of morbid curiosity.
WalterClements1@reddit
Idk if It’s peace I mean more like acceptance i guess. Idk what else I would do
Erinaceous@reddit
I think about it a lot like when you learn to fall properly
If you've ever done any martial arts or gymnastics the worst thing you can do is tense up when you fall. You want to relax, hold your head up and use the motion of the fall.
Collapse is the same but the fall is very slow. It's difficult to carry your attention and focus on it all the time but you have to because you need move effortlessly when you hit the ground. So you practice. You practice growing. You practice building. You practice fixing things. You practice facilitation and organizing. You practice leaving, which can be this fun thing called taking your go bag and camping.
After a while you get so caught up in the practice of falling that falling becomes familiar, ordinary, easy.
Collapse early and avoid the rush. It gives you time to enjoy the fall
daringnovelist@reddit
I feel that way now, but I expect to repeat the cycle again and again as various levels of reality hit.
collapsenik66@reddit
I have gone through the stages when i finally understood. But with each milestone or tipping point met I get a fresh wave of grief.
But my SIL came over to help with something last night and we briefly touched on what’s going down politically here in America. We both are lamenting the incoming administration. He’s terrified and infuriated and for a moment he let his guard down for me to see it. Normally he’s super positive and upbeat and works his ass off for everything. The dude is all throttle and good dad, loving husband, and caring SIL. But this is a real grief. This isn’t overblown fear. He’s so worried about my granddaughter and daughter’s safety. He’s military and only one other guy in his unit understands just how bad this situation has gotten. That was hard to see for me. Another wave of grief but we shared it while understanding there is no safe place anymore. I gave a weak suggestion of possibly moving them to upstate NY where his family is from originally but we all know it’s just as bad there.
I asked him about deploying on American soil and he reminded me the national guard has done it before for another president (I can’t remember now thanks ADHD).
I think there are more people suffering the grief internally because we’ve been conditioned to believe it sounds like doomerism if you express that grief.
MedievalPeasantBrain@reddit
I am a doomer optimist. That means that I am 100% certain that humanity will end itself through one of a hundred different calamities on the menu. But what makes me an optimist, is my prepping. I am a humble man of middle-class income. But through hard work and focus I have made my family inoculated from the worst of what is about to come. Solar energy, water well, a barn full of dry goods and canned goods. Egg laying hens. AR15 with ammo and backup guns. Electric car. I have confidence that I can save myself and my family from anything short of a direct nuclear strike. And since I'm far from any military base, or any populated city, I'm not an early target.
Counterboudd@reddit
I kind of hate my job and the way our society is currently structured so I’m not that upset about it. The idea of living off the land and structuring my own day seems more pleasant than the tedium, even if I go through “hard times” I feel like I’ll at least be living more than I am now, if that makes sense.
Capable-Clock-3456@reddit
My partner is like this.. I don’t like to bring it up to him. I’m just dying to speak to people about this openly. This is why I am glued to reddit all the time.
EnfoldingFabrics@reddit
Would like to say I am at the peace but the truth of it is: absolutely not
Maybe its a sign I should just check out of all the news and disconnect from the digital world.
It all feels empty but as stated before it is not the knowledge that everyone I know dies. That is still applicable even if there was no climate crisis. I am conformed myself with the notion as you could never be 100% sure if humanity survives in the long term so that argument is void.
It just feels so distorted knowing the warning signs and seeing most of my social environment ignoring them. People have become so busy with their own lives that even basic news sometimes is put aside or not even acknowledged because they don't follow the news anymore just busy with their own lives.
It just feels so paradoxical that in our modern society that we have become more connected and disconnected than ever in our history. Perhaps I am not good on social cues but sometimes it just feels off how we are treating each other and what we say about each other when that person isn't there to speak back. Or ignoring the other person because of disinterest or not caring what the other says at that moment.
It just so feels horrible knowing that most people choose to do nothing to the current situation. A lot of them genuinely haven't got a choice but I feel that the western / developed world is actively doing it best to say: "fuck you, I got mine". Appalling apathy at worst.
It just so feels that a societal gap is widening. People just wanting to be in their bubbles and not having difficult conversations or civil discussions. Maybe it is the pessimistic side of me this moment but all feels that so many people just living in the main character mode which from one own point seems to make a lot sense but just shatters when we take a step back. They do not want to be shaken out of their own dream bubbles.
I can't seem to make any sense of it at the moment. It is beginning to affect me more and more in my decisions and they are becoming more increasly short-term after a lot of long-term decision making. Probably going to quit my job which again had a lot of strive in it (past 4 work years haven't been easy for me) with just the lack of cooperation and/or communication. Just the old me me me oh and me.
Honestly asking myself what I am doing wrong when the only thing I want is a good cooperation with each and no we don't have to like each other (it certainly helps) but the goals for all should be clear and cooperation is the way to go. Not internal competition or your unasked views about everything. Only to retrieve negativity about all stuff that isn't important but comes from the boomer / old days mentality.
Just really tired at the moment on why I should keep this BAU mask on only to get retrieve already negative energy. When I am holding myself together and holding a lot of the news or what the future holds back.
So no I can't accept that we as human species are treating each other in this way. It just feels wrong in every fiber of me that how we are doing at this moment and how much our arrogance will cost us. People don't seem to care about our common future anymore but only about their personal future and it is tearing the common fabric apart.
blueteamk087@reddit
I'm at peace with it. I don't plan on living in a post-modern civilization world because I am medication dependent for certain life-long disorders. It's like finding out I have terminal stage cancer, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of my time on this world.
I will be utterly shocked if I live to 70, so I have about 40 years to enjoy life, maybe travel to Central Europe and Japan before the end of the decade to create some positive memories; work on my gaming/movie/book backlog, etc.
I never planned on having children even before becoming collapse-aware since I just don't like young children and those medical problems are hereditary. No children also means my debt will die with me.
Being at peace with modern civilization's doomed future as removed a lot of stress from my life.
bigtim2737@reddit
The fact that outside of the internet, I don’t get reminded of it much. That thin veneer of paint over the dogshit still hasn’t completely worn off—yet
Capable-Clock-3456@reddit
I am, but I’m not. Leaning into microdosing mushrooms, enjoying every single day, but anxious and numb and just feeling certain shit is going to kick off, really soon. Drinking and making art and cheering Luigi on. Less depression, more jaded nihilism with a deep streak of sarcasm and conspiracy theories. I don’t have kids thank god, I’m late 30’s, so just get to wait and watch how this all plays out.
huehuehuehuehuuuu@reddit
Not peace just dejection
Grand-Page-1180@reddit
I've more or less accepted it at this point. I find the older you get the easier it gets. I don't envy the young today. Life is hard enough, and the collapse aware among them are going to have it especially tough I think. Whatever happens, happens. I lived my life. Maybe this will be a good thing.
Humanity needs a reset. It will hurt at first, like addition withdrawal. But what if we emerge from the ashes into a world that actually makes sense for the 99% of us? It's not often that we get to re-write the civilization's playbook. The constant work, consumer culture, plutocracy, idiocracy, etc., is getting stale.
Ghostwoods@reddit
I'm sad about how much suffering is to come for the world. I'm wistful for the paths we could have taken instead if we'd been a better species. I'm disappointed in how easily we're collectively brainwashed and radicalised. I'm devastated by the amazing pieces of beauty that will be lost. I'm horrified at the violence we will unleash on each other.
But yeah, I'm at peace with collapse itself, and its inevitability . Collapse will definitely kill me, if a climate disaster doesn't get me first. It'll probably suck horrendously at the time -- doubt I'll be lucky enough to go fast -- but hey, so it goes.
banjist@reddit
My wife and I are going through the process of having our son evaluated for autism. He almost certainly is autistic. It has made me reflect on my own childhood. I've always just thought of myself as weird, but I suspect I may have just been high functioning with ASD. One thing is that I don't really get hit with emotion in moments where I ought to. I truly experienced the emotion surrounding finding my mom's dead body, holding my son for the first time, kissing my wife at our wedding days later upon reflection. This gives me a sort of equanimity in dealing with awful things in the moment. I just don't really get emotionally affected in the moment. So, while the impending collapse of everything is horrifying for me on an intellectual level, and the thought of what my son will go through horrifies me, I don't actually feel much intense emotion around it unless I stop to reflect. I'm both horrified and at peace if that makes sense.
It-s_Not_Important@reddit
I’ve stopped worrying about how I’m going to take care of myself in my waning years 40-50 years from now.
HousesRoadsAvenues@reddit
I accept but don't know if I can call my acceptance "peaceful".
ScottyMoments@reddit
Me. I am. I’ve stopped caring about the what if, people will not fix this. Only you can do your best to make your own self as comfortable as possible for the rest of your life.
Do research, make plans, start saving to meet your goals. Move if you need to, when you can. If you can’t, figure out what you can do where you are to be as comfortable as you can. We all will have to deal with a heating world but we will all not experience the same outcomes. It’s those who make plans now and create some solutions for themselves that will live less “hard” .
I see these questions and I keep thinking man you’ve wasted today worrying instead of acting.
Take action. Stop dreaming about a fix. We can only rely on what we can change in our own bubbles.
PimpinNinja@reddit
I've been grieving since 1985. 11 years ago I reached acceptance, both of my own mortality and the mortality of the world including everyone I care about. I'm fortunate to have heart issues that will end my life sooner rather than later. I wish all of you the best in the coming hardships.
BigJobsBigJobs@reddit
an unquiet peace at best.
Terpsicore1987@reddit
You guys talk like something was going to happen tomorrow.
Mechbear2000@reddit
50% of the US population voted for crazy. I hope they get what they voted for. I did me best, I'm not going to lose sleep over it anymore. Fuckem.
cr0ft@reddit
It will affect me to some degree but being middle aged it will be pretty mild I suspect. There's a lot of inertia, the collapse is already on-going but I really don't think it will just go up in a conflagration, the suffering will ramp up.
No close family, no kids, so... it's mostly a theoretical exercise knowing "humanity is ending". We kinda have it coming.
So - am I at peace with it? Kind of. It's annoying because it's so unnecessary. We could still have a golden age if we just stopped some of the insanity.
Exact_Fruit_7201@reddit
I’m concerned about the animals that are suffering and will suffer because of it. That prevents peace and acceptance.
Sea_One_6500@reddit
I feel like we're in a race to the bottom. I don't know what's worse, being ended by our own stupidity or squashed by oligarchs. But, we can fight the oligarchs so that's where I've been focusing my energy.
TheHistorian2@reddit
I’m just waiting for the water wars to start.
Late_Again68@reddit
They've been going on for decades out West. It just hasn't come to bloodshed yet.
anonworkaccount69420@reddit
it is what it is. I'm not going to spend whatever time I got left on being anxious/upset/pissy about it in my own head or to others. I prep, I try to educate others, and I try to be as compassionate as possible. to quote PKD “No single thing abides; and all things are fucked up.” Welcome to Samsara kiddo. I'm not saying it's for everyone but buddhism/daoism has some good points to make about how to handle living in a world of bullshit that you can't control.
Also buying a gun helps lol.
Blueskies777@reddit
When I saw who won the presidential election, I said, OK I’ve done everything I can With the way I lead my life and how I vote. At this point, there’s nothing more I can do other than just sit back and watch what happens. And yes, I am Preparing for what happens next even when my wife finds them and gets angry.
gangofminotaurs@reddit
I think I am, but i don't fully trust myself on this : it could be self-deception. I hope not, I try not to, but i'll keep pressing X for doubt.
One important thing is to understand that there are, in the mean, two collapses: the collapse of human civilisation, and the collapse of the bisophere.
If you're worried about one, your expectations, actions and policies should be entirely opposite to people worried about the other one. They are mutually exclusive.
We don't see that around much. Maybe we can't, in this cas, to me, Vincent Mignerot's "axial dichotomy" being the determinant anthropological factor in our capacity to eternally delude ourselves. As we do here.
bscottlove@reddit
Not so much "st peace" as resigned to the fact that all the idiots in government are gonna fuck around until it's too late to do anything ( and arguably, they already have)
Nicodemus888@reddit
The first step to acceptance is to realise that it’s inevitable.
Being over 50 and having no kids helps as well.
I’m still incredibly sad about the whole thing, but I have come to terms with it.
Bob_Dobbs__@reddit
Years ago I went through the stages of grief, maybe over the course of a year or two. After that I found peace and acceptance. I find its a bit similar to accepting my own mortality, that one day I am going to die.
In more recent years, I have found a silver lining to collapse.
Our society is changing, the capital class is tightening the screws on the working class. AI will unlock the possibility of total control of society in a way that is going to make 1984 look like amateur hour. Maybe it will be a neo-feudal era, or something worse. The capital class already considers the working class as cattle. If robots and AI can do the work then they will cull the herd. Whatever the case may be, I do not see a good future.
Collapse and the eventual demise of the human species may be a kinder faith than what is waiting for us otherwise.
We had a good run, we created some beautiful things, unraveled some of the mysteries of science, and for a very brief moment in deep time, we were here.
DominaVesta@reddit
If we talked about it...? Openly in society? The one benefit I could see is that we could have some hard conversations that eventually need to happen about a humane response to very hard stuff. (Euthanasia would be so kind in a lot of circumstances!)
If we lived as part of a more intelligent species that looked out for each other?
Maybe we could discuss and plan what we will do with all the type 1 diabetic folks (kids, adults), for example? Many of us have physical impairments/ailments that require modern medical interventions daily (I'm in the boat due to adrenal insufficiency) or just on a semi regular basis to stay alive.
Someday, there will be no more sterile operating rooms, no pallets of insulin on trucks, in trains, or on a barge. No anesthesia, no power grid to plug a ventilator into, and no place you can get to with a dialysis machine. Yup, this is fine! (TERRIFYING)
Here is my clear, imagined disaster... It's the first days of end stage intense collapse. Everyone can finally see it. All of humanity now knows. There we have parents looking at their kids, having just found out how bad it is... they will look at them and realize that they will lose their child(ren) with these medical needs first. Humanity will lose a lot of them almost immediately in the first few days/weeks of end stage collapse.
Seeing this, what remedies would you propose?
Most of us collapse aware are probably absolutely sickened by what seems as the most humane option. I don't feel all that comfortable talking about it even here with smart folks who at least avail themselves of opportunities to self educate, critically think and reflect.
Nothing to be done about it as most of humanity is lacking whatever all of us here have here. We are also not mainly responsible, cooperative, or wise (humanity as a whole) so nothing to do but the dishes today and the laundry and try to live a peaceful 24 hours with these things maybe still in the view of the frame of my life but not taking up the entire focus of the screen.
vraimentaleatoire@reddit
Ya man I just am glad I don’t have to stress about not being able to afford to retire to be perfectly honest.
OppositeHome2970@reddit
Collapse is the way
I won't and can't mourn the system that imprisones and executes Innocents
When I took magic mushrooms they showed me that I have a unique position - in the twilight of humanity I might get to see our destruction and boy, what a sight that would be
I decided to seize the day, last year I taught myself to skate and I joined a hockey team, I won rookie of the year on my team
I visited Brazil, Germany Amsterdam and Japan, and I'm going to Japan again
Seize the day
Catsmak1963@reddit
Understand what is really happening, or completely ignore everything, you only have two choices. You can go back to ignoring, most of the world does but I suspect there’s more peace in knowing.
BoysenberryMoist6157@reddit
It does not bother me anymore. It used to bother me quite a bit. Look at the society we have today, should we really mourn the loss of it? Mourn the loss of not having to give your entire life (working your ass off for food and shelter) to the elites?
If the industrial revolution never happend and we lived in a society with a different set of values. I would be devestated, life should be cherised. But we merly exist to be cogs and consumers in the financial system, we dont live.
Ok_Tumbleweed3350@reddit
It goes in waves. I teach primary/elementary so everyday my mind is a whirlpool of shit. At this point, as long as my class can appreciate/care for the earth and each other, read, write and question EVERYTHING that’s enough. I’m tired and I don’t care for what policy makers think is important for kids to learn. We’re all fucked anyway, let kids be kids.
tnemmoc_on@reddit
Yes. Stoicism, you can't do anything about it, so accept it. The vast majority of us wouldn't even be here without the all the things that will ultimately destroy us. We are all the result of and the cause of the destruction. At least we were here for the last of the "good times". (Not good for many, many people and animals, I know.)
WorldyBridges33@reddit
To be honest, becoming collapse aware was actually somewhat cathartic for me. Growing up, I always felt an immense pressure to be successful. I was expected to get a great career, earn a lot of money, and be a ‘high status’ individual. It was hard to choose a career path (still is) because our society is so complex, there’s so many jobs, and I often feel paralyzed by the staggering amount of choices.
Now that I am collapse aware, it takes the pressure off of ‘being successful’ or ‘being high status’ because I realized that none of that stuff will matter in a decade or two. Our society will revert back to when 95% plus of people had to be farmers. Life will be simple again. The hustle culture, career building, etc, all of that is pointless. To some, that may be incredibly disappointing. However, for me it is liberating.
I now learn to be grateful for the little things. Grateful that I have books and have the ability to read. Grateful for legumes and grains, and the knowledge of how to cook them well. Grateful to have access to a nice warm bed. Grateful for friends and an amazing partner. Strangely enough, collapse awareness has made me happier. Yes, life will be harder in the future, but we won’t be constrained by all the complexity, the demands, the stress of corporate life, and the suffocating nature of the debt that comes from high consumption lifestyles.
.
FetidBloodPuke@reddit
I went through the stages of grief relatively quickly. I've pretty much accepted what's coming. At this point, I've committed myself to harm reduction, nurturing important relationships, and spending time on things that are important to me.
AgencyWarm2840@reddit
It took some antidepressants, but at this point...yeah, fuck it.
bowsmountainer@reddit
I’ve gone the full cycle of denial to pleading to acceptance. Being constantly stressed now about something bad you know is going to happen, and know there is nothing you can do about isn’t helpful.
fantom_1x@reddit
I always wanted to experience a post-apocalyptic world. I can't wait for the collapse finally be complete.
Mission-Notice7820@reddit
Yeah and it sucks that speaking about the truth is now essentially the same thing as being a terrorist.
AtrociousMeandering@reddit
I'm only internally screaming a little bit these days.
I feel like we're already at the gallows with all our friends, no one left to come save us, and what's bothering me is the new hangman is an idiot and I can't even expect the proper drop that snaps my neck, and we're all going to end up gasping and flopping around for a bit.
Previous-Angle2745@reddit
...and with your last breath, the hangman will look you in the eye and say, "This is all your fault!"
traveledhermit@reddit
The fascism really is the worst part. Never going to get reach acceptance.
BoysenberryMoist6157@reddit
Everything is measured in money and consumption the term "net-worth" is utterly disgusting. Consencus in society is to consume and live as lavish as you can possibly do with your salery. It does not matter whether you purchase an electric vehicle or an ICE one. It is consumption that is the main issue. I see it everywhere I look, people trying to justify their lifestyle choice by consuming "green items". The economic system would fall apart if we seized to consume, not sure if we would be ready for those consequences either.
I am well aware that we will go thru lots of burdens while collapse is playing out, myself included ofcourse. But at his point it feels like we, as a species, have collectivly agreed to commit planetery $µic!de. Lets not fool ourselves everyone is to some degree aware of what is happening, you are not a snowflake neither am I. I think we are all so dulled out that most of us simply do not care anymore.
Regardless of the climate predicament, the young generation is having their future taken away from them with the skyhigh cost of living and housing market, not only in US but Europe and Asia as well. Look at the birthrate, this reflects the young generations belief in the future.
At this point we have made a global silent agreement that "this is the last century". Modern society deserves to end and we are well on our way.
Geaniebeanie@reddit
Right now, I’m wobbling between stages of grief. I’d like to say I’ve reached the acceptance stage, but then… much like the loss of a loved one, grief will come outta nowhere and smack me down pretty damn hard.
Some days are much better than others, but no day is fantastic.
ARunOfTheMillPerson@reddit
Totally zen about it, honestly. It's like watching someone hijack the boat you're on, only to have them end up sinking it. I mean you're also on the boat granted, but still lol
Desperate-Ad-5109@reddit
I am.
SnooMacarons7229@reddit
I’m ready. Got everything hunkered down. Canceled most of my streaming services, no major consumer purchases, living a simple life within my means.
Desperate-Ad-5109@reddit
This is the way. Expected worst, hope for the best. All power to you.
eco-overshoot@reddit
I feel the same. I’ve gone through the process and reached acceptance. Writing about it helped me a lot. I still have bad days, but overall, I’m past the shock and worst stage of grief.
lowrads@reddit
For those who barely noticed the population doubling in their lifetime, will they really notice a similarly paced decline over the remainder?
kellsdeep@reddit
It would be shameful not to enjoy these last few precious years of our beautiful planet, and a disgrace. I'm doing my part by reducing my footprint, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna bitch and moan until the end times. It is what it is, off to watch the sunrise.
Ilaxilil@reddit
Personally I’m excited about it. It will be rough, but I’m excited to see something other than capitalism in my lifetime. Humans don’t deserve this earth and watching it take its revenge will be incredibly satisfying even if it is also horrible and traumatic.
Janglysack@reddit
Idk if peace is exactly the right word because I’m still laced with some anger and frustration about it but, I’ve accepted there’s nothing I can realistically do to help the problem in fact I can’t even stop contributing to it in a small way if I want to continue to be able to pay my bills and what not.
Be7th@reddit
I care for people around me, making sure that their needs are met and trying to give them leadership and ethics skills.
I don't have funds to prep more than the monthly, so I embrace the uncanny reality that things may go awry faster than I can stomach.
I actually live in the eerie knowledge that I might lose everything on the whims of anyone for any reason, since this world has shown arbitrary and sometimes backward decisions from governmental bodies and otherwise.
And however the day goes, I go to bed, hugging my teddy bear, content when I have done the good work, and accepting when I haven't and try to do better the next day, knowing that what I do is but a drop in a drying ocean.
-AMARYANA-@reddit
Living in Kauai living my dreams at age 35 is a huge blessing. I was in Utah in 2016, Maui full time by 2020. The fire moved me to Kauai. So I’ve been on a journey to realize my potential, make the world better, heal my soul, and find true love this whole time. I feel good about all four, they are in motion and being sober, quitting cannabis and nicotine is huge. Yoga, breath work, meditation, reading, writing are key. Time in nature, good food, an encouraging support group is also key.
None of us know how the future is going to go with all the ecological, economical, and sociopolitical factors between now and 2030. Let alone 2050.
Anyone who is reading this…GET BUSY LIVING OR GET BUSY DYING.
antilaugh@reddit
It's like those cancer patients who make the most from their last years.
It's okay, just enjoy what's left and leave without regrets.
just1nc4s3@reddit
It’s why I’ve embraced the absurd. Either that or I’ve finally snapped.
Forward-Return8218@reddit
Reading the first sentence in your post, I hear the warm voice of Sid Smith HTETEOTW in my mind.
I don’t believe I’m at a stage of acceptance. I question what acceptance would look like. I don’t bring it up with others, although I do put initial feelers out there when getting to know someone.
In some ways I’ve uprooted my life so I can work less and live a little closer to things I find beautiful like the ocean and beach. Which I’d assume many collapse accepted oriented folks would not move close to a coastline.
Much of my day to day is in a mental rumination about things of the past I cannot change and regret. Almost like if I made ‘better’ choices I’d be better equipped for collapse, as if I can control how collapse impacts me. I do look forward to moving through this
Sharoth01@reddit
I not at peace with it, but I am resigned to things getting worse.
bchatih@reddit
Totally at peace with it now. It’s almost a blessing. I enjoy every moment, every meeting with family, every trip abroad, every amazing meal, every music event as if it’s gonna be my last because tomorrow is not promised. Stop to smell the flowers before they’re gone.
Weird_Patient_2362@reddit
I'm totally at peace, I don't know why you guys worry so much 😄😄. I'm enjoying that the world is at a worse state than my individual life.
WestGotIt1967@reddit
I am not. I am internally rageful. However, these cops will kill you. So I am "peaceful" because the other option is death or life in prison. Hell. It already seems like life in prison anyway
refusemouth@reddit
You could always go out with a bang, too. That's an option. Just not taking out innocent fellow travelers is the tricky part. If I could walk into a sauna with a bunch of evil kleptocrats after eating a few poinds of c4 and light a fart, I would. I just couldn't do that if it meant a puppy would accidentally get hurt.
Soulalinement@reddit
How many people here grow your own food, fix your own cloths and only purchase from a locally? Stop demanding change externally and start from within.
map-staring-expert@reddit
tbh at this point, I'm not just at peace with it, I'm excited for it and look forward to it
SavingsDimensions74@reddit
I’ve welcomed it for a long time now. Homo (not so) sapiens, are nearly over. I’m glad I’ll be reading the last or second last page of the book. There isn’t really a conceivable planet that we are familiar with by 2100. I suspect things will get much worse by 2050.
It’s appalling, but an absolute outcome and I’ll be interested to see just in what ways we’ll start to self destruct.
I don’t believe we know the exact road, but we know the final destination.
And I ask once more, to no-one clever than me: what do you think 2200 looks like.
Enjoy your time. It was always fleeting, even before this ensuing catastrophe. Enjoy it more burning in some pyre, ripe with the knowledge you were correct all along
ssquirt1@reddit
I’m working on making my peace with it and adopting my daughter’s philosophy: “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.”
wobbyelelo@reddit
Me, reached acceptance very recently. It probably helps that I had a sort of psychotic break that somehow resulted in figuring out how to turn off pain at will.
KenDanger2@reddit
I mean, it is stoic philosophy 101. Focus on what you can control. I can't fix the world, so I must accept it.
Ok-Gold-5031@reddit
I find myself going through the cycles of grief repeatedly, minus a couple steps. Denial is done, Acceptance is done, but Anger, Bargaining(sliver of hope, maybe I can do something to help myself and my family to make it another generation) and Depression keep getting recyclyed because you have to take yourself out of it and live in the now for your peace of mind. But you will be shocked back into this reality, and your mind hits those three again until acceptance takes over. Its like a spiral that as time goes on gets shorter and shorter.
bluemagic124@reddit
You know you’ve moved past it when you barely visit this sub anymore. Doesn’t hit like it used to.
funkcatbrown@reddit
Better to come to terms with it now rather than later. A lot of people I know don’t wanna hear about it or talk about it or read about it and educate themselves and boy are they going to all be in shock one day when they finally realize what I’ve known for a long time. I wouldn’t say I’m ok with it all but I have accepted it and know what’s coming and hopefully I’ll be dead within 20 years and can maybe escape the worst of it. I don’t want to still be here in 40 years. No thanks. What’s nice about knowing now is I’m not taking stuff for granted. I’m enjoying the end of a golden age of sorts and I’m grateful to have known the world before it got bad. Sadly I think a lot of folks will ask themselves why they didn’t do more to change things. And they’ll feel a lot of sadness for their children and will wish they’d fought for things to be different. Everyone should be in the streets protesting honestly. If they only knew.
woodstockzanetti@reddit
Stumbled onto peak oil theory in 2004. Been a wild ride from disbelief, to horror, to terror for my children and grandchildren, to despair and finally I’m in the acceptance part of that trip. I’m still very sad about it, but I think it’s too late. So now I grow flowers, bake bread and wander the forest I live in, feeling grateful I had what I had. But deep grief that my grandchildren won’t have the same.
zedroj@reddit
I started reading climate change 2017, I felt pretty depressed about it, but the more you read about philosophy, humanity and some drug introspective searching
Makes you realize you gotta accept the terms of conditions reality was given at the time I was born
So ya, I'm kinda peace with it, I already am not afraid of death
Trump being elected is one of those sealing last nails of eye rolls, whatever, I'm bugs bunny now, the universe is a joke for planet Earth
I'll enjoy the present moment, find love and hope to die peacefully, oh well
thee_lad@reddit
I think a part of it is breaking away from everything you’ve known and looking at the bigger picture. We’ve all been spoiled as fuck. The majority of us that currently have wifi and reddit have had it better assuming most of you have had ease of living, amenities, comfort. Even if you are poorer (2nd world) or whatever you still have a better chance of survival than 99.99% of humans to exist. Unless theres some hidden Atlantis or heaven is real it’s not gonna get much better than today. Till shit hits the fan. But thats the harsh reality to come to terms with. Until we become type 2 civilization there will continue to be cycles of golden and dark ages. Death, scarcity, and suffering is nothing new to nature. Its a clawing battle to the top, we will prevail if we prove to be witty and resilient as a species
xrm67@reddit
You never are at peace with IT because fresh new horrors of ecological overshoot will keep revealing themselves. The best you can do is a sort of mental compartmentalization of the crisis so that you can function within society. This means that you have essentially given up obsessive analysis of the problem in order to save your sanity and find some happiness in this colossal monstrosity called modern global industrial society that you were born into, if you are not totally off grid and self-sufficient. And even those people will succumb. “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” ~Carl Sagan.
subliminal_mass@reddit
Finding peace for me meant searching for a place that has the potential for a community that will outlast initial collapse. Knowing that I am working towards something that might offer a future. Otherwise I would still be stuck in the grieving process.
Beautiful-Owl-3216@reddit
Worrying is a complete waste of time.
I have skills, if my health is good I can find a way to eat in Somalia or Haiti today.
Murranji@reddit
No, I am incredibly anxious to the point of physical symptoms such as muscle twitching.
Sleeksnail@reddit
If you're open to scaling that back, I highly suggest deep deep belly breathing. Like breath in for as long and as hard as you can until your body starts to reflexively tighten. Extend your belly out and once that fills, let your chest fill. Hold for a moment. Then exhale as long and slow as complete as you can. Doing it with "pursed lips" (like a chimp saying ooh ooh ooh) helps to create useful back pressure. Exhale as long and compete as you can until that triggers a deep relaxation response. Repeat.
AbominableGoMan@reddit
I wouldn't say I'm Zen about it, but I've mostly re-set my expectations for life in the face of inevitably worsening conditions across the board.
loveinvein@reddit
I’m not. But it is what it is. It’s shitty and it was preventable, but I am not going to lose sleep over what could’ve been.
Sleeksnail@reddit
It's hard to have as much concern when the housing and general cost of living crisis is crushing us under foot. Maslow and all that.
d7gt@reddit
At peace. Annoyed when people act totally oblivious/in denial about it, but in terms of my own serenity, I've hit the fuck it point. I'm not having kids. I'm poor as dirt and mostly buy second-hand, repair and repeat. I focus on my community. I watch the sunset. There's a sad calmness about it, we really might be the ones to turn off the lights before we close the door.
Gloomy_Change8922@reddit
What’s hard is that most folks I know ignore or distract from it. What makes it worse is the isolation. This subgroup is all I have and I’m grateful for that. It’s hard grieving alone.
Owls_Roost@reddit
The class war ain't over til it's dead and truly over. That's the way I approach it.
ConcentratedCC@reddit
I’m excited that I get to live in these times and possibly see it all come crashing down. I’m at peace with what’s happening and my own tiny contribution to it. Death is a part of life and this outcome was inevitable at some point, although it’s only happening this soon because of our own failings. I can’t do anything to stop it or meaningfully slow it down so I’m going to enjoy it like the guy riding the nuclear bomb in dr. Strangelove.
casz444@reddit
I’m so at peace with it. I hate the world humans created. It’s devastating that everything will have to die with it, but I’ve come to see it as an end to suffering. Its nice having zero pressure to contribute to the machine. Theres just obviously no reason to do that anymore. We are experiencing rapid and dramatic change. I just hope millions of years from now life on Earth can flourish again.
Inevitable_Eye_1710@reddit
I am.
Shoddy-Childhood-511@reddit
You enjoy the tunes on r/CollapseMusic maybe?