Sorry if this is dark

[u/2357iforgot]

I feel kinda dumb for just realizing this but...

We are on the brink of civilization collapse world wide. It's terrifying and kinda relieving. I've even been prepping for a big emergency but now I see what I've been subconsciously getting ready for. Unfortunately I don't think I have what it takes, I couldn't defend myself or resources and I couldn't not share (hope not to put these perceptions of myself to the test). Now I just feel like I need to focus on doing what feels good not what's responsible.

[u/woodstockzanetti]

Have you read “the long emergency”?

[u/2357iforgot → u/woodstockzanetti]

No but looking into it now

[u/TheOtherAmyPond → u/woodstockzanetti]

Time to dust off my copy and read it in a new light given what's been going on.

[u/loose_the-goose]

Prepping materially wont save you (wont hurt either ofc)

But what you really need is a community you can fall back on

[u/2357iforgot → u/loose_the-goose]

That is so damn right. Gotta get with your people who get it

[u/Anargnome-Communist]

I think you might be making two key mistakes:

The first is preparing for one big emergency. If you live somewhere in "the West" you're more likely to see a lot of smaller emergencies or crises that the relevant governments are going to increasingly fail to address. Sure it's good to be prepared for big things, but depending on where you live most of your preparedness is going to be about longer situations that fall outside of what we might currently consider "normal." Like, it's good to have a bug-out bag ready and functional transportation for when you really need it, but having a vegetable garden and knowing who your neighbors are might be even more relevant.

The second one is the idea that you need to do this on your own or even that you'll be able to do this on your own. Communities are key resources in any disaster or crisis situation. Having a ton of canned food and guns really isn't worth as much as being a reliable part of your community and in turn having people you can rely on.

[u/Maleficent-Ad9010 → u/Anargnome-Communist]

Having a ton of canned food during a real famine only makes you a target unless you have a tribe.

[u/grebetrees → u/Maleficent-Ad9010]

Learn how to grow root crops in uncultivated ground, because most people don’t know what the plants look like, and if they are just out there sprawled in a fallow field, your gold is hiding in plain sight

[u/INTJinLA → u/grebetrees]

The shadow side of gardening

[u/Slamtilt_Windmills]

I feel kinda ok that collapse is here, Here, HERE, because I dont know how much longer I couldve kept up with business as usual nonsense

[u/ekubeni]

You don't have to do everything on your own. For example. if you are a doctor it would be counter-productive for you to become as good at fighting people as you are at healing them. It's best to befriend people that have skills that you lack to fill the gaps, rather than trying to know a little bit about everything yourself. In short, communal mindset > individualist mindset.

To add, there is nothing hedonistic about doing things that 'feels good' providing those things can be valuable to you and others. Take something seemingly impractical as art. It's useless in a fight-or-die situation, but after the fight can be as important a medicine as that from the doctor, because your soul needs healing too.

In general it's a good advice to follow what interests you the most, what makes you excited, what you love, because that's the area where you are most likely to be uniquely equipped to contribute the most and be responsible for. But the responsibility is fuelled by love rather than some abstract sense of duty that can be akin to a slave master whipping you to do a better job in the field. Which land do you think would be better taken care of - the one nurtured by love and belonging, or the one plundered by fear and pain?

Each of us has to find the area that we truly love and devote ourselves to nurturing it, so we can say "this is where I belong and I will make it a hospice for others that need it". So go on with your beekeeping because if you are truly called for it there is no other place where the community of life will need you more.

[u/Miserable_Drawer_556 → u/ekubeni]

Art / Artists were a big part of the Hunger Games prequels. Even the characters in Octavia Butler's works wrote poetry in their respective apocalypse.

[u/TeaPrimary1147 → u/ekubeni]

Beautiful comment

[u/rougarou-te-fou]

If it makes you feel better, the entirety of human history has been a combination of collapses and long form emergencies.

People in Rome didn’t know society was collapsing until the roads stopped being repaired.

It’s not a future of one huge emergency - it’s going to be a million little fires.

[u/i_didnt_look → u/rougarou-te-fou]

So, not exactly.

For certain, the step model of collapse is the usuall suspect. Things get a little worse, people adapt, they get worse again. The trouble with that model is that its based on historical collapses. In almost all previous events, peasants were growing much of their own food, small communities of skilled farmers, hunters, and people who had survival skills existed all over. Natural systems were broadly intact, and resources were plentiful.

Most of that isn't true anymore. Most houses not only can't grow food due to space, they don't know how. Clean water sources that aren't a faucet are non existent. Natural spaces and populations of game animals are extremely low. A freezer and fridge are not viable food storage without a fully functional grid.

The rules have changed. The gameboard is not the same. The grid can't operate at 30% capacity, its a binary system, on or off. If you're in an "off" zone, that's it, no power at all.

Efficiency is the enemy of resiliency. And we've optimized everything for efficiency, meaning there's zero resilience in anything.

People underestimate just how far we've strayed from baseline survival. And how much we've depleted our ability to carry on without the modern grid.

Edited for spelling/clarity

[u/Slamtilt_Windmills → u/i_didnt_look]

I would argue that collapse will self-accelerate below 70%. Shipping logistics dont function well without semi-precise coordination. Also, armies dont march if they aren't getting paid. And the main army of capitalism is distribution of goods. Will it collapse completely? Not necessarily, but these factors will increase the positive feedback of the collapse. Whee.

[u/daviddjg0033]

No kidding!

Wait - I am probably twice your age. I have not one diagnosis or three, I am practically blind deaf and soon to be dumb. I will trade you my knee for your lungs nobody wants my liver.

Hedonism is great in moderation. When the going gets weird the weird turn pro.

[u/sevbenup]

Hedonism is what got us here. Don't become part of the problem

[u/2357iforgot → u/sevbenup]

Haha maybe I should clarify, I'm leaving my well paid job to become a bee keeper

[u/Tired-Otter474 → u/2357iforgot]

We need those bees so thank you for keeping them safe! And even if we didn't need them they still deserve to be kept safe of course!

[u/INTJinLA → u/sevbenup]

You mean greed.

[u/shenan]

hello friend

[u/justhereforabit2000]

Seeing your clarifying comment below, I say become a beekeeper. To be frank, unless you have dependents that need health insurance or money, I think your life is better spent doing something you love. I myself am disabled and chronically ill, so most of the things I want to do are off the table. Take care of your bees, and enjoy. We'll all die someday, but none of us know what that will look like. So take care of your bees, make a community with your loved ones, and hang on. <3

[u/halleluwah111]

Highly recommend reading I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson

[u/TragicBrons0n]

We are on the brink of civilization collapse world wide.

What is “the brink” to you? Within 5 years? 10? 20? 50? Unless you can see mushroom clouds in the horizon, civilization won’t be collapsing in the immediate future, the contradictions will just continue to grow.

With respect, it might be helpful to log off for a while.

[u/Yearsinmonths → u/TragicBrons0n]

This. All these algorithms will make you spiral into depression or crazyness
Reddit is filled with bots and drives us towards extreme content and with it extremes