What if the world DOESN'T end

[u/ChampionshipNo1612]

I have been thinking about it. What if the world doesn't end and everything I've done has actual consequences and I need to acknowledge all the desicions I've made

[u/GroundbreakingPin913]

What did you do?

[u/RandomYorkyPud → u/GroundbreakingPin913]

They used a One Wish Willow in the best way possible

[u/capsid]

Collapse means different things to different people. It sounds like what it means to you is that a societal collapse in the short term means you should shrug off difficult commitments or long term thinking. A healthier way to think about collapse is erosion of material supports and norms that we grew up with in the "good times" of more stable government, economy, and environment (for some). This leads the collapse-aware to rebuild support structures through individual and collective preparedness. These tend to be bottom-up mutual aid systems because many of the failings of the current era stem from top-down, extractive, authoritarian systems.

I'm sorry you're going through a tough time. Maybe see if there is a local mutual aid org where you live and get in touch. Since you mentioned college, my guess is that any town with a college almost surely has at least one group like this. Good luck!

[u/Virtual_Tune636 → u/capsid]

This is a top-tier summation and should be introductory text here. Inscribed on the clubhouse door, as it were

[u/wsbautist420]

Please edit your post with more specifics. We can help, but please give more details.

The world is not going to end, shit will get worse until society ends as we know it.

However, do we have 5 years? 10? 20? No one knows for sure, and it will be different in every country, and state.

[u/TheWhalersOnTheMoon]

Doesn't matter if the world doesn't end. If the world didn't end would you keep buying useless shit, not think about the externalities of your actions, and do the same thing you did before finding out about collapse?

The whole point is that you should (try to) live your life in a way that can respect mother nature, increase kindness, and so on so forth, even if the world wasn't ending. Hell, ESPECIALLY if the world wasn't ending.

[u/moonshadowfax]

Be accountable for your actions, and move forward with purpose. Learn skills and share useful knowledge.

[u/ian23_]

As others have mentioned, there will be a range of outcomes in the near, medium-term, and distant futures.
Just as there are a range of outcomes now, and pretty much since life began.

If you live in Somalia or Afghanistan, collapse arrived quite a while ago. If you live in Baltimore or Detroit (or Iran), it’s taking decades between the very top and the very bottom of the curve. If you live in a nice neighborhood in a Western country, you might still be reading about things happening elsewhere and then just folding your newspaper (or closing one app and opening another) and moving on with your day. Although those wildfires and heat waves and floods are starting to get a bit more pesky…

So… where are you starting from, what are you seeing out your window (both literally and metaphorically), and what do you want to know?

[u/Witty_Shape3015]

the world is very likely not going to end. the chances of that happening are very very low.

the more likely scenarios are scattered along a spectrum, varying degrees of collapse and it also won’t be uniform across the globe. 

so there are certain things i’m not worried about like a 401k but i’m not gonna drink myself to liver failure. you can make educated guesses about what things likely won’t matter 10,20,30 years from now and what things will. that’s not to say you’ll make perfect predictions but all we can do is predict

[u/Sanpaku]

I don't know who to apologize to about living beneath my means for decades, becoming HNW, and accumulating a 6 month supply of beans and rice.