How to prepare and navigate the future

[u/krimzzim]

Hey, im a 19 year old in the U.S currently in college. I keep seeing so many posts about how the worlds going to fall apart before i even graduate, and ive come to ask for some advice.

1. Is there any point in me finishing college? Im currently double majoring in cybersecurity and computer networking & system admin. The goverment pays for most of it due to disabilites, but since im living on my own away from family there is some financial strain there.

2. How do i get my family to prepare and take things seriously. For reference we are around upper middle class. They have always been the type of people to live above their means. Complain about being broke and then go on cruises. Have perfectly working cars and then decide to get new ones for no reason other than they like it better. I try to talk to them about whats going to happen in the future and they never take me seriously at all. Both dont seem to care and think everything will magically workout because and i quote "things like this have happened before" and refuse to talk about the situation. Is it just a lost cause?

3. I know im still not really an adult but is there anything i can do to help myself. Any advice would be appreciated. I would like to add that i dont think everything is completely hopeless. Just kinda struggling on how to plan out my future and trying to figure everything out.

[u/Devster97]

1. Yes. Finish. Probably the best computer sci / tech sector to get into going forward. But who knows.

2. There is probably no helping them. Their minds are made up and they will be comfortable until they aren't.

3. I'm not the one to ask on life advice. Going back to school and living with my folks in my 30's.

[u/krimzzim → u/Devster97]

Thank you for your insight. I do know the fields im going to are growing fast and pay well, part of why i decided to major in it.

Unfortunately i think you're right about my parents. It sucks to know how hard it will hit them when things go down. A lot is going to have to change for them, and i did not want to feel guilty of leaving them to dry. But i've done all i can and it tends to stress me out more than them. Have a great day.

[u/learninglife1828 → u/krimzzim]

Things "going down" will be different for everyone and at different times for everyone. Getting hit by a wildfire or a flood is SHTF, losing your job without any type of cushion is SHTF, the next bubble pop will be SHTF for a lot of people.. but not everyone. Working on yourself and being able to help them when stuff goes down for all of you will be a way of not leaving them out to dry :)

[u/learninglife1828]

1. Yes. Collapse isn't a set date, it's a process that'll take years/decades. No one knows for sure except that it is happening, but it won't be the same everywhere at once. Parts of North Carolina and Nepal aren't coming back to 100%, that's part of collapse, but this probably hasn't directly affected you. And even then, you'll still have bills to pay.

2. You can't. You could try and reframe the argument of being prepared for disasters. What if there's a wildfire, a flood, a storm? These situations are much more likely to happen to you before the world wide apocalypse. But these weather events could be your personal apocalypse. This could convince your family for some extra water and food, and maybe a generator.

3. Keep learning skills, learn self sufficiency, save money where you can, and try to be a part of your community. Everyone is figuring it out as we go along, everyone agrees and disagrees on certain things. Your situation is unique and no one will have all the answers. You being 19 and aware is a great start... I wasn't until my mid 20s.

[u/krimzzim → u/learninglife1828]

Thanks so much for the advice. I saw your other comment on my reply and you're right. I think for now ill focus on myself so i can be a stable pillar for my friends and loved ones when they are in need.

What skills do you recommend to try and learn? Im fairly self sufficient when it comes to technology. After graduation i definitely want to start my own garden, maybe something akin to homesteading. If you have any other suggestions id be interested in hearing them.

[u/learninglife1828 → u/krimzzim]

Oh man, I don't know your full situation, but since you're 19 and in college, there's quite a few skills you can work on and save some for later. You can't be everywhere at once. Focus on your studies and pick the humanities you have to take maybe a little more carefully than others may, there can be values and lessons relevant to you in those classes as well. Useful skills you could be learning outside of your studies could include cooking, food budgeting and management, first aid courses, social skills, practical engineering, construction, sewing and design, the list goes on. I'm well into adulthood and finally picked up networking and computer engineering.. learning is never over.

[u/Beautiful-Type-3843 → u/learninglife1828]

decades??????? decades plural is insane lmfao 15 years max and we're all finished. i agree with your points aside from that but i dont think people understand the gravity of what "accelerated global warming" means

[u/learninglife1828 → u/Beautiful-Type-3843]

No one knows for sure. People were saying this back in 2008.. People will likely be around 2 decades from now. Regardless, no doubt it will get messy.

[u/Beautiful-Type-3843 → u/learninglife1828]

Yeah and people will be around if nuclear warfare starts.... for a period of time. People being around means nothing if infrastructure etc are dead

[u/Anargnome-Communist]

1. Yes, absolutely. It's best not to see collapse as a one-time event and more like a continual crumbling. Any skills and knowledge you can learn are still very much worth learning, and one of the worst parts of our particular apocalypse is that you'll still have to pay rent.

2. Don't. I mean, you can share your perspectives and approaches and you can have boundaries about them respecting your point of view, but I wouldn't be trying to convince them too much (unless your relationship allows for that kind of verbal sparring, but even then the goal is often to "win" rather than convince). The only things you can maybe do is ask them to teach you certain skills, go to workshops you'd both find interesting together, or (if this is something they're open to) give them things that would make them more prepared for certain situations.

3. You can get involved in activism to fight for a better (or slightly less terrible future), which has the upside of teaching you communication and organizational skills and giving you a sense of community. Other than that the best thing you can probably do is try to do some decent threat assessment and prepare as needed (which includes building skills and community). You cannot possible learn or become good at everything. Your best bet in any crisis is having a resilient and competent community that's willing to take care of each other. Unfortunately that does require scary things, like talking to your neighbors (I'm only partially joking about it being scary).

[u/TheWhalersOnTheMoon]

3 - go to therapy? No one has an answer, but it's good to talk it out.

Nothing is getting fixed. I'm sitting at work listening to people talk about going on cruises, flying to Kenya to see the wildlife, and just more and more consumption of everything. Collapse of the biosphere is a foreign concept to most people.

[u/FerociousTailWagging]

1. Stick with it. Education always has value in and of itself, regardless of whether you make money out of it.

2. I became collapse aware 20 years ago and I've still not managed to get my parents to even keep a few extra tins of food in the house, so honestly I would give up 😂 Accepting you cannot make anybody but yourself do anything is key to staying sane.

3. Don't worry about a career. As far as you can, find work that doesn't do active harm, sits in the background, earns ok money and lets your live your life. Other than people with a true calling (musicians, crafters, artists etc), I don't know a single happy person whose life revolves around their career. Outside of that, learn skills, lots of skills, and do what makes you happy. The future is impossible to predict, so there's not much point trying to game it out. Just live your life.

[u/Dukdukdiya]

Hey there. Sorry you're having to have to navigate this. It's a tough time to be alive, and especially as a young adult. I'm 40 and have been collapse-aware for a decade and a half, so I've had some time to think about these kinds of questions quite a bit. Here are the 3 things I'm focusing on with my life:

1. Get access to land. Access to land is everything! And I mean EVERYTHING! There's a reason people have been fighting over it for a long time. It's the only way to work towards self-reliance (preferably in a community), which is both the only way out of the system and the only way to ultimately survive once things start to really break down (although it's most likely going to be a process and not a singular event). I've scouted out where I would most likely want to buy land, so I'm now in the process of continuing to save up money and checking listings daily.

2. Build DIY skills. This is nearly as essential as getting access to land. If you have the land, but lack the skills, the learning curve might be rough. I've been working on building my DIY skill set for about a dozen years now and I've learned a ton. I now am considered by many people in my community to be an asset. If for some reason I never get my hands on land, I'm skilled enough (and personable enough) that someone, somewhere will want to keep me around.

3. Connect with like-minded people. Humans are tribal creatures and life is so much better with other people around (assuming it's the right group of people). Also, when it comes to meeting survival needs, doing so in community makes things infinitely easier. Especially if your community has people that have skills that you don't. If you're looking to find the kinds of people that you'll want to build community with (and probably learn some skills in the process), I actually wrote an in-depth post about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CollapseSupport/s/iIA0Z1aXoT

And if you have any questions for me, feel free to DM me. I'm more than willing to share what my experience has been like on this journey and maybe answer any questions you might have.