[kelee877]

As I gaze out towards the lake and wonder..when...watching clouds drift by, they are funny today a grey black bluish swirl and the further over total blue clear sky..as I am watching my heart is pounding like a drum, my brain racing as fast as ever..I tell myself to calm down take a deep breath..and try to relax.
But my mind keeps turning and turning..have to get the clothes packed, make sure the emergency supplies are ready to go...faster faster, have to get this done..not much time left..
Wait I stop and say a prayer "Why me Lord, why have you placed me in this spot..if I do not follow what you are whispering to me. I am I disobeying you..get ready hurry not much time. You,ll ned to leave soon..but go where..
I have formed mental images in my mind of what I will have to do..the large buckets of food go on the bottom, then the bags of clothes..kids will have to share a seat belt..oh well, no time to worry about that..
Is there enough gas in the car, no not going to far..get to the woods carry what you can..The Shovel..add that to the list, so we can bury what we cannot carry and come back later for it..
I am cleaning the house as I prepare, but I have to go back and tell myself to finish the first job, and leave the other one till I am done..
No matter what I tell my brain, my heart still pounds..I ask myself and the Lord why have you done this to me..I have always had a second sense about things..
But now I am scared..have I done enough, I should have listened long ago to your words to me..and then I would have ben more ready for all that is about to happen..
Go back to the first job get that done first..ok.., but as I clean I look at all the useless possesion I have and think of how much of a waste it was, it will all be left behind to be looted and broken..
Oh well, before all SHTF I can hope to sell a portion of it, to buy extra food even at premuim price or will I be long gone by that time..I wonder if my canoe will go upside right on the car..would fit alot of the extra stuff in it..must remember to add shovel to BOB list..do that right now..
Time will be of the essence...will have to go quick before they shut the road done to where I want to go..and will those that do not beleive be going where I am..
Have to protect the children...they will be learning a new way of life...wish I had time to print off some of the information from the computer..but no money..no ink..I,ll have to write notes, after I have finished this first job..
Now get going enough typing..I just wanted to see if anyone else felt this way..cause it is a nerve racking feeling..and it over takes you..and if you do not do it..will you feel the guilt if you do need to leave ?
I stoppped for a few minutes to type this..I put it into my word pad so I could copy and paste..I sometimes wonder if I am over possed with Tshtf syndrom..but I have had a second sense about things alot through my life and this time is the worst..if I am wrong and it is not that close I have now asted time nor effort..these are things that have needed to be done anyways..
PS no one to tell..except all of you in the forum, you would understand these fellings..don,t want to frighten the children and b/f is a beleiver, but not as much as I am..

[Aaron]

Try and relax... you are not alone.

Everyone here, (including me), felt just as you do now at some point.

This panic will pass if you allow it to.

Just keep communicating.

That's why we are here.

[Doly]

Calm down.

You are exaggerating.

It won't be an earthquake, a meteorite or anything like that. You will have plenty of time to adapt and prepare. Actually, everybody is adapting right now. They are taking decisions based on the fact that it costs more to fill their deposit, or to pay electricity bills.

It will get worse, but only gradually. You'll have plenty of time to decide what to do about it.

[JoeW]

Roger that, Aaron. We've all been there. I recommend talking to your doctor about which medications offer immediate apathy.
I believe Xanax does the trick.

[kelee877]

No thanks on the meds..they will be to expensive for the budget..I am getting things done as I go through the day..that is making me feel better..

[Aaron]

No drugs needed... just time.

This is just your quite natural, (& appropriate), fight or flight reaction, which will fade as you allow time to go by.

Be brave..

We need all the help we can get believe me.

The reason you feel this fear... is because the potential consequences are frightening.

Making that a completely normal reaction.

[RonMN]

Yup, I feel that way sometimes. Preparation make me feel better.

People on this board have been here for me & we will be here for you. Listen when you pray. God is probably saying "be still". Sometimes i can drive myself crazy trying to decide if it's going to be a "flight" or a "dig in & stay" type situation. Then i realize i can't possibly know until future events unfold & then i stop obsessing about it so much.

I agree on the "NO meds" thing. These are very real dangers we will be facing at some point...it doesn't make sence to ignore the situation with drugs.

Now go out & buy that pesky shovel It will probably end up being your most valuable tool!

[FoxV]

wow that sounds like quite a panic attack.

As others have said already, this is not a bomb or an alien invasion. Its a very long (+50 years) series of events. We often mention when TSHTF here, but TSHTF is just the economic upset that will happen when there is true public awareness of Peak Oil and its consequences and the beginning of the long slide downhill.

Your planning above mentions a lot of running somewhere. Securing resources is the most important part of PO planning. It sounds like you have waterfront property and Woods close by. I would say your pretty much in an ideal PO location already. I certainly wouldn't want to abandon such a place.

Planning is also a good way to control panicking. Perhaps we can help you develope a plan. Can you tell us more about your situation: financial security, job status/type and more details of your house and location. Just general details, no actual numbers or anything personal.

As a general rule you should plan to achieve security in the order of:
finances/debt (this is a fairly immediate issue IMHO)
location (I think you already have that covered)
efficiency/powering down (sell the SUV while you can and calk those windows)
PO Skills (sounds like hunting, trapping and fishing will be good for you)

and hey always remeber those fabled words
"Don't Panic"

[bruss01]

Initial reactions to PeakOil/SHTF awareness can range from hopelesness and apathy to blind panic, which it sounds like you might be slipping towards.

Stop. Think. Plan instead of react. It will save you time, wasted effort, and your sanity.

Prioritize. Assess risks and rewards coolly and with as much realisim as you can muster. Try to better your odds in every scenario you can think of, without cutting off too many avenues of action for yourself. If something is a 1 in a million chance, preping for that at the expense of being able to respond to something that is a 1 in 10 chance would be poor judgement.

Accept that if something happens TODAY, you won't be ready. But determine that if something happens tomorrow, or next week, or next month - you will be be MORE ready than you are today. Keep an ear to the ground, keep abreast of the news, and know that most likely something big won't catch you completely unawares. Especially now that you know what to look for.

Don't run for the hills if you don't have to. If you have a roof over your heads, neighbors and friends locally who can help support each other, familiar environs, etc. then why leave unless an iminent or certain eventual threat presents itself? You can store more food in the pantry than you can carry on your back. Which of your posessions will you leave behind, since you will surely not be able to take them all with you? That thing you think is useless today might be worth it's weight in gold to you tomorrow.

If you must run, it is always better to run TO than to run FROM. Those who run TO somewhere are pilgrims. Those who run FROM somewhere are refugees. You don't want to become a refugee if you can help it. In order to run TO, you will need a plan, a destination. This would be a friend or relative's house in a "safe" place, or a country cabin you have prepared as an emergency retreat. Planning and having a destination distinguish the pilgrim from the refugee.

By all means, act - but act with informed determination, rather than haste and fear.

[kelee877]

Thank you all for responding..no I don,t think a deep panic attack..more of an I am not organized yet..and have alot of things to learn and still do..I am not financially bad off as most..no debits to credit cards and only pay the basics...
and yes I have a beautiful view of the lake from where i live..And I planned to be here..I moved from the big city 5 years ago and begun anew up here..
Just a gut feeling that something is going to happen...and as some of you have stated.."been there done that"...
Well I,m back to the cleaning and readying of stuff..I feel alot better that I was able to get alot accomplished today..and the day is not even over yet..
I think one of the problems was I had purchased alot of prep items and still had not gotten them ready in case we did have to bug out..
And we have 2 camps that are very dificult to reach should we have to bug out..so I have to have all things ready in a moments notice to get into the car and to the end of the trail and then on bikes with the trailers to camp..

[Such]

I think people forget that these changes are going to occur over our lifetime... not in a week, a year, etc.

[FoxV]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kelee877', 'I') think one of the problems was I had purchased alot of prep items and still had not gotten them ready in case we did have to bug out

[JoeW]

everyone else is anti-relaxation here, but i see no problem with talking to the doctor if it helps you get through a tough moment.
as others pointed out, the emotional reaction is a natural one, and you need to harness that energy to get things done. but when the fretting becomes counterproductive, then it is irrational and you have to have the discipline (or the beer?) to come back down.

[Barbara]

There's someone here doing exactly what you do... PLUS being dumb!

I built my house, placed the fireplace so it can heat the winter garden outside, programmed the garden, planned for a biodynamic agricolture, planted Bach flowers, checked how to make soap, saved salt and honey, planned the fruit trees (lemon and nuts are top choices), planted corn to feed the chickens, planted some sugar cane to sell sugar. Plus saved gasoline to be ready to go, bought bycycles, saved some gold.

All this just in my mind and dreams while I'm on my scooter going to the office downtown.
Hubby is a non-believer so there's nothing else I can do but dream.

[oowolf]

Make sure your shovel has a FIBERGLASS handle. If you're not accustomed to using a shovel you will most certainly bite off more than the handle can bear and BREAK IT. Then you will think: It's no use! I can't even dig a friggin' hole!!
(I broke FIVE handles before I wised-up.)

[Laurasia]

I think people who have accepted the reality of Peak Oil go through the whole gamut of feelings. I'm over the worst of the sleepless nights when the brain won't slow down, and I'm in a sort of planning mode. BUT I'm in basically the same position as Barbara, so a lot of planning goes on in my head. And then suddenly I'll read about oil going up or something, and I go into a total adrenalin mode when I want to scream 'wait for me, I'm not ready yet!' I start to think like Kelee describes in her post, and the antidote is to DO something - even if it's just going to Walmart camping dept and buying a couple of mylar survival blankets. I've known about Peak Oil for a while now, and I still get these frenzied moments, but thankfully, not so often now. Although I think, and hope, that we will go into a slow decline, I think there will be isolated traumas that occur which are symptoms of that decline. I think there might, for example, be food riots in random cities and if you happen to be in one of those cities, it might indeed be necessary to 'bug out'. So just as Peak Oil will probably unfold in moments of high drama followed by long periods of the doldrums, I think our reaction to it, and our planning for it, must unfold similarly.

Regards,

L.

[savethehumans]

Kelee--are you all alone out there in lake country? If not, something you can be doing now, and daily, is getting to know your neighbors. The lot of you might be the basis for a community! And by a lake (water and fish!) in the country (land to plant on?), maybe you won't have to go anywhere. Maybe you can build a post peak community right there! I don't know your situation--but a lot of times, the answer to things turns out to be right under your nose. Check your area out!

[Teclo]

Don't know if this helps. Peak oil scares me in proportion to human stupidity
Those of us who study the implications can see myriad ways this will force great change on the whole world.. and the politics seems messed up already

But when it becomes an actual reality I don't think we can know exactly how the world will react. I'm counting on a lot of sane people standing up and somehow we'll redirect ourselves to the situation and adapt
If on the other hand we just get led like sheep into war after war and the doom scenario kicks in then yes that scares me but I'm not sure we know how we shall react yet, nothing is set in stone and anything could happen

Hang in there

Teclo