[seldom_seen]

If you are truly feeling panic. That will pass. I would wait til the panic phase passes before you start sharing your insights with friends or family though. Excepting say your wife who might be wondering wtf is up with you.

Then you can start to get used to living in the new dual reality. Peakoil versus Disneyland. For instance your co-worker tells you that they have a great zero down, 0% financing deal on the new v10 Dodge Humongi and he's going out this weekend to buy one. "That is so cool, I bet you can pull a big boat with a rig like that?" you say, keeping one foot in Disneyland reality so as not to frighten yourself or others. Meanwhile, in peak oil reality you want to grab the guy slam him against the wall and say "Jesus H. fugging criminy, it's a debt trap you idiot and once the peak sets in the hammer drops and you're in the bottom of a coal mine to pay that thing off, if you're lucky."

[NEOPO]

Let it all out - big boys cry too

Perhaps it is just as agent Smith said.
We are a cancer to this world.

I am not sure if its a Nervous breakdown or an Emotional breakdown or maybe they are both the same thing.
I had mine.
Part of the red pill experience in my opinion.

I think its a neccessary step to total realization/awareness of the situation at hand.

You are not alone.
You have never been alone.
Since a child you have sensed this and rightly so.

Now we stand at the edge of the void together just as you had seen in your dreams.

The light will grow very dim now but it will not completely burn out.

Those of us able to quickly adapt to change will survive - minus a total war scenario - we/they will be the beacons of hope.

Through the ages we have suffered and carried on through far worse transitionary periods.
Mankind has propped its collective self up through the age of oil and it will once again have to learn to carry on without such assistance.

We will learn - we will grow and change.
We will adapt to the new world conditions or we will perish.

Mankinds evolutionary path will narrow and become stronger through it all.

Think of all the lazy fat ignorant pseudo intellectuals that will no longer be with us
Frankly, I invite PO and all its consequences down upon mankind.

Bring it on!!!!
Time for a change - time to turn the neon distraction off.

Tool lyrics - "I am praying for mayhem - I am praying for tidal waves - I want to see the ground give way - I want to watch it all go down - learn to swim - learn to swim - learn to swim - aye aye aye aye aye"

I am strong - I adapt - change is my friend.

What are you and who is your friend?

You are strong enough to look deep within the belly of the beast.
You were stong enough to find your way here.
Now will you be strong enough to join us and fight it!!!!

We are learning the old ways again.

google "dancing rabbit"
google "twin oaks"
google "intentional community"
google "amish"
google "eco village"

There is still some room around the fire.

Will you join us?

[Raxozanne]

"Do you hear that Mr Anderson... that is the sound of inevitability"

[pup55]

What are you thinking?

You have it made! 250K on hand and no debt makes you better off for survival than 95% of the rest of the American schmoes.

While you are over there in Taipei, if the weather is not too bad, take a walk around the national opera house. It's got one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, and the building itself, a monument to Chang is really impressive.

[bobbyald]

Calm down. People often feel the way you do when the reality of PO first hits. It's may sound strange but you will get used to it and you are way, way ahead of the crowd - I just hope that cash isn't in US$.

[Cynus]

The shock wears off after a little while and lots of people go from total doomers to bumpy landing-ers and sometimes even all the way to smooth landing-ers.
If you now had the chance to take the blue pill and not know about PO, would you? Knowing is better than know knowing.

[BorneoRagnarok]

Don't be a crying white land whale. Yes, that's you.

The white brother below is an inspiration in Malaysia. He appeared in every main English newspaper in Malaysia. The Air Pollution Index is 567 (100 is dangerous level). He worked in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The motorcycle he rode get around 150-200 miles/ US gallon. Basically, he is an role model in our current crisis ridden Malaysia.

His wife are so excited that she SMS eveyone she knew. Eric Fearn we admired you.

http://www.erikfearn.com/

[FoxV]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'Y')ou have it made! 250K on hand and no debt makes you better off for survival than 95% of the rest of the American schmoes

[Tyler_JC]

1 down, 6.3 billion to go...

But welcome to PeakOil.com

I suggest downloading the TeamSpeak software ASAP so we can talk to each other in person. (that and I'm getting rather tired of the same old conversations in there)

And remember, we are still a fringe internet conspiracy theory that also happens to be based entirely in truth.

Don't forget that most people believe we are utterly bonkers. Don't assume that others will automatically "get it". Many won't "get it" after weeks of trying to convince them of the obvious facts.

And plan your finances carefully. Move out of risky investments and real estate.

Also consider downsizing your car.

And lastly:

Don't head off to the eco-village in the woods yet!

[turmoil]

Welcome..to the real world.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('the_red_pill', 'T')he real life matrix of peak oil. I went down the rabbit hole and have found reality. I am currently on travel in Taipei and have spent the past 15 hrs reading everything I can grab on Peak Oil. Damn blasted typhoon has made me unearth the 'unearth' of our society.

But I am a full believer in PO and am full of despair and panic. I don't know what to do right now! My wife, back home in the US, is worried because I sound depressed and frightened. She thinks I read some terrorism article and wants me to ignore what someone else thinks of the future. I haven't the time right now to explain to her what I have discovered.

I am so scared right now and feeling lost. I should be enjoying my probable only visit to this country because I now see what I have felt for many, many years: the end of the oil party is coming.

Although immune of the knowledge of PO, I have felt a strange feeling since a child and have always somehow known that the future was in dire jeopardy. This is why I chose never to have kids. Subconsciously, in the last two years, I had already begun to plan for PO but didn't realize until now what I was doing! I have downsized my car, reduced my debt to nearly nothing and am now sitting on nearly a quarter of a million in cash or easily liquifiable assets. I have slowly been converting to a very frugal lifestyle and had reduced my consumption of goods that really are unecessary in my life.

My wife wants me to just live our life and not worry about something we cannot control, but I *HAVE* to do something! I am not the kind of person to sit on the sidelines and watch us fall into the dark ages.

I do fear the age without technology, but as my awakening of today has me realize, humans are meant to be with nature. We have lost touch with the world and nature. The age after oil will return mankind to the forest, the fields, as a participant in the ecocycle, as both a predator and prey, maybe as it should be. My soul aches with the knowledge that so much may be lost; the accomplishments, the things we did with our time.

But we have plundered our resources, over populated the earth and now we will have to pay the price. Humans are too short sighted in our thinking and maybe that's why we won't last.

I have oftened wondered why aliens have never contacted us and now I wonder if it is because no other civilization has made it out of their industrial age either!

I do not fear losing oil, what I fear is losing my loved ones and the structure of a civilization that may be lost. I would love to return to the natural way of living, but I am terrified of the anarchy that may lie ahead, of the mindless fat dolts out there in their SUVs who run out of gas and start heading to my house looking for a McDonalds.

What is my next step? I fear I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown here, I'm in total shock and have the lost the will to live my old 21st century way of working in an office, traveling and saving money for a nonexistent future.

help me with your thoughts.

[MattSavinar]

If I had $250,000 in assets, I'd be in an off-the grid ecobunker in an undisclosed location in the Pacific Northwest with a stash of gold, silver, and lead.

Matt

[FairMaiden]

LOL Matt...I hear you...I can't say I'd hit the ecobunker just yet - but I'd be debt free and well stocked.

[Geko45]

Since we are using the Matrix analogy. This quote may be applicable if not even inspirational.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Agent Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? Something more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence without meaning or purpose. And all as artificial as the Matrix itself, although, only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. There's no point in fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

Neo: Because I choose to.

[evilmonkeyspanker]

there will be no removing of balls, if I hear that kind of talk again, you will be the first person I eat when this goes down

[the_red_pill]

I thank all of you for your insight and feel better that I am indeed, now, guilty of knowledge but perhaps in a position to weather the storm and move on. Seeing oil hit nearly $67 today just reaffirms the faith that I have found "Peak oil" much like some find "Jesus".

My next challenge in this quest for persistence will be to convince my wife of what is happening and begin to plan the move. She will have difficulty in swallowing this pill and I am very nervous of what may happen if she doesn't buy in to PO. She is from Europe and if I do make her realize the seriousness of PO, she will want to return there immediately. I would not mind going there either, if we can find a place that we can make it. Where can I find information on what many experts think of how Europe will survive? Or should we stay here?

My gut says get the hell out of California and move inward towards a less populated state such as the Dakotas or the pacific Northwest. I live in the SF bay area which would provide great climate to grow things but too many people that will try to take it from me. If had enough cash, an ideal place would be well down the PCH where the temperate climate and misty days would provide sufficient water to survive.

Someone here recommended 100 miles away from a near city, and I thought is that far enough? But then I remembered without a car and/or horse (which no one will have), 100 miles to most overweight Americans might as well be 10000. What an insight. I am thinking I may need to get to a stable and become proficient in riding again.

What a thought? We may return the days of the 19th century American west, where it is pioneer spirit and hard work that make you survive albeit I do fear the crazies who will want to be Will Bill Hickok, etc. In some sense, I feel alive for the first time again, for I will have the chance to reconnect with my past (I was raised on a gentleman farm) and begin to concentrate on the important things of human life: relationships, love, sharing and real accomplishment.

What I must try to figure out soon is skills to survive. I don't have any; I'm in sales/marketing for a high tech company and nothing I do know will be useful in a new world. My wife is good with plants and her hands, if I can convince her, she should be able to adjust quite well. I only wonder if my musical skills would be useful as I play guitar and piano. Perhaps I can provide entertainment to a village in exchange for sustenance. But I am no stranger to hard, back breaking labor and will be ready to do my part.

But please let me keep my balls!

[Leto_Atredies_II]

Take it easy...... breathe.

A Fremen saying, 'any direction in the open desert is as good as any other.'

This means that we can't see all the vagaries of the future famine times ahead. Death, starvation, resource depletion... sure. Your doing what you can when it comes to survival behaviour.

All I can suggest is to help revive local interconnected means of inter-dependence. Find a way to integrate a skilll or a renewable resource that you possess that has value to your local community in order to show the way.

Be inconspicuous, people will go crazy after 2007 when the absolute supply peaks.... no more mega-projects after that for oil production.

Don't rave too much about this topic to all and sundry. They will blame you for their lack of foresight.

Get away from an area that is dependent on remote sources of fossil fuels, i.e. American Southwest, or any area that can't realistically grow food locally.

Emigrate to somewhere where your cash and your skills can be of use..... New Zealand is a lifeboat.

Just remember not to forget why we live.... for most, the psyche does not grow, that's why some seek escapism in television and religion and drugs etc. Find the beauty in the nature of your surroundings. Learn to let go...

Read Dune, the last three books are good.... just substitute the term 'melange' for oil and you will have a pretty good idea on what human nature will force people to do.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 't')he Dakotas

[Aaron]

Now that you have calmed down a little over there Pill, with the assistance of our growing PO community, I'll make a comment.

There is a very specific reason you feel fear for our potential future...

...because it is scary.

Your first instinct when experiencing fear, is panic; a different animal altogether. But familiarity breeds contempt, as they say. You sound bright enough to already be past the panic stage.

But feel free to hold on to some of the very healthy, normal, could possibly save your butt, fear. We all have every reason to fear the uncertainty ahead of us.

History seems to make it clear that man has always been his own worst enemy.

So despite the best intentions of many, the deck is stacked against us enjoying a smooth transition into an reduced oil future. (Which is the PC way to say that folks are gonna fight, and it's gonna be nasty).

Welcome to the forum.