[POAlex]

Raober, I'm sorry to hear you're feeling like that.

You have to remember, its no coincidene that you know this.

Hang in there.

[thuja]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('raober', 'I')t's looking at my 3 year old daughter, the loveliest creature I have ever seen in my life...and thinking that it is not likely that she will reach 10 years old.

[Resurrection]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', ' ')
These are the questions you need to answer...not dwell in some morbid obsession that your daughter is likely to die within 7 years.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'A')ccept the fact that you are fucked.
Go to the library and check out Dale Carnegie's "How to stop worrying and start living". And while you are there, check out a book on permaculture.
Then plant a garden.
Finally quit whinning! It does you or your family no good.
Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('raober', 'I')'ve started to think about finding ways to prepare...but I'm not sure I have the resources.

[Ayame]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', 'y')ou now have about 2 minutes less of life to live. That number - X -shrinks one day every day.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('azreal60', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t's not even my own future that makes me cry. It's looking at my 3 year old daughter, the loveliest creature I have ever seen in my life...and thinking that it is not likely that she will reach 10 years old. I feel powerless to protect my family from what is to come. I've never planted a garden, bulit much of consequence, or shot a gun. I've been as much a part of the consumer machine as anyone, and the guilt and shame that I feel right now is intense. I've started to think about finding ways to prepare...but I'm not sure I have the fortitude or the resources.

[sameu]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('POAlex', '
')You have to remember, its no coincidene that you know this.

[raober]

Just thought I'd give you folks an update.

I did talk to my wife the other night. Basically, I talked more about my fears in general terms (e.g. oil shortages could cause massive disruptions/shortages/dangers to our family) instead of intricately talking about peak oil.

Her main point was, of course, basically what some of you folks have been saying...stop worrying and live your life, or you won't have much of a life to lose whenever it does end. Intellectually, I do know this...I just have a hard time applying it! My father was like me...he internalized stress and it manifested physically quite often. He died of a heart attack at 55. I'm hoping I don't stress myself into one as well (although one caveat was that he was a lifelong smoker and I am not).

Specifically regarding peak oil, she didn't want to hear about it at the moment (it was late and she was battling a cold), but *did* leave the door open to discuss it in the near future. This helped. She also said that, if it made me feel better, I could think about making preparations (storing food, starting a garden)...as long as they weren't overly disruptive to our lives (moving to Montana or something like that). So I've started running some things through my mind...and maybe I'll take some action here over the coming weeks. Number one on my list is to get in shape as we are both overweight. I think, though, that the threat of peak oil will at least give me the incentive to get healthier, and I'll try to pass that on to her and my daughter too.

Overall, I think I'm feeling just a bit more optimistic. Yes, there are negative signs all over, and I think I'll keep up my awareness, prepare, and maybe try to spread the news, just in case the doomers are right. Still, there is a *lot* of effort being put into finding solutions, even if they don't necessarily have the support of those in power. Maybe, just maybe, we can find a way to smear out things here at the top of Hubbert's Peak and give ourselves a little more time. I know many of you do not believe this is possible. All advances require some degree of optimism though...otherwise, why would you try?

When I look into my daughter's eyes and see the love there, I know that I would move heaven and earth to keep her well. Well, maybe at least, I can try to protect the little patch of it we have been blessed with. And if I fail? Well, I tried. And I loved. And that alone would make it worth it.

Thanks for all the replies...I'm sure I'll check in again soon.

[Roccland]

Hmmmm...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')verall, I think I'm feeling just a bit more optimistic.

[jeezlouise]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', 'H')mmmm...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')verall, I think I'm feeling just a bit more optimistic.

[Judgie]

I'm only 21 and just beginning life to be honest. All I can offer is to reinforce the notion that everything you've read here, you should definitely take on board. Particularly the bit about telling your wife about the issues that will soon be in everyones faces. Don't keep it from her. I made sure that my lady was aware within 3 weeks of us getting together, as I believed that she had an absolute right to know. She took it incredibly well. But you get that when she and her family are all top-of-the-ladder scouts :D.

Oh and ignore Savinar. He is, more often than not, a complete and utter lunatic.

[Concerned]

Bottom line is sure be aware of how bad things can get.

But then you can either get busy living or get busy dieing. By the sounds of that beautiful 3year old girl you have that there is plenty of living to be done.

Seriously hit the planning for the future forums, it will give you lots of ideas you can do even on a small level. Heck you'll be surprised how good you feel with a small stash of food and water.

Follow your wifes advice do things one step at a time, don't make DRASTIC changes too fast. Don't come down on your wife in ONE BIG AVALANCHE of bad news. Think about how you can change things to improve your situation e.g. food water stash.

If you can start a Vegetable garden you'll probably feel like a king not to mention your daughter will totally love to grow carrots and tomatoes. My sisters 3yo daughter loves the garden!!

[Judgie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')h and ignore Savinar. He is, more often than not, a complete and utter lunatic.

[Roccland]

JL
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you give up on yourself just because it seems the world has given up on itself, well then you're f*cked.

[jeezlouise]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', '
')
Optimisim, pessimism, and cynism are BELIEFS about the way one views situations...NOT how they deal with those situations.

My bunker is filled with food because I am NOT optimistic and this is my action to that belief.

[Roccland]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') just don't want our "rookie" here to freeze in the headlights and end up wallowing in despair.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') just don't want our "rookie" here to freeze in the headlights and end up wallowing in despair.

[JJ]

Well. I'm in the same boat as, oh, 6 billion people or so. I didn't know anything about PO until about four years ago, when I woke up from being in a anuerysm induced coma. (Literally). During the three months that I had to learn to walk again, etc. my Republic of Texas, hate the government, etc. neighbors sent me some links on PO. They actually are not interested in PO; they just want to overthrow the government, however I started reading about it and was soon fascinated. I found this site by accident when I typed in a search for Peak Oil in Burnet, Texas (where I live). This site came up and there is actually a member down the road.
I started coresponding with a fellow in Hawaii who is also married to an asian (how we met on another forum) and he sent me tons of PO links. He quit talking to me when I appeared unwilling to move to New Zealand with him.
I'm 48 years old and still have two children at home. They are 6 and 12 years old; we talk about PO enough in my house that the other day when my wife and them were driving down the road, the 12 year old said "I don't think I'm ever going to have a car, because when I'm old enough to drive, there won't be any" The six year old said "we're going to be dead by then anyway". Now normally they are very happy well adjusted children, but I think even they know whats going on. I asked the teenage checker at the grocery store what future she saw, and she said "grim".
Bing is two years younger than I and has a masters, as well as speaking seven languages. However, she grew up with the poorest of the poor in the Philippines; we bought some land there sometime back and from time to time go "home". The last time we went home (this June), I complained so much about the heat that finally she said "I wish you would just shut up, in two years Texas is going to be like this..." She also believes in PO but says it's hopeless to talk about it "because no-one here will believe it until it happens". I spent several years living on the streets and eating out of trash cans, etc. and what I fear is coming will be soooo much worse than that. Bing and I both agree that we came from a very poor life and "pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps" and have a very comfortable existence now, and that our children (who now have everything) will probably experience their lives deteriorating in the near future.
We have made few preperations. We have a small cache of food and a small cache of silver, but beyond that we owe a fortune on our house. We owe on one vehicle, but that is inconsequential to me. We know some people in the country, and I suppose when TSHTF we can go out in the country (they even have lots of guns), but we haven't even discussed that. I know one thing, when I talk about PO at work, I am met with open hostility and comments like "yeah, and you can buy a device on the internet to make your manhood bigger". Either that or just outright dismissal "yeah, but there's nothing we can do". I work in a grocery store in the produce department, and watch the parade of wheezing, pasty, electric wheelchair-bound materialistic obese diabetics (to quote someone else on this site) fight over the food. It is absolutely unbelievable. When Hurricane Rita and Katrina came through they were having fist fights in the isles over the bread, and this was 500 plus miles away.
Anyway PO rookie, you are not alone....

[threadbear]

Ease up, Gideon. By the time I was 11, I thought I was going to end up dead too, due to my father. It wasn't apocolyptic stories that scared me, but his temper....Yikes.

Look, appreciate that the new poster means well and gently caution parents in general not to scare young children. It's not as if the guy kills kittens in front of his kids.