[FreakOil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', 'N')othing's wrong with you. You're aware, at least on some intuitive level, that the current system is analogous to a cancer that's killing the earth. You're relieved, hopeful, and excited on days when it seems it might be going into remission.

[stepka]

The reason you're wondering what's wrong with you is because you already know what's wrong with the world. Most people just have this vague sense of unease and worrying about the future but can't put their finger on it, so they figure that they're depressed and go get happy pills. You're more mentally healthy for taking your head out of the sand and facing the big problems, even if you can't do anything about them right now. Then take a good hard look at it, bite off the part you can chew, even though it won't seem to make one whit of difference.

An example from my own life. When my clothes dryer whacked out, I didn't replace it. No big deal--hang stuff around the basement til it's dry--no big deal. But not one of my neighbors that I know of does w/o a dryer. I could get mad at them. I could go get a dryer, b/c what the heck difference am I making anyhow? The point is, I feel better about myself for doing it, and it's no big deal. I spend little to no time worrying about what effect I will have on the earth. I do calculate how much money it will save ME.

I spend no time on oil prices. Too painful. I feel sometimes like there's a precipice on both sides. One side is PO. The other side is business as usual. Both sides scare the hell out of me. But I will look it in the face--just not too minutely. Go spend time doing something else, like hanging your clothes out, or riding your bike to the store. These are simple pleasures that have been forgotten. No wonder they're all depressed.

[Narz]

Great posts bill, stepka, CARVER (welcome to the boards), everyone.

[mos6507]

We're all victims of the actions of the group. If we individually prepare, we will get brought down by the vast majority who do NOT prepare. So it's an important agenda item to either inform the public (which is pretty much impossible) or to wait for current events to push people over the edge into awareness.

So I'd like to think that those who are wishing for the sh*t to hit the fan aren't so much looking forward to collapse as they are looking forward to current events pushing the public into a final acknowledgement that there is a crisis, so that even if it's clearly "too little too late" at least SOME action will be taken.

It's a flaw of the human genome that we react to problems only when they are right before us, and PO (and GW) are both problems in which solutions have long lead-times. While some of us at an individual level know what's going on, we are completely unprepared to deal with it at a collective level where our behavior seems to always drop down to a lowest-common-denominator level of short-term greed and local self interest.

[vfr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakingAroundtheCorner', 'W')hen oil is teasing $100pb my heart starts to race and I'm glued to the graphs until 2am on a work night. As the dollar crashes, my spirits soar. I smile when the DOW tanks.

And when all of that goes in the other direction, like oil has today, I just want to die - well, maybe not die, but pretty close.

So, again I ask: What the hell is wrong with me!?

[Dan_Browne]

Me too.
I'm worse than you though since I find it hard to focus on anything else.
I am too extemely doomerish I think and I can imagine hurricane katrina style mobs systematically looting.

My worst fear is not peak oil per se: it's government's attempts to deal with it combined with a bunch of other assorted crap like wars and the general un-preparedness of the average citizen.

I worry when I see things like 5 cables being cut and the paranoia sinks in: WHO IS DOING THIS??? WHY?? WHY??

I freak out when I see the complete lack of mitigation attempts by those who ought to know better and who are supposedly on the side of "we the people". It almost seems like we are being deliberately pushed over the brink.

I try to keep it under control but I find it interfering with absolutely everything I do and can think of nothing else.

The craziest thing is I even understand exactly what's happening to me:
My "fight or flight" switch is jammed hard to the floor but I am stuck in traffic. i.e. can see the tornado bearing down the interstate five miles behind me and I can't move.

This is because I can't pull up stakes and run to the hills.
I don't have the cash to buy a farm and so I must continue to work. My job is unsustainable and will be wiped out as soon as the economy tanks.
I worry that the government will try to grab whatever pitiful amounts of preparation I have done and if they don't then an angry mob might.

The only time I get any release is on a saturday morning when I pound the living hell out of my sparring partners in the gym.
They wonder why I am so stressed and what's up with me.

What a laugh.

[Ferretlover]

Another case of POitis emerges....

[threadbear]

Dan, Tell us about your preps, where you live, etc...If things get as bad as you think they might, do you know of anyone who is situated in a fairly safe area? Could you rent a room from them for a couple of months? Are you on your own?