THE Emotional Depression Thread (merged)

by **Ludi** » Sun 30 Jan 2005, 20:25:54

Perhaps the marketing education could be used to help introduce some of these ideas to the unbelieving, disinterested public?

by **smallpoxgirl** » Sun 30 Jan 2005, 21:20:52

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'P')erhaps the marketing education could be used to help introduce some of these ideas to the unbelieving, disinterested public?

by **Wednesday** » Mon 31 Jan 2005, 10:17:02

i just feel grief when i think about all the people who might die, it just makes me so very sad

went to a nightclub and every young person there was a casualty to me, they all seemed so precious and fragile and i was already grieving the loss of them

and im angry at myself for being so wasteful of resources in the past and being so lazy and apathetic

i had to distract myself this past week with some mindless fluffy fun, i'd say im now in avoidance mode...but im still nagging my realtor and soon to move on from planning to action

by **uNkNowN ElEmEnt** » Mon 31 Jan 2005, 13:35:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')E,

If you're working on your Bachelors degree then you are probably in your twenties; if so you have something that is very important; youth and energy.

by **oowolf** » Tue 01 Feb 2005, 17:21:22

The things I worried most about turned out to be a piece of cake: the things that have tripped me up turned out to be things I hadn't even considered (and therefore did not waste energy worrying about). Things beyond my control-nuclear war, asteroids, economic depression, exploding supervolcanoes, etc,etc, are only reminders that life is short and uncertain and always will be.

by **Ayoob_Reloaded** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 03:53:37

I mean, what the f***? Go to school, build up a business, learn to navigate this incredibly complex and interesting culture we've built up around us, go see Terminator 2 with those awesome special effects, all that crap, and for what. To see oil fucking peak and just lose it all.

Today, I needed $4 in quarters to do my laundry. I drove to a car wash and the attendant told me the machine was only for car wash patrons. No joke, I almost pulled a knife on him for that s***. What's the big deal? It's raining today anyway, wtf do you care?

Then, I drive another mile or two to another car wash, which had a bunch of nonworking dollar bill changers. Two more miles to another one. I put in my fiver, and the fucking thing gives me four Sacagawea's and four quarters. WTF is this s***? Give me quarters, dammit, but the machine wasn't set up for that.

So I drive home again, with only four quarters, and I can't even do my damn laundry. I must have burned an entire gallon of gas and an hour out of my life I'll never see again to NOT get enough quarters to have clean drawers tomorrow. I'm going commando in the morning and burned... seriously, think about this. I burned $2.25 worth of gas in an effort to convert a $5 bill into quarters, and ended up not accomplishing my task.

This is bulls***.

On top of that, I'm PO-aware, so I know how much MORE bulls*** this is because I shouldn't even be driving around just for this one thing anyway. I should be working quarters into some other trip I need to take anyway, and I should have been riding my bike in the first place (except it's raining and I'm just way too precious to get wet).

Fifteen years from now, when gas is $50 a gallon and I'm lucky to get it anyway at that price, and I'm hanging my drawers out on a line to dry and so is everybody else, and sometimes I'm cold/hungry and don't want to be, it's not like I'm camping or something, I just can't afford to run the heater or boil a pot of water to warm the place up a little, I'll think back on the day I wasted a whole gallon of gas to get f****** CHANGE. Fer crissakes, people, how ridiculous IS this whole PO thing?

I can barely cope with doing my damn laundry in the first place. How am I going to make it when the only jobs out there are going to be Cop and Undertaker?

by **Colorado-Valley** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 04:27:31

Maybe this is a good time to get some practice using a scrub board. :-D

'

I know what you mean, though. It makes me look at my everyday life of cheap energy and miracle mobility as something very ... wondrous.

But I also live on a farm, and I know a lot of this consumer plastic junk simply can't replace sitting down by the creek in the woods with my nephew and seeing the miracle of minnows.

I think we've got to prepare now for a world without all this "stuff" and take a chance on finding a simpler, better life post peak.

Of course we may not have much of a choice ...

by **jato** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 04:35:05

The Los Angeles River circa 2012:

A new civic program: Wash, drink and dump your human waste all in the same river.

by **Specop_007** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 05:54:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Colorado-Valley', 'M')aybe this is a good time to get some practice using a scrub board. :-D

'

I know what you mean, though. It makes me look at my everyday life of cheap energy and miracle mobility as something very ... wondrous.

But I also live on a farm, and I know a lot of this consumer plastic junk simply can't replace sitting down by the creek in the woods with my nephew and seeing the miracle of minnows.

I think we've got to prepare now for a world without all this "stuff" and take a chance on finding a simpler, better life post peak.

Of course we may not have much of a choice ...

by **killJOY** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 06:03:33

Withdraw. If possible.
No TV. No movies. No fastfood.
Friends & wine are good. Cook dinners.
It's a silent, gradual process of losing those friends who
keep you involved in mass culture.

by **Scooter_Rider** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 06:26:59

Ayoob_Reloaded,

If you are feeling this down, you are dwelling too much on peak oil. Take a break from it and from this site. Take a few months off from it all. Give your brain a rest. Worrying yourself to death may get you before peak oil ever become a reality. Preparing for peak oil is good. But stop stressing so much. None of us can change what is coming. Stop worrying so much. Just relax a little and enjoy life for today, while still preparing for tomorrow. Life should be a little more special and meaningful for you now that you are aware of peak oil. Enjoy the special things and people in your life. Worrying about peak oil will not change anything, except maybe hurt your current health due to stress. Learn to meditate. And get some excercise every day. You will feel much better. I'm serious. Never, ever lose sleep over peak oil.

Deal with the problems when they come. Don't try to live your life in the future. Today is today. Don't let it pass you by. Remember that we ar e all in this together. Many of us have had the same feelings that you are having now (including me). You are not alone.

Worrying about peak oil is like worrying about death. You know they will both come some day, but you don't know when. Death and peak oil are not worth the stress of worrying. Death isn't an end, but a new beginning for everyone. So stop worrying so much.

by **rallyman** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 13:00:39

Nice Jato! Just what someone needs to cheer them up! :roll:

Always the bright ray of sunshine!

I think Colorado-Valley and Scooter_Rider have it down though....actually, a combination of the two of them....

Live for the day, while preparing for tomorrow......Enjoy what you have so you can reflect on it later - all that you may have to take you through is the memories......

by **mindfarkk** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 13:22:12

i'm with scooter_rider... take a break. make your plans. you don't KNOW for sure exactly what will happen or when. meanwhile why throw away the life you can have today? you can't be perfectly prepared for the unpredictable. do what you can and hope for the best. i'm going ahead with my fifteen year plan. if everything falls apart before then, there's not much i can do about it. i figure i'm gonna be a good 12 months ahead of the rest of the population in terms of realizing what's happening and accepting it, which improves my own ability to act rather than react when the time comes. me, my childhood terror of nuclear war is a big fat button that gets pushed everytime i hear the news right now. i could be a big, fat, blathering basket case if i let myself go that way. like i can do a fucking thing about a nuclear warhead. well, i almost died in a car wreck twenty years ago, so what? the odds of you dying on the freeway tomorrow are probably higher than anything else you are worried about, do you obsess about that? denial is underrated as a surival skill IMO. you have to be able to selectively block shit out when you need to. we are not automatons. respect your nervous system. like any sophisticated mechanism, if you overwork it, it's going to break down. time to take a break, oil the moving parts, let the engine cool, buddy.

it was the worst of times
it was the best of times

by **mgibbons19** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 13:22:58

Change yer focus.

Sunday morning sitting across the table at the donut store looking at my 6 year old daughter eating a donut. I think man the kid's growing up fast. I can't believe she's the same little person who is in all those pictures as a tot. I enjoyed her at that age, and I can't have the 3 year old her back. Then I think about the future. I could not make it - I know lots of widows, and this kid needs a dad. She could not make it - I know a few grieving parents. And if all goes well, someday I'll be old, she'll have a couple of pups of her own, and I'll wonder back to when she was six and I was only thirtythree. And I won't be able to get now back.

All of it is fleeting. None of it is guaranteed. Peak Oil is just part of the story.

by **Ayoob_Reloaded** » Tue 22 Feb 2005, 13:38:22

Yeah, sounds good. I'm outta here. See you in the funny papers!

by **alemoa** » Wed 20 Apr 2005, 21:45:07

Freaked - after I saw "The End of Suburbia"
When I read the blurb about it on Netflix I thought "looks interesting", never expecting the message which hit me hard as I had never heard of Peak Oil before... or better, the message never sunk in...I had seen graphs of the limited oil supply. Or maybe I just blocked it out

Depressed - I am on Day 3 after watching the film
I have seen all my dreams come crashing down, am searching the internet up and down, trying to find info that maybe this is just a dream... of course I just find more info that it is indeed real, very real... I just got my Masters in TOURISM last year and was about to open a tour company for ecotourism destinations... forget travel, or better, if you have the $$, do it now, for as long as tickets are still afordable. I am planning on it - round-the-world and then live off of the memories while I am tending to my gardens, ha...

Looking around - around the world

(And I do not mean my round the world trip)... yes, civilization IN THE US will fall back into the dark ages, ok, 1800s... but 30% of the world population is living like that RIGHT NOW. 80% of the world population is poor and out of those, probably 40% of the 80% (or a third of world pop)live in the country side, without constant electricity or running water, and they are surviving... Now they'll probably have the last laugh, because for them life will NOT change drastically without oil...

What scares me are the thoughts of violence that will ensue in later stages, the chaos when people try to make a transition and realize it is too late and they have missed the boat...

Yes, I am "a bit" freaked out, and hopefully it will not take too long for me to reach a mental stage that will allow me to talk about it in this non-chalant tone that seems to be prevalent in this forum, like talking about a Dungeon&Dragon role play (yes, I am in my 30s...haha - at least I will know how to play BOARD GAMES, something the current generation hooked on virtual things never really experienced... what will they do when they cannot cell phones anymore???)

Sorry, just needed to dump this, was so glad I found this actual discussion forum!!!

So long,
alemoa
California

by **Specop_007** » Wed 20 Apr 2005, 21:58:26

Lets look at it realistically for a minute.
You live in California. You have FAR bigger problems to worry about then the fact the age of cheap oil is coming to an end.
One thing at a time.
We love you.
Signed,
Ultra Supreme secret leader of the coolest most badass militia ever.

by **Pops** » Wed 20 Apr 2005, 22:02:58

You will find lots of D&D feelings here alemoa. I think sometimes this is just another computer game to some.

Take a breath, read all the links you can find on Peak Oil – some are scary, some equate it to Nirvana.

But understand, most folks believe the process will take years – if not decades, not days.

by **chargrove** » Wed 20 Apr 2005, 22:06:56

We're all right there with you. Welcome to the forum.

The initial stages of PO shock are something virtually everyone goes through, as they have to reorient their views about their future and the future of their friends and families. From what I've seen it takes anywhere between a couple weeks up to a couple months for things to mentally "settle down" to a managable level. During that time you'll have moments of calm interweaved with moments of "what the f*ck are we gonna do?!?!" panic, and the eventual point of acceptance is reached when you can balance these two and understand the problem fully while still spending most of your energy not on panic, but on planning and preparation.

I found out about PO early in September of last year, and was freaked out for probably about a month and a half, sometimes calm and sometimes only an impulse away from moving to Tibet (not that that would have been a good idea of course, it just shows how freaked out I was). I know plenty of others who've gone through similar mental breakdowns and rebuilds.

The thing to keep in mind is that for anyone you introduce to PO (the few who will actually accept it; you'll be amazed how many people will be in denial no matter how much evidence they're presented with), expect them to go through these shock phases too, which means that if anything at some point starts coming down the pike that makes you feel like you absolutely have to take action, you'll have to give those people a couple months of warning in advance. The timing here may be difficult, so don't be surprised if you get rejected by some people or called a nutjob or whatever. Not everyone is going to be ahead of the curve on this.

Anyway, welcome. You're not alone.

by **Ebyss** » Wed 20 Apr 2005, 22:15:38

Welcome to PO. While you're travelling around the world (great idea btw, I might do that myself) make sure to look at all the different farming techniques. Try to visit some out-of-the-way impoverished but safe countries to see how they get on. Could be really interesting.

Don't worry, you have rapidly bypassed the "denial" stage. You're now in the panic stage. I recommend the planning for the future forum to see if there are any options that appeal to you there.

Instead of setting up a tour guide place, set up a visit-a-working-farm company. You'll be inundated with calls in a few years. :wink: