Pretty much super afraid right now.

We all tend to feed our fears by reading the posts here and elsewhere. It becomes, to some extent, personally self-fulfilling. I suggest you try and learn to separate what you CAN control from what you cannot. You do need to try and start earning some money and spend that money on what matters.

What you can do that is free is learn. There is an emmence amount of information on the web. Learn survival skills. How to fish. How to trap. How to make an expedient shelter. How to build a mud-brick oven. Fire building. That kinda stuff. Very few people have those kinds of skills and they will be valuable.

We are heading for rough times. Denial is a temporary intoxicant. When it wears-off it will be a drag for sure. Don't lose hope. You're young and will make it through this mess. We can't choose the situation we are born into. We can only make the best of what we're dealt. Start today.

i am a father of 2 soon to be 3, and have been on my own since i was 17. i no longer worry abuot my self,its abuot the kids now. if a crisis was to happen my main concern would be for thier (the kids) saftey and well being first and foremost, and then my own. i keep a rather large BOB witch i frequently add to to suit our changing needs.for me my family allways has and allways will come first.

I'm in Canada and I'm not concerned at all. You're more than welcome to move up here!

Originally posted by Malzypants
I'm in Canada and I'm not concerned at all. You're more than welcome to move up here!

Careful what you wish for.
I get freaked out reading some of these threads for about 5 minutes, then a google search frequently calms my mind. My cat works even better than that for anxiety relief. Got to keep things in perspective.

Two great sayings:
The buddhists say "Life is suffering".
"Be prepared": the Boy Scouts

Keep your chin up. Breathe.

reply to post by agent violet


Have no fear. I have spoken to the Gods and they are just testing us. This too shall pass. Focus on life, prepare for a long and bright future. Tell ya what. Next time it rains get naked and go outside. Shake off all the crap in your soul and smile knowing that you are alive in that moment and you do not care about anything. Works for me when I get freaked out.

Hi,
I think many of us are afraid at the moment. If you are worried about food shortages, learning to SPROUT may be of assistance. Google sproutarian. You will never need to go without food again.
These events are far from certain, and we draw them with our fear.
Prepare for the worst and plan for the best.
We should all be visualising a positive future people, even though things do look bleak.

READ THE BIBLE!!!!!!

I can't stress that enough. The Bible accurately describes the times we are living, and fore tells of even the darkest times yet to come in human history. As scary as that may sound, take comfort in what Jehovah God is promising the human race. Learn how you can part-take in his promise:

Watchtower

No matter how hard the day might be, at the end of the day all we really have is faith..

Originally posted by Northern Raider
young, no ties, no mortgage, nothing to stop them from travelling and exploring, work on cruise ships, work in an Israeli Kibutz, work picking grapes in france, work in summer camps for kids. jeez all the dude needs is a mountain bike with panniers, a dice and some camping gear

I love this it is so true!

I am married with kids and a mortgage; my husband thinks I am nuts when I try to warn him. We are NOT in a good area to be in when the economy tanks. Specifically we live in a desert and we pipe in ALL OUR WATER. The S is going to HTF and there is little I can do, unless I abscond with the kids, NOW. I wish I wish I wish we could move but I will not break up my family. We are just going to have to make it the best we can.

Until then I am slowly filling up our garage with bottled water and canned/dry goods.

I have gotten out of shape and that HAS to change, especially now. I agree that working out and getting books on survival are good ideas. But reading is not enough! Practice the survival skills. Take a class in mountaineering. Start learning martial arts. Go out into the wild and try to actually FIND some of the edible plants in the books. Buy a compass and practice using it to navigate. Familiarize yourself with the stars and learn how to navigate using them.

Also buy some vegetable seeds. Heritage seeds or whatever they are called, the kind that will produce viable seed year after year. Might need 'em before this is all over. If the disaster doesn't happen right away, plant the seeds and buy some more. It's good to get the hang of growing veggies in case you need to do it to survive.

Even if nothing ever comes of this stuff, you will have garnered valuable skills and a lot of knowledge. Make it your mission.

[edit on 30-10-2008 by OuttaHere]

reply to post by agent violet


Don't be afraid, be resolved! While you still can, find a job training and placement program. This isn't what you're going to do for the rest of your life but it will put some cash in your pocket to buy your survival supplies.. If this is impossible for various reasons, find some job that you can walk, bike or use public transportation to get to to build up some cash to put together a break out bag and a mountain bike. Since your single, you can move anywhere in the country to find work.

If no job can be found immediately, get out of the house and start looking for coins, aluminum cans or copper wiring. When hunting for coins, check out pay phones, parking lots and laundry mats. Folks are always dropping money around these places. Even at today's devalued dollars, a wise person can survive on less than a dollar's worth of food a day if they shop right.

If you smoke, QUIT! It's extremely unhealthy and expensive. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so at your meals and not at the bar with your friends(unless they're paying). If you're a coffee or tea drinker, again make it home to avoid the insane prices at even the local mom and pop stores and coffee shops because they are insanely expensive. One friend of mine saved herself $1K/year by switching from Starbucks to homebrew for her morning jolt.

The breakout bag should include:
A day pack
A stout knife with a sharpening/hone stone
Some form of firestarter(flint and steel, magnesium fire starter, magnifying glass).
space blanket.
water purifying straw or bottle
emergency rations.
fishing line, hooks .
a small cooking vessel
a compass
needles
bandages
some form of pain reliever
50 feet of 1/8" or larger nylon twine.
A multitool

The key to survival is adaptability and a positive outlook. Economic survival is about determining your most essential needs(food,shelter and transportation) first, budgeting for paying for them first, what ever is left over is what you live off of.

reply to post by agent violet


Get in the bet physical shape possible.
Not only will this give you something to do - something positive to do - but it will give you a sense of inner power.
Push yourself physically then push some more.

Find like minded people in your area.

Take a few handgun lessons and buy yourself a handgun you feel comfortable with. Don't let anyone talk you into a *ladies* gun. Check out a number of different guns until you find the one you like.

Do something to help other people.
Might as well stock up on that karma while you can.

Do a soul search concerning what your belief system is.
You'd be surprised the peace spirituality can give.

By the by - try not to give in to the fear.
That's one thing evil just loves!
Evil loves to tell you about itself just to watch you squirm.

Good Luck to you!


...taps...

Agent violet,

I'm trying to figure out a way to not sound like a low life hypocrite... You see I'm working on a two stage "bug out" strategy and stocking it accordingly.

In one hand - your family is probably right. The economy is not something to really be worried about as a life threatening event. Yes there were people who starved during the Great Depression but the numbers were not really that high. The real clincher was that people were just poor. No credit cards, no fast food, no entertainment etc etc. Hard work, low income, bad food and housing.

On the other hand I am worried about events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that caused that large tsunami and killed 225,000. That's a lot of children, mothers and fathers and what makes us any less susceptible to mother nature?

The point is that though I am trying to "plan" for such eventualities I laugh at those who do the same thing and post to these forums saying: "you better get prepared!". Blah blah blah. You see there is little control here. We simply don't know what is going to happen tomorrow until tomorrow comes and goes. The best prepared person can end up living in the epicenter of an earthquake or the flight path of a large meteor. There is no such thing as fulll control here. And though you can stock up on food, water is more important and I'd bet many here have stocks that would last them more than a month.

The best piece of advice is to wait a few weeks to see how you respond to your fear. If after this time you feel that you must act then I'd recommend that you first work on building a network of open-minded friends. Friends are more important than stockpiles of food and ammo. Next work on acquiring the means to purchase your piece of mind. Just be aware that it may be a facade. Ignorance is bliss!

Obsidience

Fear is a waste of energy. Make a plan. You have to much time on your hands to ponder the negative. A healthy 26 yr old sitting at home (I'm sorry if this sounds rough) is unacceptable.

If you dropped out of h.s. get your g.e.d. Make up a resume and hit the street. The more involved you are the less you will dwell on the negative.

Forget about attempting to change anyone's belief system, waste of time.
If they want to be ostriches with their head in the sand let them. At 26 I worked two full time jobs to save for a house. I did that for 4 yrs. It nearly killed me but I bought my home.

Yes, it's going to be tough, hard, and grim. Stock up on ramadan noodle soup. What will be will be. But you have to gain control over your world.
Peace and good luck.

Originally posted by jpm1602
Fear is a waste of energy. Make a plan. You have to much time on your hands to ponder the negative. A healthy 26 yr old sitting at home (I'm sorry if this sounds rough) is unacceptable.

If you dropped out of h.s. get your g.e.d. Make up a resume and hit the street. The more involved you are the less you will dwell on the negative.

Forget about attempting to change anyone's belief system, waste of time.
If they want to be ostriches with their head in the sand let them. At 26 I worked two full time jobs to save for a house. I did that for 4 yrs. It nearly killed me but I bought my home.

Yes, it's going to be tough, hard, and grim. Stock up on ramadan noodle soup. What will be will be. But you have to gain control over your world.
Peace and good luck.

Fear is risk assesment on the hoof, and not neccessary a bad thing so long as it does not turn into blind panic, I'm worried myself at the moment wondering which country the US is going to attack next, and how long before there is a global backlash towards the current regime in the US, So I'm stocking up on food, fuel, med kits etc and refurbishing my vehicles to a better standard.

reply to post by agent violet


Well, you're right about our economic woes of late. Things are going to get quite a bit worse before they get better, I think, but you might be in the best possible position.

Think about it. If you don't have a job and you are already used to a kind of pseudo-poor lifestyle, utter poverty isn't that far of a stretch for you. There are lots of people out there who are in complete denial over the state of affairs, and have done nothing to prepare. Hell, they don't even want to think about it. Those people are going to have to come to terms with seriously poor conditions whereas you will be closer to that already and thus you won't have as far to go.

I'm 31 years old and i'm thankful that I work with the internet and search engine marketing. Since the economy began its long slow decline, companies have been ditching traditional advertising for web marketing because it is easier to measure the effectiveness of advertising online than it is via traditional methods. So my responsibilities have actually increased along with my budgets.

But I remember what it was like to be very poor and my wife and I are preparing for it mentally. If you have a work ethic you can eek out a living no matter what. Do you have a work ethic?

Originally posted by holywar
READ THE BIBLE!!!!!!

I can't stress that enough. The Bible accurately describes the times we are living, and fore tells of even the darkest times yet to come in human history. As scary as that may sound, take comfort in what Jehovah God is promising the human race. Learn how you can part-take in his promise:

Watchtower

Providing you believe in what what people call a neatly managed mass produced work of fiction by Vatican Inc, at the very least this book like all religous works has been translated and changed by men for over a 1000 years, to meet their vew of what god is all about. Religion can be a great source of moral support to those who need it, but it can be also used as a method of intimidation by those using it to manipulate others. The best christians of all variants are those out doing great deeds, not lurking in churches and not trying to impress their beliefs onto others.

[edit on 29-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

Enjoy the fear while you can, I personally miss it a little, but not that much

Ignorance breeds irrationality, which leads to fear. Fear has no purpose, most times a cougar will not attack you if it knows you are not afraid. This I know personally. Its a good idea to learn your different animal types too, what is dangerous/edible, etc lol..

Being prepared never hurt anyone also. Get some basic tools, waterproof jacket, hiking boots, small tent, sleeping bag, cooking apparatus, sunglasses, tweezers, any medications you might need, small saw (found on many Swiss army knives) for woodworking, mirror and flares for communication, small warm blanket, lighter or matches or even better, Skandinavian firesteel is highly recommended to make fires easier, duct tape, bottles, pot for cooking, compass, batteries, flashlight, seeds (take up no space and will help in the long run), and of course the most important thing of all, a good knife! If you have any maps of the area, they are a good idea, as well as any books on plants, animals, chemistry, etc. And a backpack to keep it all in!

Best thing of all is to weightlift and get in shape, no one survived off the land obese! I've personally got my meals down to 1 a day with some snacks, teach yourself to eat less because rationing is important in the wilderness. If you have the chance, watch the TV show Survivorman, it is invaluable!

Also, it isnt hard to get a job as a waitress anywhere, hourly sucks but youll get great cash tips, the lower the cleavage the higher the earnings
Seriously, even 2 days a week will help you save up for the future, or hey, going to the bar to relax with some friends!
Peace be with you!

When you stop being scared you become a dangerous liability.

First:

Understand that changes in our economy and lifestyle are primarily changes in the human mind. We are not broke, we are not poor. Even when a depression hits, there is still an abundance of talent, materials, and infrastructure. The only thing standing in the way of prosperity is debt, which is money created out of nothing. The public will have to realize this and repudiate the debt before we can move on.


Second:

Preparation. If you can get an income of any sort, set aside some reserves of supplies. Hopefully we won't need it, but we might.


Third:

Keep a positive attitude and remember that anything is possible. However, if you have no faith that the troubles can be overcome, then you will almost certainly succumb to despair. Build up your relationships and trust with nearby human beings. You all need each other. There is no way out of this using fear or hate... they are unproductive emotions; turn it into understanding, communication, and cooperation.



Remember, we're in this boat together. We can have whatever we want in this world, as long as we work together. The difficulties human beings suffer are not those of technology, economies, or even resources. They're all in the heart and mind of the people. After all, the most powerful tool evil people have to control us is to divide and conquer. This is much of the source of racism, war, competition, etc. Don't buy the lies any longer. We're all here together to head toward our mutual destiny, which I believe that not just the sky is the limit... it's the stars.