r/CollapseSupport

Yesterday in NY it was 92 degrees and then the sky just opened up into total flash flooding. I got caught right in the middle of it, soaking wet, watching the water rise on the street. My brain instantly went to: What if the flooding just doesn’t stop? What if this is the day it all actually goes sideways? what if i have to protect or help rescue someone? I have family i need to be ready for.

Instead of panicking, I got this massive surge of energy , an adrenaline rush. It’s hard to explain, but it felt like the hype a soldier gets right before deployment. Just pure focus.

I’m athletic and make sure to move every day, basically prepping my body for capability. Standing in that downpour, looking at the water rise, it felt like my physical training and my mental state finally locked into perfect alignment. It was a feeling of, This is what I actually condition myself for.

Tbh, I think modern life is just exhausting with the endless digital noise, bills, and slow burning BS. A crisis instantly strips all that garbage away and replaces a million annoying little problems with one goal: survival.

It’s definitely not that I want people to suffer or for the world to burn. It just feels like a deep craving for intensity, clarity, and finally testing my physical edge and readiness in a world that usually feels watered down and fake.

Can any of you relate ?

I travel semi-regularly for work, and have been super nervous and anxious for months now regarding incoming fuel shortages (and the short-term/long-term collapse that comes with it), due to what the Trump admin is doing in the Strait. Feeling like I’ll get stranded on any given work trip in a random location, with no one around to support me and without any of my meager preps, for an indefinite period of time as supplies dwindle.

And yet, atleast up until now, it seems like there hasn’t been any mass shutdown of flights or shortage of gas at pumps, despite what’s been said for awhile about impending shortages. I’ve had to go on 4 business trips since the US started this, and each time I haven’t encountered any hiccups whatsoever.

Living in the West and the core of US empire probably insulates us from some of the immediate damage, since I know people in other countries and regions (notably countries in the global east and south) have already been hit hard. And I know the long term ramifications of this on the global supply and food chain are coming. But it still feels like I’ve been waiting and waiting for something to happen in the short term in the US, and nothing is happening, other than relatively mundane things like raising prices.

I hate feeling tension everything time I’m called for a work trip. It’s exhausting. Will June be the month SHTF? How about July? 🫠.

That’s my venting for the day.

Sidenote: I wonder how people will react to a BOE announcement. Will it make the same waves as this? I doubt it, but it should.

Also please let me know if we have been impacted in other ways I hadn’t considered in the short term. I’ve probably missed it.

Like the destruction of our biosphere and tipping points but news or people don’t care but do care about immigrants living near here and trans war and stupid shit like generations

Imagine you forced a child into this existence.for no flippin reason and now they have to work. During the apocalypse.

I'm so angry at my parents. Who are senile and do not care, as always.

People seem to have no understanding about how climate change would harm them and how supply chains work.

Why are people so unconcerned about the climate crisis even after hurricanes and heatwaves kill hundreds of people but do care about immigrants for some rains

I'm emigrating from one country to another and in the process visited several more. In all of them life has gotten worse in the past years and it feels like there's no escape

Trying to cope with those thoughts, typing as it flows through my mind

We are cattle being led to slaughter. I'm not sure if it's full slaughter or just slaughter of our rights and money, but we're fucked

The most peaceful manifestation of this are skyrocketing prices for essentials worldwide (caused by actual destruction/disruption of production too, not just greed). So that the lower class (99%) know their place and forget any ambitions and civil rights, while the top class can draw infinite zeros in their checking accounts to keep the distance from us. Then there's trend for isolationism in most countries, so the population stays in their local prisons easier to manage and the chances for better life outside are smaller and smaller

After awhile some people will start falling off altogether not being able to afford basic survivial. Some will go to fight wars and die there. Some will die in infections not being able to afford PPE. There's always a new crisis, (both manufactured and natually appearing) used to bring us to submission and I fucking don't know how to get through this

Here's how to optimize

Hey all, hope you’re having a good day.

I’ve been collapse-aware since 2023. I started attending college in 2024 (a bit late as I graduated high school in 2020 but I’m still young). I want a career that will allow me to help provide important public services and generally try to do my little part to make my community, city, state, country, and world a better place to live.

I am set to graduate in December of 2028. With how things have been going in the US and the world as a whole, I feel more and more despair, like this has all been some hopeless venture that I’ll have nothing to show for. I find myself thinking, how many “good years” will be left when I graduate and can finally move beyond stocking shelves or flipping burgers? Or am I out of good years already?

Not really sure what sort of conversation I’m looking for here but feel free to comment if you have input, or if you are in a similar situation.

I F25, took a risk to try a relationship with an apolitical optimist. As much as I wanted it to work, I realised our different outlooks tore us apart. We couldn't support or understand each other.

It also doesn't help that I have no one in my life for collapse support. Do any of you find yourself in this situation? How do you cope? Sometimes I want to believe that having a community, or even a friend would make life better.

I know the old saying - hate is like swallowing poison and hoping the other person dies. I get it. I wouldn't use the word hate here. Frustration maybe.

Pinker wrote a book called "The Better Angels of Our Nature", in which he argues that the world has never been more peaceful because *humans* stopped killing each other. Not only does he completely disregard environmental destruction - his whole premise is cherry picked data mixed in with a lot of personal feelings. Anarchist John Grey wrote a response to Pinker's nauseating book and I highly recommend it.

Then there's my family.

A lot of them have no opinion at all when it comes to life saving medicine like vaccines. That position is not great, not terrible. They have jobs and lives and personal problems. It isn't fair to expect everyone to worry about everything all the time. Life is fucking exhausting as is.

But a large part of my family has pushed anti-vax nonsense since before Covid19 and still do, totally unphased. Innocent people have died as a result.

I understand not trusting big pharma or a crappy doctor, I totally get it, but I draw the line at pushing disinformation that, deep down, you know will kill people. Anti-vax nonsense is killing millions of innocent people and even today, right now, the part of my family responsible for this doesn't feel an ounce of shame. A few of them even said "that person was going to die anyway". I bet you've heard it too.

Its easy enough to say these people are selfish or ignorant but I think its more apathy than stupidity. Its both of course, but its mostly apathy. And its driven by this delusion that we all know better than experts.

My point is smart and dumb alike, rich and poor, there seems to be a violent indifference in the modern world and because we can't agree on simple facts - how can we ever hope to tackle climate change?

17 almost 18, from northeast US, never worked, currently in community college studying supply chain mgmt and able to transfer to a good university once I'm done with my associates. Will give background info in the next paragraph on why this is so crucial to me personally.

Growing up I moved *a lot* because my dad works in different areas that are all pretty far from each other. He's not really a problem himself, the issue is I don't see him that much and instead, I'm left with my mom. She is a constant in my life. Not only was there a terrible incident I am not comfortable getting into the details of around 10 years ago that cemented her as an evil individual who traumatized me for good, but she is all-around a genuinely insufferable human being. I have friends and hobbies of course, but almost nothing as *constant*, for lack of a better word as her looming presence all the fucking time. The only thing I've wanted for years now is to just be away from her. Her presence in my life disgusts and agitates me in ways I cannot put into words.

Anyways, ever since I started believing in collapse I have been absolutely terrified and slowly feeling worse and worse over the idea that I will never get a job or be independent (due to FUBAR economy and job market). That the entire rest of my life will consist of her chipping away at my soul and that the rest of my days will be spent trying to find different ways to distract myself from her. I'm so fucking desperate at this point, **I just have to know if it is still possible to be independent from scratch.** I want true answers and preferably I need this done as soon as possible. I would, genuinely rather pay like 80% of my income in rent than live within several miles of her. I am fine with feeling like this forever if it means knowing the truth at this point, honestly. I need to know if I will ever be able to get out.

I feel like because of how young I am and the fact that I haven't been extremely optimizing every single part of my education and career forever (never worked, never got around to it because of how often I moved) that on top of never being independent I will also never be able to work. I mean, the job market and economy have been getting worse and worse with no sign of even remotely slowing down. What reason do I have to think I'll ever be independent? What the fuck can I do?

Please be very honest and thanks

A lot to unpack here, but I’m working myself to death and everything I cherish keeps getting taken away from me…

I’ll start with 4/20, after a good day at work I stopped at the grocery store. Walked outside to see my car hit so hard that instead of being in the parking space, it was on the sidewalk. The next morning, my bf was bringing me to work and our child to his parents for the day. Before I even knew which lot they towed my car to, my mother and her bf pulled up to my bfs car to say we needed to be out of her house that day.

Why were we living with my mother you may ask? I’ve been living there on and off since high school, but recently came back with my daughter and bf as she invited us. We were previously living in an apartment with black mold, roaches, hidden fees, and management problems disguised as a “luxury apartment”. She had been expressing stress about us living there, but in the beginning of the year I started a serious search for us to get our own place (with pushback from my bf, since we don’t have much money). I tried giving her the money she asked for towards electricity in march, but she didn’t want it any of the times I offered it (like a get it later kind of thing - there has also been minimal communication bc my mother spends 95% of her free time at her bf’s and her house is a glorified storage unit). Well she never got it later, since she promptly kicked us out of the house.

The situation isn’t a simple “get out” either, as she’s got a lawyer and her bf says he’s got restraining orders (?). They say they feel threatened, though every fight she has had with me has been something where she won’t let me speak and is just a yelling match (example - the week prior, I didn’t get a chance to reply to my cousin all day about helping me get SNAP benefits because I can’t use my phone for 9 hours during the day and was spending my afternoon getting my taxes sent in on time - tried explaining that I hadn’t gotten the chance to text her back yet and she said “fine, don’t do anything to help yourself then”). Well let me say here that one of the last texts she sent me was that she expects all of my things (and 2 large cats) out by June 1st and that all communication with her is to be through her lawyer. She isn’t caring for my cats, so while I’m not there I need to also fit in time every morning and afternoon to care for them.

Let’s get back to the car… flashback to 4/21 day after my car was hit. I took the day off, as they confronted us with police and the officer said we could neither stay at the house or go to my bfs parents house, where we needed to drop our child off for daycare. Naturally, we both had to take the day off of work. During my time off I tried to square away insurance issues and find a rental car. The at-fault drivers insurance said there was nothing more I could do no matter how many people I called and I had to wait 24 hours. 24 hours pass, no phone call. During my 30 min break, I find out that guy doesn’t have enough coverage and I need to do everything through my own insurance - started a claim in 15 min bc I can’t use my phone while I’m working and I get out of work too late to be able to talk to anyone. Next day I arrange to get my rental and release my car to the autobody shop for repairs within my short lunch break (proud of myself but everyone still thinks I don’t do enough with my time).

Anyway, you’d think things would smooth out a little with the car? LOL they LOST my car for over a week. I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t do my due diligence to contact all these places during my 30 min window phone use every day (also shout out to my dad for being the one guiding light through this dumpster fire). After they found my car they said they would rush the estimate (24 hours) - nope, over a week later I get a notification that an estimate was received but no information about what it is and can only contact useless robots (anyone who has State Farm should switch, unorganized and terrible customer service). I got ahold of someone the next day to find out that the car is indeed totaled, on the last possible day I could wait to make the payment on it (if it wasn’t totaled). Just started looking for a car because every time I said it sounded totaled they said no, they were working on an estimate. Well my extension on my rental got revoked the moment they decided my car was totaled, so now I only have a few days to find a car or I’m going to lose my job because I won’t have a way to get there (and already am having problems from missing work and being late with all this shit).

Did my mom and her bf go easy on me during this time? Absolutely not. They bumped the timeline to get out over to May 5th, the Tuesday after my birthday weekend (birthday was May 1st). Thanks mom! Luckily my dad advocated for me and I tried calling their lawyer - it’s not in writing but I have a storage unit to get my things out of the house by June 1st and not sure what I’m going to do about my cats. Since my dad advocated for me, they are no longer speaking to him. So far my sister is blindly listening to them (she’s staying “neutral”) so my mom still dumps all of her hatred of me onto her, which my dad gets to hear about from my sister.

I’m still moving along, trying to find housing, trying to find a car, staying in my bf’s parents house, making it to work every day - AND still doing lesson planning in my free time because I am a teacher (emotions staying regulated and strong for all my kids, not just my biological one). But every night, the few hours I have with my family, my bf and I fight. I have no energy left, please believe me when I say I am trying to avoid conflicts at all costs. Some nights he’s suspicious of me, as if I’d even have the emotional capacity to cheat or even have a conversation with a person other than my dad helping me through my issues. Other times, its because I’m trying to find a place and he wants to stay in his parents attic (“sorry, but it’s time for you to look for a home for your cats” and that I’m wasting all of our money for just a home for my cats). Context on the cats - he says he can’t live with them because of allergies and while we were at my mom’s they lived upstairs while we slept downstairs. Living this way is so toxic for me and my 3 year old. And I got my cats when I was in college, I’ve had them for 11 years and they were with me through some of the most difficult times of my life (abusive relationship, drug abuse, financial hardship, etc). I’m terrified throughout all of this that trying to stay strong and advocate for myself is going to result in a custody battle and I’m going to lose EVEN MORE time that I barely have with my child.

Listen, I’m so damn proud of myself even if my dad is the only other person who is. I’m still here, I’m still fighting, and I’m so fucking sad. Not sure what anyone can say to make the situation better, so here I am venting.

Its against my beliefs to actively end my life but if things go sideways badly and I suspect they might...oh wait... thisnisncollapse support nvm... um, well I think I would be happy i didn't have to go to work anymore. I'd enjoy nature, relax, read books and slowly get through my extremely small food and beverage stash. After that, I hope I could just lay there and wait. Not likely, I know.

But I don't see the point of stashing food when I don't know if I will even keep/be able to afford this apartment. I have no car to move my stash with or anything to defend it with.

It seems like stressing about how to extend the life of picked flowers in a vase. You have to accept that despite everything you do, they will wilt and die. Why stress, just enjoy.

I have a feeling life must be worth fighting for but why and when is enough, enough? Maybe it's only instinct and DNA drive telling me that. My heart and brain are tired.