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I am terrified of climate change
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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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If you’ve never considered therapy, here is a sign to talk to somebody professionally. In my experience, existential dread is best discussed with building up a foundation of good mental health practices. A couple of more specific thoughts:
Every generation of humans have thought they’d be the last. We are a resourceful species.
What does the future hold? How will climate change impact our lives? It’s really unknown at this point. All the articles and science in the world is educated speculation.
There are new technologies being created but in a lot of ways the pandemic showed us that people really cannot seem to get it together. If you are passionate about the environment, there is many areas of activism and volunteering to get involved with.
Ultimately, you cannot control what happens with the climate or the future. A lot of times anxiety can come from situations we can’t control but so much of life is out of our hands. Learning to live in the moment and go with the flow is an art.
I appreciate the advice and I am considering therapy right now.
I'm unsure about returning to my previous "carpe diem"-esque lifestyle, because at the moment I am pretty convinced that disaster is coming within the decade and I'm afraid that every moment will be tainted by this fear. I also don't know if I want to talk to other people about this, because I don't want to push this onto them and make them feel the same way as I do now.
And yes, every generation thought they'd be the last but I do think ours is in a bit of a more dire situation. Maybe that's just a dumb take on my part, but that's how I feel at the moment.
Sorry for basically dumping all my yucky feelings right now but I guess it had to come out somehow and I'm not waking up my roommate at 4AM
Every generation was convinced that their fears was the real one, and all past fears were just irrational. There is no reason to think that this has changed.
It is also important to note that some past fears were arguably just as extreme if not worse than current fears. After all, a massive nuclear war was a real possibility. It never meant that people had to put everything down and just wait for death.
If you can't stop the (possible) coming disasters, what's the point in paralyzing yourself with fear? Do what you reasonably can to prepare, and enjoy the life that you have now while it's here.
Things will certainly get worse, and disasters will happen in the coming decades, but the end is not right around the corner. The decline will be slow, and it's still possible that solutions, or at least mitigations, will be found. Look for little ways to contribute something positive, and try to appreciate the moment.
People are giving really solid advice in this thread, things I wish I could have learned 20 years ago.
Also, for every bad story there are good ones you don’t hear everyday. Check out this creator on Tiktok who posts good news stories every day, specifically there’s a lot of good climate news on today
Disaster IS coming within the decade. Disaster is coming this week, this summer, this year to someone, somewhere. But the thing is, disaster has always been a very common and normal part of the human experience. It doesn't happen to everyone, everywhere, all at once. (See what I did there? ;)
When I was in high school, the chemical factory where my mother worked had an explosion that killed three people and started a fire that threatened to kill both my mom and my dad who was working at a nearby factory. For nearly a decade of my life afterward, PTSD convinced me that nothing was worth doing because it would all just end at any second anyway.
I really missed out on a large chunk of my young adult life because I was stuck in my own head about it. A lot of cognitive behavior therapy and I learned how to live in a world where disasters are part of it.
I went on to do crazy things like live on a Caribbean island for six years. That was later leveled by a Cat 5 hurricane. But all my friends and the vast majority of the general public there were fine! And five years later, life there is right back to normal.
Humans are resilient. To quote one of my favorite Crystal Method songs: There is hope.
Try therapy. It's great.