collapse

what I mean when I say collapse

When I say collapse, I mean both the societal and political collapse of my own country (the USA) and the concept collapse described in Overshoot and the Collapse Wiki: growing dependence and use of finite energy sources on a rapidly warming planet.

There are a lot of interpretations of both the problems and the solutions of collapse from many different writers and thinkers, and beginning to understand collapse means moving through different stages of awareness are going to appreciate different perspectives. Every writer here has shared something I am skeptical of elsewhere - there are many much smarter folks than I making the coming problems their life's work, and I still don't agree with any one person fully.

This is dark, sad stuff! When I started becoming aware of these concepts, I went into a deep freeze state of grief. It killed my ability to make art and I just stared at th e wall for hours every day after work. I am an optimistic, plucky extrovert, and for awhile my personality was completely changed. My spouse had read Overshoot years before and understood how sad I was.

This is a place for me to weave together my own thoughts through those of others that have resonated with me. Many are focused on personal survival and mental/physical health through both learning about this material, moving through grief and despair, and to another side where you can focus on interal solutions (ex: meditation) and external solutions (ex: community pantries).

quotes, media, and rabbitholes

how I live differently now

Frugality: I decoupled from the classic American consumerism out of necessity, like a lot of us out of fringes. As I have become more financially stable, that means mitigating lifestyle creep since my income has less purchasing power every year. What I can save needs to go to long-term projects like weatherizing my house as electricity becomes more expensive. I budget every cent and it helps me have a clear picture of my life. I Learning to live with less will make the continued degradation of quality of life easier to bear.

Health: as healthcare coverage degrades or becomes inaccessible, I need to lower my own health risks to the best of my ability. This is, sadly enough, my main motivator to exercise as I age: protecting my quality of life. I will not be able to get the medical interventions my parents have.

Connection: I need to orient my life to my physical community, not just my online ones. Co-regulation by laughing in person with friends is keeping me sane. Walking my dog is as much for me to know my neighbors as it is for my pups' happiness - we will need each other soon if not already. I was inspired by this blog to seek out some raves this year to get weird and dance my ass off. I am a regional burner in a new region, so I need to find my burn community again as well (and if you're in the South, get yourself to Alchemy).

Mindfulness: This is how I keep my head on straight. I alternate between listening to dharma talks by Tara Brach (while doing something still, like taking a bath) and short vipassana meditations with a meditation app (that I can't recommend, as it too has enshittified). I have enjoyed Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn and have When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön is on my nightstand. I also like Tricycle's podcast.

Orienting to Joy and Purpose: I am learning to find joy in things that used to fly under the radar or even be annoying. I am grateful that I have a car to give my coworker a ride so she can pay for her immigration attorney, and it has grown into an incredible friendship. I am learning to bake. I am living in opposition to the forces that want me on platforms by spending my evenings drawing, baking, or on the indieweb. I usually don't have my phone on me, which I think has helped me experience awe in the day-to-day more often. I have fun in how I dress and express myself. I do extremely embarrassing little dances at work without realizing it, which both delights and pains my middle schoolers with second-hand embarrassment. I save aggressively but I still budget for mutual aid or recurring donations to orgs. I protest when I have bandwidth, I don't feel guilty when I don't. If these are the best conditions of the world I will ever live through, I am not going to sulk through them.