Fear about the future.

[Blancmangemouse]

I know that mumsnet is full of catastrophisers and I am hesitant to become one of them. Posting here rather than AIBU because I am not looking to whip up a frenzy, but genuinely want to know the extent to which other people feel this way, and how unreasonable I might actually be.

I have never been an anxious person, I am not a tin-foil-hat wearer and think of myself as really quite rational. But being completely honest, with everything I have read over recent years about climate change, and more recently about A.I. I am truly starting to fear for the future.

I find myself questioning whether I should go part time at work to enjoy time with my family, at the expense of earning in my prime and saving for the future. I have booked a holiday on a 0% credit card because it would take two years to save the full amount and I am not convinced that international travel will still be possible / affordable in 2 years. I am contemplating moving house to somewhere with land so that I can grow my own food if I need to. I always wanted to write a book, but now thinking it’s probably not worth the effort. I feel sad for small children and animals because I do not believe that the future will be kind to them.

I read that paragraph back and feel like an absolute lunatic and my own advice to myself would be “get some therapy”, except I don’t feel as though I am overly anxious, or at least not irrationally so.

Are any others finding themselves thinking in this way about the future? If it truly is just me then maybe I will go looking for therapy.

Nah, I'm not worried. What will be will be as they say. I have no control over the future so I'll deal with it when it's here.

Maybe step away from the internet for a bit.

I'm not worried either. Of course, there is lots of worrying stuff out there and we need to take climate change seriously but if I worked myself up about it I'd probably need medicating as my anxiety would be through the roof.

I will take practical, reasonable steps if they are in my power to deal with whatever arises. But a lot of what we worry about will not happen, and therefore worrying is a waste of time. And if the worst does happen, I don't want to have spent this precious time worried and fearful.

I agree with you OP. Something weird has happened to the human race. We've shot ourselves in the foot with various inventions e.g. cars, the internet, smart phones, etc

We are no longer evolving but going backwards.

I am contemplating moving house to somewhere with land so that I can grow my own food if I need to.

Do you have much agricultural experience? Because if not, I would class that as somewhat irrational in the wider context of your post.

On the other hand AI may find the solution to climate issues…

Maybe intelligent life can only get to a certain point of intelligence and then it just reverses 🤷‍♀️

Just try not to dwell on the past or fixate on the future . Things are ok today OP and you can’t get today back so if you can try to do some things to reduce anxiety

Might be good for the planet but not for humans 😂

Yes, I am worried too OP. Particularly about climate change. However, it’s easy to feel paralysed if I dwell on it, and that’s not going to help anyone or anything. So I try instead to focus on the small things I can change (not driving, reducing flying, not eating meat, recycling, voting for parties with good green policies, donating to environmental charities) and try to savour and enjoy the present moment as much as I can.

I tried to be self sufficient during lockdown with my vegetable garden. Thought I’d forget the worry of queues and masks at Tesco.

The 17 tomatoes , 15 runner beans and the few strawberries the pigeons didn’t eat sadly didn’t feed us for long. I tried to channel my inner Jesus but it didn’t make my harvest go any further

I worry about those kinds of things too but try not to give it too much headspace & live for now as much as possible. It will probably all be fine but it's the uncertainty that gets me (although I think that about everything!)

Thank you all for validating as well as giving v.sensible advice.

This is just my point. We have lost the ability to grow our own food without spending a fortune on chemicals, heated greenhouses etc.

Our ancestors managed it (mostly). Why can't we?

Because they had centuries of experience to fall back on. Society today is utterly remote from how its food is produced. Also the population was smaller, but there were still famines due to the vagaries of the weather. Britain hasn't been self-sufficient in food since about 1850 and you have to pretty much devote yourself full time to growing your own food if you want to be self reliant. And get used to eating carrots, leeks and potatoes October - April.

I think quite a few of us worry about these things. Living a worried life sucks, so live for the present with a nod to the future.
Learn to use AI, grow food, encourage insects into your garden. What I do and what you do will be different, just do something that is good for you, good for your community and good for society.

Yes. But also: go on the trip. Write the book. Spend time with your family. Because life is never guaranteed, and it never has been.

I am contemplating moving house to somewhere with land so that I can grow my own food if I need to.

The trouble with that, even if you are successful ((I grow a lot of my own vegetables so I'm not dismissing it off hand ), is that you would have to be prepared to protect your produce from all the other people who are desperate for food. It will be everyone for themselves and surivival of the fittest most brutal.

I am very conscious of issues like climate change and we aim as a family to do as much as we can to reduce our impact. I don’t fear the future at all. The world is a beautiful place with good people everywhere.

Maybe read the news less. I’m not saying don’t be informed to a certain degree, but there is a lot of beauty in every day life that is beyond the internet and the doomsday news cycle.

Are you doing anything in your community to make life better for people?

Thanks, I do see the growing-my-own-food thing is probably a bit silly.
If I truly think about apocalypse scenarios I do inevitably start contemplating the point at which I would choose to end it all, although that's pretty bleak so fantasising about self-sufficiency is a happier train of thought.

As for living a sustainable and environmentally friendly life, well I recycle, use public transport where I can (although trains are prohibitively expensive) have wildflowers in the garden, feed the birds and did no-mow-May.
I feel a bit guilty about planning a holiday, which will involve a flight. However I would pick a lower-carbon one, and I have no children so at least that is a positive for the environment.

Why would you spend time contemplating apocalypse scenarios with any degree of seriousness?

I think it's better to contemplate the risks to humanity, than bury your head in the sand. Perhaps you are a realist with the courage to face things. On the other hand, you can't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by despair! I think if enough people consume less it would certainly help.

OP my parents were both born at the outbreak of WW2, survived bombings and then endured rationing till the mid 50s. My grandparents lived through 2 world wars. I was young during the darkest times of the Cold War and Irish terrorism.
Life has never been easy.
Nobody knows what will happen and we're all fairly powerless if Putin hits the red button.
Just live your life. Write your book.

Climate change and AI are a worry but then so were WW2, the Black Death, famine, rampant infant mortality, 1 in 5 women being sex workers, the dark satanic mills, etc, and our ancestors got through it.

I don’t know if you need therapy but you do need to step away from the news a bit, and also apply some balance - globally fewer people are living in extreme poverty than ever, more people - and specifically women and girls - than ever are getting an education, diseases that have blighted the planet eg malaria, are closer to be eradicated, and medicine is better than it’s ever been.

There is a saying that life can only be lived forward and understood backwards which I think is very true. Get on and live your life, while trying to leave this place in a better state than you found it.

If I truly think about apocalypse scenarios I do inevitably start contemplating the point at which I would choose to end it all, although that's pretty bleak so fantasising about self-sufficiency is a happier train of thought.

If you seriously do this then CBT might be helpful. It’s best to nip these things in the bud. IF you spend a lot of time alone and/or ruminating then I would look at ways to make some life changes.