How strong is your (hypothetical) survival instinct?

[FIuffy]

Whenever I watch a movie or tv show involving zombies/dystopia I always figure that if I did find myself in a post-apocalyptic world, I’d probably just down any gin that I could find and hope there’s enough sleeping tablets somewhere to ensure I drift off peacefully before meeting a gruesome end.

Obviously, if the script writers had the same approach, these shows would be very short and quite samey.

So, when if the zombie apocalypse occurs, will you be fighting them off in a battle for the survival for humanity, or shrugging your shoulders and thinking “fuck this”?

I would definitely be going down fighting.

Theres a bit of me that thinks that living in that sort of dystopian world would be amazing- hard but raw at the same time - survival.

Mine is so-so. I don't give up easily with most challenges in life. However, life itself? I believe most people are alive simply because to die takes an active deliberate step so unless there is an impetus to die it's not worth the thinking/doing/effort. Basically, people live because they are passive.

When cornered, I fight like a fucking demon. And I've been clay pigeon shooting so can load and fire...

I dunno, I reckon I'd try to hide for a fair while first. I don't think I'd top myself.

I’ll be with you, sharing the gin OP. Unless I ended up responsible for someone else in which case I may feel obliged to make an effort.

We’ve just watched Alien and wondered why Ripley tried so hard. I’d have closed my eyes and waited out the boom!

I think of myself as someone who would give in, but whenever I've actually been in physical danger I've reacted very swiftly (and even violently), grabbing an attacker by the hair, for example, or swinging my bike chain at someone trying to pull me off it, so I suspect that in reality fantasy zombie land I'd fight back as well! Also if my children were involved I'd be very no holds barred.

I wouldn't have the balls to top myself so would probably just hide until zombies found me and ate me.

Remember we are the children of the survivors! I think I'd keep fighting much as I do now (in much smaller ways than an apocalypse).

Depends. Zombies might be a temporary crisis, with cure/vaccine/walled cities underway so it might be worth fighting for survival. But nuclear apocalypse - nah, I’m out… Living underground is worse than being buried, so might as well die.

If my kids were still alive I would fight with every inch of my being.

but if they had both died I would probably give up

Zombie apocalypse - I’m a survivor, logical & paranoid about being safe.
Every time I watch a movie about it and they put their weapon down to look for something, or back away and trip over, or don’t lock the door etc etc I’m not quite shouting at the tele in disgust. 😂

I would quickly become zombie fodder because my eyesight is rubbish and if I lost my glasses or contact lenses my chances of survival longterm would be zero. So unless I could quickly get laser eye surgery done while chaos was going on around me I think I might just get a gun and put it to my head to save me the hassle of trying to survive before I became zombie food.

True, my parents fought through 18% interest rates 😁

It depends. Are we talking Sean of the Dead zombies? Or those fast moving 28 Days Later type of zombies?

Definietly fighting them off- I can't imagine just giving up, if I got injured or whatever and couldn't move and then the zombies ate me, fair enough, but if I have legs and arms and can run... I'm running. I tend to be the person who is fairly calm and collected in a crisis but falls apart afterwards so knowing me, I'd probably die of something super simple once the world got back to normal, like a cold or something.

28 Days Later/The Walking Dead/The Last of Us (yes, they’re shrooms but zombie-esque)- think hoards.

I would fight to survive zombies, however if the end included a nuclear disaster I would probably walk towards the light. I have watched Threads and the end via nuclear disaster looks terrible.

I am too weak to cope. I’d be dead pretty quick.

I'm a type 1 diabetic so I'm finished when my insulin runs out anyway so may as well go out peacefully with a bottle of something nice. Pass the baileys and the sleeping tablets.

I have horrendous asthma so I'm dead within 30 days or so depending on how much is left in my inhaler and how often I have to run from zombies

I'm with you op, I would have no desire to live that kind of life, I'd be shit at it and would end up suffering so I'd be putting myself out of my misery

This is me too!

Zombies- I’d have a go. 🤣 I don’t want to be munched on.
Dystopian apocalyptic war- I’m out.

We've watched a lot of Zombie stuff in this house I'd have no chance against fast running zombies (a la 28 days/weeks later) whatsoever (DH and I have discussed this at length BTW!)
I'm fat and can't really run very far- he is much more nimble as well as being a good fighter- eg he could vault over fences and has loads of sports equipment in the house that would make good weapons- 32kilo kettle bells would take a zombie head off
Shaun of Dead types/selected Walking Dead types- I'm quite strong so would happily twat them and take their head off with a shovel but if the herd was big I would be in trouble.
I have multiple leather jackets/vest top/jeans and boots handy (standard womenswear in Zombie times) and when I'm at the right level of drunk think I'm invincible.

I’ve always thought I would rather not live in a collapsed society, and would want the quickest way out. If there was something worth fighting for, like a community with some structure and trust, then I’d be up for taking on some zombies, but if it’s all turned into every person for themselves, I’d rather see as little as possible of it!