To think that those people who seem genuinely concerned about the apocalypse need to get a grip?

[wannaBe]

Seriously. No-one really believes this, do they? Not really? it's up there with Santa and the tooth fairy - it's not real. And yet I've seen posts from people on here saying they are genuinely worried!

Even if it were real, you won't know about it because... ... ... you'll be dead!

im so scared though i keep having dreams of the earth setting alight and a huge fireball kills us.

Thing about the 'what ifs' (and I speak as someone whose father was suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer very recently and completely out of the blue) is that when they happen, you discover reserves of strength you never knew you had, as well as how much love and kindness surrounds you from friends and family.

But you can't let the thought of them oppress you and suck the joy out of your life. I've not had an anxiety disorder per se, but did have depression with anxiety and moderate social phobia. Broadly speaking, it is a pattern of thinking that can, with some work, be changed. The liberation that brings is wonderful.

Even so, you have to keep your guard up, and avoiding whatever your triggers are is important (certain kinds of social events for me, mainly). I'd put reading catastrophising internet sites firmly in the avoid category for you Rocking. No good can come of it.

That site linked above is really interesting. Apparently some of the Mayan calendar dates are actually well into the next cycle.

Also found this article which has a link to some more interesting stuff including the NASA page on the 2012 hoax.

But none of that will do you any good if you're suffering from anxiety to this extent - agree with others you should get you along to a doctor, rocking.

Rocking, I used to have dreams of a huge tsunami, and you know what? It looked nothing like the Boxing Day one. Dreams make us worry more, but they are poor guides to life.

Haven't read the whole thread, but surely if there is a societal apocalypse, then it will take more than some stored canned goods to save you. Why prolong the inevitable.

Personally I would head for the nearest tall cliff and jump off it :)

Rocking, would you like to start your own thread?
Perhaps call it a support thread for those that are worried about the world ending on Friday.

Some people on here are determined to carry on joking about it.
And that is not helping you. So you could then hide this thread and start the support thread. I, and hopefully others, will then come on and try and support you and others who are feeling anxious about it all.

Rocking I suggest you read some reputable websites and articles by scientists. A website with a name like 2012apocalypse.net is hardly going to be unbiased, their name gives them away a little. I also suggest you avoid watching catastrophe movies, again they are rarely accurate - accurate ones would be really boring. Is 2012 the one with the "neutrinos are mutating"? Watch instead.

Speak to your doctor about CBT, it might help you.

Ariel, given how bad some people are feeling about this, do you really think your post is appropriate?

Yes, a new thread might help. It's not healthy to be worrying this much but joking won't make you feel any better. Maybe start a thread in mental health? I've suffered from anxiety in the past and I'd be happy to talk about my experiences.

amillionyears I think that's unfair. Rocking is of course welcome to start her own thread, but there are about a dozen posts under her 14.19 post offering information and reassurance and generally trying to help.

Amillion I know you mean well, but I think you're being unfair to the rest of us.

I suffer anxiety (as I have mentioned on here several million times!), specifically health anxiety. The most valuable help I have ever received on MN is when I've come on in a panic about something silly & been told not to be a blithering idiot. It helps - and has stopped my panic in it's tracks several times.

We all have kids & families, we all face the same everyday risks & fears that Rocking does - and, maybe she can see that if we're all so unbothered about this that we can joke about it, then maybe, perhaps, she has nothing to worry about either?

Although, I think her difficulties with anxiety extend far beyond Friday's non-event.

Probably not. Sorry.

Though I do have a less obnoxious thing to say.

Does anyone else have dreams? Dreams of floods and fire? They make me worry and wonder sometimes. But then I reason that they are probably a result of footage I have seen and events that have already happened rather than things that will happen in the future. I cannot know that future and I don't believe anyone can.

Please don't think I don't take suicide and mental illness seriously. There is so much of it in my family that I am apt to be a little flippant.

I certainly wouldn't title it support for those worrying about the world ending. I really wouldn't.

Rocking your what if anxieties are based on potentials. your apocalypse one really isn't.

But you need to be seeking some professional help with this, really you do, because you can't live your life like this.

Do you know what, it is actually very appropriate to joke about not believing that the world will end on 21st December. It is nonsense & it is a shame that people are suckered into believing utter bollocks like this. Humour is often a really good way of diffusing anxiety.

However, it is not appropriate to mock those who really are struggling with anxiety disorders. I'm not sure this thread is the right place for them to seek help either.

Rocking dreams are your minds way of making sense of your fears and thoughts. You are dreaming about it because you are worried about it.

It's not real.

My Mum is a complete nut for reading all these books and things and even she doesn't truly believe that the world will end bang on 21/12/12.

Nostradamus apparently predicted that the world would end as we know it, in 2012. Due to something named Damas, which as my Mum gleefully points out every time anyone so much as whispers about the apocalypse is an anagram of Sadam.

His predictions were all in riddles, so can be interpreted in anyway the reader wants to interpret them, thus they can be made to fit.

I like reading his "The world will end as we know it and it is Damas' fault" prediction as "Sadam started a big war and lost. Other countries have/are following and over throwing their dictators. The world will change as we know it because there will be world peace"

Bear in mind that he also predicted that "The dead will walk the Earth in the 2012 games", now I don't know about you, but I didn't spot any Zombies competing in the Olympics

His predictions also carry on throughout the 3000's, so even he didn't believe the world would end in 2012.

To be perfectly honest I try not to listen when she starts babbling about Nostradamus, but I do know that she is not stock piling tinned goods and has made plans for Boxing day, so all is well. My sister claims to be psychic and has her own views on what will happen when the world "changes as we know it" and she doesn't think we all die either, she is the one who believes we all go back to working the land and the change will be gradual rather than an over night apocalypse.

Ellie I have suffered from anxiety too and found that when people told me I was being silly it just made me worse. Everyone is different.

Indeed we are Eau. But some worries ARE silly and I personally am reassured to hear that. That's not to say that the person doing the worrying is silly, just the worry itself. There's a distinction there.

The idea that the world is going to end on Friday is silly, ridiculous and unreasonable. Just is. Rocking isn't silly, though - she's anxious.

Jokes about it have not helped Rocking.
Rocking being told not to be silly about it, has not helped Rocking.
Rocking can have support for whatever she wants.
In fact, nothing on here has helped Rocking.

A support thread may help her.
Rocking, would you like me to start one for you, if that would help you?

Maybe you're right, Amillion - perhaps, "There, there - you believe the world's going to end if you want to" is the right approach. Personally, I think it's patronising pap.

And actually, I think suggesting she see her GP is considerably more helpful than a stranger opening a thread for her on the internet. You seem to be ignoring the help we have tried to offer .

quoteunquote - The Mayans aren't dead, there are 7 million of them today. They began their celebrations weeks ago. A decline of a civilization doesn't mean they're a long dead race [hmmm]

teamboletyn, we can debunk what white scientists have said about Mayan festivals (while showing us pictures of Azctec/Mexica/Olmetic art) without insulting the Mayans in the process. They have enough to deal with with Mexico declining them access to their sites in favour of the more profitable tourists and trying to sue Guatamala to stop them advertising this profitable hoax before it ruins it for them.

Soon this will all be in the past and this can all stop. It would be nice if all the documentaries and attention and tourists led to something for the Mayans, rather than into others' pockets, but just some peace will likely be nice.

Ellie, do you know what a support thread is?

It is a thread for people who want helpful advice and ideas.
Then they can choose which ideas they would like to do.

Which bit of that do you find patronising?

We are offering advice and ideas though.

I did kind of believe in 21/12/12 until i came across the Nasa Website, inwhich they clearly state there is no scientific proof or reasoning behind this date adding up to an acycolipse.

If in the smallest, minute chance of the end coming, we will all die anyway so why worry about it, atleast we will all go together with our loved ones, family and friends.

What i am getting sick of however is the brainless twits of society who are emptying the shops in my local area taking all the milk, bread etc thinking stocking up and hiding will save them.
Thanks to them i'm out of milk and nearly out of bread and its only the 18th

MadSleighLady, yes, but she is still worried.

She may need to talk it over with like minded people, who are either experiencing what she is experiencing, or who have been through it and come out the other side in a better frame of mind.