to be terrified?

[Newkitty]

I've just read in The Times that the UK's economy is forecast to have the slowest recovery from covid of all developed nations. Brexit is on the horizon. Debenhams has just folded. Everything is absolutely terrifying, and this country is already on its knees - schools and hospitals are crumbling, millions of people rely on food banks. How much worse is it going to get?

How do you cope? I can't concentrate. Everything seems so pointless. What can we do? There's no amount of preparation that would make a difference. We don't have enough room to stockpile even if we had the cash to do it. We rely on systems working. I'm so, so scared.

Today 15:42Sobeyondthehills

I write short stories, depending on my mood will depend on what sort they are. Not very good, certainly not for publishing or reading by anyone else, but it helps focus my mind on something else.

I also plan for the zombie apocalypse, because I figure if you are prepared for that, you are probably prepared for anything.

Absolutely love this!

Loads of the UK's trade agreements with non-EU countries are via the EU and will fall away at the end of December.
Loads of stuff from non-EU countries is transported via the EU.

Yeah, let's just ignore all the predictions and pretend everything's going to stay the same as it is now

What's the point of trying stress people out about things they can do little about?

I started out more or less neutral on stockpiling, now I think it is mean and a sign of poor MH.
How ridiculous.

@Greektome

Yeah, let's just ignore all the predictions and pretend everything's going to stay the same as it is now .

As opposed to doing what - running around like headless chickens?

Honestly? I think one day at a time and oy future plan when necessary whilst being frugal to put us in the best position. I can't change much, I'll do what I can but I'm not going to obsess over the unknown. I know it's going to be bad, but this is my way of balancing being prepared but not weighed down.

The UK will evolve and adapt to changes. We will be fine. There’s no doubt that the effects of Covid and Brexit are going to impact on people’s lives, but we just have to face it head on and work our way through it.

@akerman

*hey predicted after the brexit we would crash straight away , we didn't , they have no way of knowing how the uk will perform they can guess and predict But for every expert who predicts one thing , another will go against it.*

To be fair the predictions of an immediate crash were predicated upon the idiot Cameron saying that we'd leave immediately if that's the way the vote went. He clearly hadn't bothered his arse looking at what needed to happen in order to trigger our exit.

No, they weren't. Because he never said that.

All the predictions of doom and crashes were if we voted to leave the EU. That they would happen immediately after the referendum.

GreyishDays- you should use the money to see a mental health specialist, stacking tins under the bed is not normal, chill out

@ancientgran

I just had a thought. I was the youngest, and probably poorest, mum at playgroup. Everyone was so thrilled I won. Was the raffle a fix? I never thought of it before but I can see the committee ladies all smiling and so excited for me, I bet it was and I could cry.

Maybe it was, how utterly lovely of them, but it sounds like it was well deserved & much needed & appreciated. Such a shame it's probably too late to thank them, but you're thanking them by doing what you do for the food banks.

Yes. Because Cameron said if we voted to Leave it would be an immediate exit.

Again - the irony @GreenlandTheMovie. I'm perfectly capable of using my own brain, and I'm not about to share which political direction I lean in.

However - I give you Dominic Cumming, Robert Jenrick, Prof Neil Ferguson amongst others. It's not a competition - it's horrific whichever side of the border you live on.

But this doesn't help the OP who has hopefully been given much better advice from the rest of this thread.

I’m off to gas myself in the garage ..................

@ancientgran your story reminds me of my mum - we also grew up very poorly off, farm in rural Ireland in the 60s/80s and dad worked in a factory as well. I lost mum a few years ago but she tells stories of buying all our present at the local church jumble sales, the church delivering coal & food for her - but I remember none of that, just a happy childhood. ( she also talked about the years on Valium due to loneliness)

If people had bothered to inform themselves, at one of any number of stages, maybe we could have changed the direction of travel?
But no, less than a month to go, and we're supposed to pretend that everything's going to be F-I-N-E.
If you fancy some comfort food or alcohol to help you through the first few Brexit months, OP, I suggest you buy it now. Likewise any non-food purchases you've been putting off.

Loads of the UK's trade agreements with non-EU countries are via the EU and will fall away at the end of December.
Loads of stuff from non-EU countries is transported via the EU.

Someone hasn't been keeping on top of the news and only reads Twitter hot takes and Guardian opinion pieces.

OP just needs to take a step away from news and catastrophizing situations, take a step back from twitter and opeds in the guardian etc. The situation will be shit for every country across the world over the next few years, we won't stand out in any metric

11 DECEMBER 2019
The EU currently has 41 trade agreements, covering 72 countries. As an EU member state, the UK currently participates in those agreements. The UK is currently seeking continuity for its existing EU trade agreements with a number of countries after Brexit, and trade with them made up about 11% of UK trade in goods and services in 2018. The EU made up just under half and the rest of the world made up the remainder.

The UK hasn't had much success in its negotiating so far, it's fair to say. So the UK will be losing well over half of its "under trade agreements trade".

@Eve your parents obviously did a good job. Money isn't everything but a full belly helps.

Times are a changing that is for sure but change is not always a bad thing.

I think you need to step away from the news/social media OP, this level of anxiety is not normal.

I've been intensely frustrated / stressed / terrified / enraged by the prospect of Brexit for long periods of time during the last 4 years, but now I feel strangely calm. I think I'm at the acceptance stage of grief perhaps.

It's going to be shit and we're going to be the laughing stock of the civilised world but at least we get to say I told you so.

Also the last few months have taught me that not being able to have and do whatever you want whenever you want is not the end of the world.

If you can gently stockpile a few essential items it will probably make you feel better. I certainly feel calmer when tending to my Brexit Bunker. It doesn't have to be a year's worth of food or anything mad, just enough to see you through a few weeks of disrupted supply chains. Big sacks of rice are very economical and last forever - highly recommend (if you eat rice fairly regularly, that is).

As my father pointed out on that terrible day our country voted to leave the EU, 'it is possible to survive and be happy outside the European Union - we did it' (in the 1990s we lived in a former Soviet-blok country that has since joined the EU, but wasn't a member when we lived there). There was loads of stuff we couldn't have - my brother and I famously erupted in joint lament one day 'WHEN OH WHEN WILL WE EAT BAKED BEANS AGAIN' - but I look back on that time with huge nostalgia.

It'll be shit but also it's inevitable.

Maybe place a very large bet on a No Deal outcome, so that you have a bit of compensation if/when the worst happens. I did with recent US election and have never been more thrilled to lose a large sum of money.

@randomer

I started out more or less neutral on stockpiling, now I think it is mean and a sign of poor MH. How ridiculous.

My mental health significantly improves when I do it. Each to their own.

@Newkitty

When I think back to how the MN boards were obsessed with coronavirus in January, I can't believe that nobody seems to be worried about Brexit. Or even planning for it. It's going to be so much worse than Covid.

Lol! I've had a house full of food, a tank full of petrol and a secret stash of cash since this time last year! I've been banging on about Brexit for 4 years. As have many of us on here. It was always obvious what was promised wasn't possible. "Project Fear", we were told, "the people voted for it". And they did, I accept that. (It was always going to be a great big mess and shooting ourselves in the foot. What we're getting now, alongside Covid, is literally criminal. Anyway, that's an aside.)

There's a lot life these days that you can do nothing to influence. You can't alter the government's position on things.

But what practical things can you do to make yourself feel better in the short term?

Some ideas:

Buy a few extra bits of food every time you go shopping, stash it under the bed, behind the sofa, under the kickplates of your kitchen or behind the bath panel if it's clean and dry enough. Canned food can go in the shed or the garage if it has to. You don't need loads, but one or two extra of everything you use regularly will put your mind at rest and make you feel that you've done something.

Make sure you have at least a couple of months of medications in stock and plenty of pet food / meds if applicable.

Support local people, shops and business by using them for your Christmas needs and beyond. Try not to use Amazon more than you have to, use real shops who need custom to stay afloat. Order takeaways from "mom and pop" type places rather than Pizza Hut

Donate a can or two to the food bank every time you go shopping, or contribute to a homeless outreach projects (time or money).

@Didthatreallyhappen2

I'm sorry but I don't recognise the country you're talking about. Our schools and hospitals aren't crumbling, not where we are anyway. I'm still very happy with the amazing education our DC get, and have recently had a (non-Covid) experience at our hospital that was excellent in every respect. And our local foodbanks are well used, but not overwhelmed and coping fine.

I am sorry that you're so worried, but I think you are making things out to be much worse than they are.

I realise I am probably over anxious, but I don't share your experiences this country at all. My DC's school has had its funding cut year on year since he's been there - they've got rid of most art, sport, music, SEN support, even TAs. My mother lives in a care home that is run ragged. There is no social care at all for my father, who lives alone. My local hospital relies on charitable fundraisers to keep afloat. Our local foodbanks are always putting out desperate appeals, and I really really don't think it's ok that foodbanks are needed at all. There are many more homeless people living on the streets than I ever remember, And I live int he South East, which is meant to be wealthy.

newkitty - agree with much of what you say. My DCs' former school looked like a school from a third-world country last time I was there. Discipline has gone to rack and ruin because they are running ragged on skeleton staff. All the fantastic enrichment activities they had seven years ago have just disappeared.
And we shouldn't be speaking of food banks with anything other than shame in a country that was, until very recently, the fifth largest economy.