How scared are you of brexit?

[onegrapeshortofabunch]

Because I’m trying to work out if I’m a normal amount of scared or if I’m losing it.

I’m terrified of the recession that is looming after brexit, increased food prices, reduced public spending, which will lead to more homelessness and misery and perhaps even more violence on the streets. I’m terrified of the NHS being privatised, of not having access to cheap fruit and vegetables, of not being able to travel to europe.

Perhaps most of all I’m scared of a return to the troubles in Northern Ireland. I can’t velieve people would rather have a border than a backstop.

I’m scared of the way Eu migrants are being treated and how normal it has become for the Eu to be hated and mocked and blamed for everything. I’m scared of what this is doing to my friends, my colleagues, my community. I feel complicit and I don’t know how to protest or complain.

I’m a Londoner, and I’m scared of the ‘metropolitan elite’ conspiracy theories that both the left and the right seen to hold about people like me (I guess I’m what could be called ‘a centrist’). It makes me scared to talk about any of this.

I’m terrified for the future of our country, for my son’s future, for my elderly parents’ future, for our jobs. We are small, community minded people with small incomes. I spend a lot of my time volunteering in the local community. I feel like I should have been getting rich and hoarding money instead because it’s all going to be dog eat dog very soon.

I am losing sleep. I can’t concentrate at work. I find myself bursting into tears and getting angry for no reason other than a total; overwhelming fear of the future. I feel like my future has been taken away. Am i going mad? Or is it just the uncertainty? Or am I really part of an elite that can’t handle change?

For what it’s worth, I think the Eu needs to reform and the uk needs a big political shake up. But I think brexit is going to make all our problems worse, not better.

Does anyone else feel this way?

@Dongdingdong you would be stuck indoors if it is kicking off outside. A small walk is always a good idea to clear your head but not everyone lives in a "small walk" kind of area.

I'm starting to feel quite depressed about Brexit rather than scared. It's the ongoing uncertainty that shows no sign of being resolved, combined with cold weather forecasts and so little money after Christmas that I couldn't stockpile more if I wanted to.

@onegrapeshortofabunch be kind to yourself, and definitley take a break from mumsnet or at least the prepping boards.

It's normal to be concerned, it's likely to be a big upheaval and have at the very least short term affects but most people aren't 'terrified' or 'unable to sleep'

Try not to let it ruin your life and health in the meantime and focus on the positives of your own life and situation. Maybe visit your gp and explain how anxious you are they might be able to help

I'm scared of mob rule deciding more of our politics in future.

Food shortages not scary. We have more than £15 spare per week so will figure out something. Whole thing is annoying and ridiculous and unnecessary, of course.

Bellini, you can't think it's going to be that bad if you're only advising people to stock up for a minimum of three days. If it was going to be an all-out catastrophe then your advice would surely be more drastic - make sure you have enough supplies for at least two weeks, three weeks, a month, for example.

@Dongdingdong you would be stuck indoors if it is kicking off outside.

I really don't believe it's going to "kick off" in any shape or form to be honest. Yes there will be remain protests and marches around Westminster I should think (assuming we actually leave the EU on 29th March, that is - and that's a big if), but it will be entirely safe to walk down my sleepy London street without getting attacked or my house being looted. I'm prepared to "eat my hat" (as it were!) if I'm wrong though!

I do think some people are getting some bizarre kind of kick out of the whole mess though. I saw one poster on a different thread talking about how they're feeling "terrified and excited in equal measure" by the whole situation. They claimed to be a remainer if my memory serves me correct as well Very annoying.

Impicciona - such a sensible approach. To go back to the people and say it’s impossible. No British politician appears to have the balls to do that though.

We need someone with authority and a brain to get the Leave side to realise it’s all pie in the sky stupidity and lies and actually admit it.

And then to go back to the people and say that it is impossible to deliver what was promised without severe economic hardship and a definite possibility of reigniting the troubles in NI. So we are staying in the EU but will be working closely WITHIN the EU to affect some if the change that people appear to want.

Will never happen though.

If I had power for a day though............

Yes Peridot - if only. I don't know why TM doesn't just do that. She knows she's not going to prime minister for much longer anyway, so what does she have to lose?

dongdingdong

Please do not misinterprete Bellini. She advises three days because that’s a do-able amount for people to do without panicking, and will, in the event of disaster. Be enough to give breathing room for people to figure out what to do next.

Bellini herself is a prepper. I expect she’s got enough on hand to survive happily for at least a few months.

Agreed peridot - it will never happen. Our politicians are simply incapable of honesty or even giving a clear answer to a question.

I tried a drinking game once where a Uk politician obfuscating in interview/failing to give an answer = take a drink, but it meant getting drunk way too fast.

I think perhaps people are right and my levels of anxiety are not normal.

Dongdingdong - Bellini gives advise on the Prepper threads and her starting point is to get people to think about three days. It’s achievable for most and not too hard or expensive to do. That can start people off and they can carry on and stock up for longer if they wish. Many people are stocking up for longer. I am.

Did any of you live through the Cold War? When I was a teenager we were all concerned that the Russians would drop a nuclear bomb. People built shelters and stocked piled for that. It was pretty terrifying to be a child.

Poor bellini can’t win can she? If she explains she’s a prepper and has A-Z arrangements, she’ll be accused of scaremongering and terrifying people, overreacting, blah blah. If she gently suggests starting with a small buffer for a few days, she’ll be accused of not telling people to do enough and scaremongering.

As for how the general public are feeling, obviously I can’t say. I too observe a lack of concern amongst my social interactions. But me personally - I never talk about Brexit outside a very tiny circle of people (my nuclear family, a few close friends/colleagues), and on the very rare occasions that somebody outside that circle brings it up, I respond only with calm, bland platitudes and a pleasant, vacant expression. Which I note is the general demeanour of everyone around me, on those rare occasions. Possibly they’re all genuinely feeling calm, bland and vacant. Or possibly like me, they loathe Brexit with every fibre of their being. Point is, who can tell?

Dong because DH came to the end of his secondment and we weren't ready to make the permanent move here. His work is very interesting right now because of Brexit and the market for his work is much, much smaller in my home country so from a professional POV, this is extremely interesting for him (he is not set to gain financially from Brexit! He is just doing his job). I am very worried, but London is our home and our friends are there, and DH's family is in the UK. There are so many wonderful things about the UK that I love and miss, and I'm not willing to give up on our life there yet.

I am also realistic that my personality tends more towards the paranoid side of reality. DH has been in London for the past few months and says what quite a few people unthread have said- the feeling at his work and amongst our friends is that this is a pain in the arse, but no one is particularly scared. They are all much smarter and more knowledgeable about politics and things like food and medicine logistics than I, so I trust if they're not panicking then civil unrest shouldn't be just around the corner.

Scared? Not even a tiny little bit. Getting into a knot over whether I can eat fresh apricots every day just isn't something I can get worked up about.

@TheElementsSong I even started a thread specifically with my 3 day suggestion for anyone who has fuck all idea of what to do and is floundering. Which has had a smattering of negative posts.
Close to the point of giving no shits about anyone else and letting people get into as much or as little of a fizz as they want.

@TheElementsSong grin I even started a thread specifically with my 3 day suggestion for anyone who has fuck all idea of what to do and is floundering. Which has had a smattering of negative posts. Close to the point of giving no shits about anyone else and letting people get into as much or as little of a fizz as they want.

Bellini, the posts I made on that thread were solely about your use of excessively dramatic and fear-mongering language in the thread title, where you included the words "paralysed by fear by possible food shortages".

There's just no need for it, especially when there are posters such as the OP on this thread who are losing sleep and bursting into tears because she's so worried. I just don't see how it's helpful to anyone.

As I said on the other thread, anyone who is genuinely "paralysed by fear" by Brexit-related issues should log off Mumsnet and seek help from their GP, because that's not healthy.

@Dongdingdong the time for arguing about language was during the referendum when so many people were duped by bullshit.
I'm pleased for you that you are not anxious to the point of resignation and inaction but plenty of people on here are. If my suggestions help people take back control of this shitty situation for themselves and feel calmer as a result of doing so, then not really harming anyone.

For me i am stockpiling for more than 3 days for non perishable items.
It’s not just seeing it’s through the inevitable shortages if we have no Deal. Everything is going to become so much more expensive so I will try and buy as much as I can now before that happens.

@romanyroots
I don't understand this shortage of fresh fruit and veg, tbh. We buy ours from our local market, sometimes daily. we have a Fishmonger, Butcher, Baker etc and all sourced locally. [what, even the tomatoes / peppers / bananas at this time of year?!]

Please do your homework. It may be sourced locally, but when the nearby Tesco / Aldi / Waitrose shelves are all empty because theirs isn't, is your local butcher / baker / greengrocer ready for the feeding of the five thousand? There simply won't be enough to go round. There is not enough food produced in the country to feed all the people who live here, not by a long stretch, especially at the end of a long winter.
Don't bury your head in the sand and gamble with your family's wellbeing. Get whatever extra supplies you can now, just in case there are shortages later.

@Truckingonandon
Getting into a knot over whether I can eat fresh apricots every day just isn't something I can get worked up about

Apricots I agree with, but how do you feel about wiping your arse on old newspaper out of the recycling pin because nearby supermarkets have had a run on toilet paper and there's now none available locally?
Or your daughter going to school with a chopped up piece of an old bath towel stuffed into her knickers because you failed to stock up on sanitary towels and the shelves are now bare?
It may not happen, but just as likely it might, and that's why I am buying extra while I easily can.

It's interesting to me that the conversation has come down to prepping. It feels like a short term thing - my worries are much more long term. I cannot prep for unemployment, a privatised NHS, increase in street violence.

I'm a nurse and terrified. Many drugs (or their components) for example physeptone (methadone) are made abroad. I give out 2 litres of physeptone a day. Death rates would massively spike in drug users and prisons if we can't get hold of it!

NigelsBird

We are lucky that we can't move for nurseries and their local grown produce. They will be able to cope, but of course they can only supply what they can grow.
Tbh, I don't think prepping is going to help much if it's going to be as bad as everybody is suggesting.