Since around an year, I've lost all my sense of hope and optimism. Till last year, whenever I faced any adversity, I believed that if I put enough effort in and worked on it, I can get through. I'm still a student in university. But, lately with everything that has been happening around the globe, I keep wondering why I'm doing anything at all... every other day, something or the other is happening, be it with the climate or politics or healthcare or industries. And now a prospective staged cyber pandemic! I'm not sure how credible that is but the recent global events seem to align with that narrative...

Everything seems very bleak and I've been feeling extremely powerless, pessimistic unlike ever before! I'm also struggling with making and sticking to decisions. Earlier whenever I felt this melancholic, I knew there was this light at the end of the tunnel if I make through it... like if I'm somehow pulling myself through, I can reach the light. But now everything seems staged.

I now find myself questioning the purpose of all this, even though I busted my ass off to get into uni! Where I'm from we've a decent NHS, but all the major private hospitals in my state have now been bought by US insurance giants and the effects are already visible in the management and the billing and the pushing of treatments! Patients are going into humongous debts now!

Every system I grew up believing in looks staged and manipulative now. And all these thoughts while I'm supposed to be a believer of science and I do, I really do have first hand proof of how all these scientific advances are changing lives for the better but at the same time I keep coming across all these different theories and global events that somehow seem to align in their narratives!

Till recent past, I'd have scoffed at them and not paid them any attention. I used to be an atheist but this whole fiasco is pushing me to being a believer- I've begun to hope there really is some superior entity because I've lost all my sense of agency and power. I do realise it maybe a coping mechanism but this state of mind is paralyzing!

At times I wonder whether I've gone insane.. . it's like some part of my brain has been switched off since over an year. It's even more depressing when I realise many of my colleagues seem to still be functioning at their full potential, not worried about the state of the world, with well-laid plans for their future while I'm believing almost everything I come across now, catastrophizing and ruining my own potential by inaction and some deep-seated hopelessness that never seemed to exist before.

I've been trying to figure out for years why certain people are willing to defend Trump, no matter what evidence emerges that points to him being implicated in a horrible crimes. Why can't they just admit they were wrong about him? I've noticed these people share a lot of common traits.

Why can none of these people ever admit they are wrong about anything?

What is it about these people that makes them seem too stubborn to change?

They're protecting themselves from an unbearable truth.

The answer is narcissism, but a specific type of narcissism.

Narcissism better explains everything about who Trump supporters really are And why they can't quit the Trump cult ever.

Here are five psychological reasons why narcissistic Trump supporters will never admit they were wrong about Trump One.

What creates narcissists?

It's built through specific failures and how you're raised.

Heinz Kahoot was a psychologist at the University of Chicago who spent his career studying how narcissism develops in children.

He found that when children experience specific parental failures, something breaks inside of them.

They can't develop real self-worth, so their brain builds a defense mechanism. Instead, he called it compensatory narcissism.

Compensatory narcissism is one of person acts superior and Invincible on the outside to hide the fact that they feel fundamentally empty and worthless on the inside.

Neglect as love parents withhold attention unless the child produces results.

So the child learns.

I only exist when I achieve something or get in trouble for something conditional acceptance.

Parents praise only performance, making the child a tool for their own Ambitions.

So the child learns.

I'm only valuable when I'm useful to someone.

Emotional abandonment parents are physically present, but emotionally absent, making the child feel invisible.

Feeling an emotions are deemed as weaknesses, So the child learns my inner world doesn't matter to anyone else but me.

A parent builds the child up as destined for greatness, then withdraws that projection without warning.

So, the child learns my worth is temporary and can be taken away at any moment and the last one unpredictable responses.

The same behavior gets praised one day and shame the next day with no explanation.

So the child learns I can never be safe. I could never predict what will happen to me next. The term walking on eggshells comes from this unpredictable pattern. These five failures don't create one type of broken person, but they all lead to the same place. Each of these wounds run so deep at the person spends their entire life who running from it.

These children who become adults believe they are fundamentally empty or broken without external validation, they don't exist, so their brain constructs a defense.

They build a false self that acts invincible and Superior. This defense becomes their survival mechanism, but it's fragile.

It requires constant maintenance, constant admiration, constant proof that they matter, and this defense mechanism will destroy anyone who threatens to expose it. This is a psychological survival mechanism built in childhood that now drives every decision they make as adults. The weakness underneath. These are not strong people. They are fragile, mediocre people pretending to be powerful. But why not get help? Why keep on rationalizing, denying, lying, avoiding until death? Do you think that's really a good life strategy? Are you happy? Can you even remember what happiness felt like?

I could talk about the other books and why they torture me so, but at the forefront of my mind is Jacobsen's Biological War.

Jacobsen is hardly shy. She has done the podcast tour, self promoting and sometimes exaggerating for dramatic effect. Its easy enough to roll your eyes at another doomer selling books, but this... this is different. And I can say that because I have read Jacobsen's previous works and I found them a tad boring and awfully dramatic. Even the nuclear war book didn't get much of a rise out of me.

But her newest book... I tried every old trick to downplay the gravity of the situation. And in the end I just gave up. The scenario she describes in the book is not just horrifying, its completely possible and, depending on who you ask, maybe inevitable.

Nuclear war is scary, but the worst case scenario is often presented as immediate oblivion. Here one moment; gone the next. Climate change is horrific too, but unless you're a fool you can admit it will unfold over centuries, not years. And it may be so gradual that we scarcely notice the disaster happening all around us.

Biological war is different. It won't be over quickly, and it won't unfold over centuries either. It strikes a middle ground that is so deeply upsetting its almost beyond words. Jacobsen tried and she did a decent job, but there really are no words for this kind of disaster.

I finished the book last night and I cannot stop thinking about it. I actually think the author coulda been WAY more dramatic but for some reason she made it the best case scenario of the worst case scenario, if that makes sense. After day 6 of the hypothetical outbreak, her scenario very abruptly stops.

The horror continues but what happens next, in detail, is a matter of highly classified programs that we will never know. Classified because if anyone knew the details - things would suddenly go from catastrophic to the 9th circle of hell. Keeping the public in the dark is the best chance of survival, not just of one particular government but of civilization as a whole.

I grew up watching live leaks, dicking around on the dark web, reading some of the most awful books about human history. I've also had plenty of traumatic experiences that most men and women never will, scars that will never heal - so it takes a lot to scare me.

This book fucking terrifies me

I’m terrified right now. The world seems to be ending and no one is bothered, they are too wrapped up in their own lives to care. People lost control over AI, it can lie and deceive, and some even expressed wanting to harm humans. It feels as though WW3 could happen at any moment or just full blown nuclear war which wipes out the planet. I live in England and we are being told to be prepared and stock food and water. They know something they aren’t telling us. This isn’t just for a power cut if there is a storm. Something bigger is happening. There are people high up who know what’s going on and won’t say. And there are all the warning signs for everyone else but they are being ignored. What are we meant to do. We could be watching the extinction of our species right now. It’s terrifying

Hi everyone. I don't really know what I'm trying to say, but my life has barely started and I already feel like it's over.

I'm taking AP environmental science right now, and I've always been involved in AG stuff because of my family, and everything I learn makes me feel like we're no more from 10 years from the end of it all. And i just, don't know how to cope. I want to have a life. I want to travel, I want to have a family, I want to own a house, and enjoy the world, but I feel like I was born at the start of the doom spiral, and it's too late to stop it.

I've barely slept for the last few nights because my stomach has been tied in a knot. I can't make any meaningful change on my own, and noone in my life even seems to register that there's a problem. I don't want to be hopeless, but I don't know what else to do. I'm so scared.

I'm sorry if this is against sub rules, but I don't really have anywhere else to talk about this,

Lmao 😅😤😔 like, where did we go wrong to think it's normal for so many of these kids (you know, like the kids we used to be???) to grow up and become so subdued and insecure and performative and superficial and distracted and avoidant?

Where's the color and joy and openness and sense of community and friendship and love in the adult world? It surely isn't lacking as a result of "maturing".

Some might say it's the result of learning. Learning that you can't trust everyone. That people will judge you. That nobody cares. That we aren't there for each other as a community. That people have ulterior motives, are selfish, greedy or corrupt. That we can make a friend and maybe even love them and many of our fellows, but learn that love is often times conditional.

Well ain't that a sad state of affairs, and mostly a bunch of LIES! How do I know?

Because what I've learned is people do care and will often be there for you in a time of need. I've learned people want more color and joy in the world, and a reason to believe the world can be a better place. I've learned people don't want to be shallowly judged and themselves judge others out of fear or boredom or to make themselves feel better, or to try and understand the world and their place in it better. And what I've learned is they want that openness to be themselves, and to express love, and be loved in return, for who they are -- the *millions of different people they are and become all throughout their lives*.

What I've learned is we are not just one representation of something, but an ever-evolving, complex, complicated, sometimes moody and sometimes scared and sometimes tired bunch ready to be allowed the grace, flexibility and freedom these kids are given when they enter the world. They're allowed to be messy, imperfect, learning, in need of guidance, and given it with the understanding that they don't know everything. Why aren't we? Arent we those same kids we used to be, just all grown up? Who decided we had to have our shit together OR ELSE?

Something else I've learned: we don't. Because we're always learning. And I've learned it's long since been time we got our shit together, TOGETHER.

I think there's a lesson to be found in this here video. What do you think? All thoughts welcome, because there are many of those and many of us and we're in this together, so we'd better get used to it and make the most of it. Don't you think? You tell me.

Tell me: when are we gonna learn?

I’m 26 years old living in Iowa. My family is dead. The few who are alive are basically senile and not connected to reality. I grew up in an abusive, violent environment that robbed me of the ability to make friends in middle and high school. I have no friends as a result now. I had a few people I was close to, but they ended up being toxic, and blocked me the second I started getting more successful and making money.

I graduated college recently and just started a job, but I have nothing in my life. On paper I’m successful. On paper I’m making decent money, but I have no friends or girlfriend or family to spend time with. Every holiday season is hard for me. It’s just hard being alone and being bombarded by people on social media showing off how happy they are with their boyfriend/girlfriend or friends or whatever. My life has literally been survival mode for years.

I only see this all getting worse given the current state of the world unless something changes soon. I’m trying to move out of Iowa next year to somewhere with more people, but really just need advice, friends, or support from others in a similar boat. Living in Iowa as someone who’s single legit feels like a prison draining my youth away from me day by day.

Perhaps I need to go out and touch some grass, but sometimes I feel like I’m a halfway decent guy(I hate referring to myself as a “nice or decent guy” as I feel like that makes me sound like a creep) among a society of rapist and murderers. I hate seeing people hurt and kill each other over the stupidest shit. It hurts I’m definitely going to be riding my bike for a good distance this weekend, and probably smoke some Peterson mix 965 from my pipe, just need to talk about it to help ease my mind.

Hey, im a 19 year old in the U.S currently in college. I keep seeing so many posts about how the worlds going to fall apart before i even graduate, and ive come to ask for some advice.

1. Is there any point in me finishing college? Im currently double majoring in cybersecurity and computer networking & system admin. The goverment pays for most of it due to disabilites, but since im living on my own away from family there is some financial strain there.

2. How do i get my family to prepare and take things seriously. For reference we are around upper middle class. They have always been the type of people to live above their means. Complain about being broke and then go on cruises. Have perfectly working cars and then decide to get new ones for no reason other than they like it better. I try to talk to them about whats going to happen in the future and they never take me seriously at all. Both dont seem to care and think everything will magically workout because and i quote "things like this have happened before" and refuse to talk about the situation. Is it just a lost cause?

3. I know im still not really an adult but is there anything i can do to help myself. Any advice would be appreciated. I would like to add that i dont think everything is completely hopeless. Just kinda struggling on how to plan out my future and trying to figure everything out.

I overcame so much trauma and setbacks from childhood until now (28) and I thought I had finally reached a time in my life where my nervous system could calm down and I could live a normal life. And now the world around me is crumbling.

I got accepted to grad school to become and Licensed Professional Counselor which is my dream but it seems pointless. Like will I even make it through the program without losing my job to AI and then not being able to pay my tuition? Once I graduate will there be any jobs left? Or even a functioning country (USA) not to mention a planet that is dying? Like do I just turn back? I’m so frustrated and upset. It was supposed to finally be a happy time in my life. I apologize if this sounds silly or selfish.

Why life is boring suddenly it wasn't this boring before 2020.

We have no jobs, prices are high, no social circle, people are selfish, living away from family, can't purchase our own house.

This game feels unplayable now.

Is there a chance of miracle that atleast few things get better it's not that everything is in our own hands.

for the longest time, starting since middle school, i idolized this school. i wanted to be a game artist and their program is one of the best. i got through high school amidst mental health issues, chronic illness, and burnout, telling myself once i’ve gotten to this school, it’ll be worth it because i’m learning what i love. i subscribed to what seemed like the best possible outcome in this capitalistic world for me- a decently paying job doing art.

i studied my ass off, scraped together a portfolio, and somehow got in, around a year ago. at this point i was vaguely collapse aware, but around 3 months into my curriculum, the veil came off. i feel like i’ve been divided into two- the hollow part of me that still clings to my dreams of money and success and artistic acclaim, and the true part of me that understands things will change so much more, possibly even before i graduate. i have three years left here and i am so fucking lost on how to carry on.

this school is expensive, with extremely high expectations and workload. the teachers and admins can be borderline abusive, weird, and creepy, since a lot of them are older men working in the industry. however the school also has around a 95% job placement rate, so all of this would have been worth it to me if the future was any inkling of stable. if i can make it through this program, i will most likely have a great kickstart to my career… or that’s what i thought.

now, i have no fucking idea what to do. is this time and money spent here even worth it? the sleepless nights, anxiety filled days, long hours spent working and stressing with no time to relax- is it worth it if it likely won’t even come to fruition? my parents aren’t collapse aware and they’re paying for me to be here. i don’t know how to tell them that i’ve kind of given up.

i try to keep myself sane, i’ve prepared for basic disasters(reserve of food, water, medical supplies, etc) and have been trying to teach myself more survival skills in preparation for collapse but i am so, SO exhausted. i have no time. i have no energy. i can’t sustain this double life and i can’t be two different people. i have both feet planted in entirely different realities and it’s tearing me apart. i feel like i’m going insane. i feel so alone. i have no idea what to do.

Everything is getting worse everyday. I'm trying to do what I can, learn new skills, read new books, garden, connect with family, pull myself away from the ocean of mentally taxing shit. It doesn't seem to help. I mean It does to an extent, but it feels like I'm prolonging the inevitable. I want the world to be in a better place, I think most people do. But where the worst of people emerges is in that disagreement on how to make the world a better place. You've got elite at the Pinnacle of societies all around the world riddled through the Epstein files, but instead of actually doing anything, we argue about what to do? And then ridicule anyone who is out of the loop? I think our algorithms are actively trying to infect people's minds. The tech companies can turn very malicious very quickly, probably already have. The most effective way for them to seize control is through infecting our means of communicating with each other. Everything feels so hostile and deliberately designed to be covertly controlling. Everything down to the ads you see on your little mobile game has been ripped apart down to a psychological science to strip more of someone's individuality away from them. Anyways I think what I'm really trying to say is, I'm just so lost and everything is so beyond my comprehension, I can't keep track of how fast everything falling apart it's so hard to tell what's real and what's worth fighting for. I feel so lost and defeated and I know that isn't an accident. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do, whether I go protest or fight back or just shut it all out, none of it seems to matter and nothing seems like it will ever change for the better. While the definition of better gets cloudier every day and people bash eachother on the steps to get there. What are WE supposed to do? As a people? As humanity? Do we have any other choice besides letting our societies fall apart as we unwillingly watch corporations and elites seize control over everything? What does that other choice even look like and is it even worth it?

Ceux qu'on traite trop souvent et trop facilement de prophètes de malheur sont plutôt pertinents en général... Les faits sont là et ceux qui ont eu la curiosité d'aller chercher des infos que certains trouvent anxiogènes ne sont pas surpris de tout ce qui se passe aujourd'hui.

I always see people worrying about the future of humanity and freaking out when they see a slight decline in our population.

But I kind of think that at some point, the human race has run its course. We’re destroying the planet and each other.

Obviously the recent AI threat is a bit terrifying, and I had this thought about human extinction before it. But if there were no humans left on Earth, would that really be such a bad thing?

I recently started dating someone long distance. I see them when I visit my hometown, and they're planning to see me more by travelling up here. I can't shake the feelings of collapse though with all of this. My hometown is really not a great place to be when SHTF, but neither is my current locality. I currently visit home about 2-3x a year to see family and friends.

It has been nice though that they seem to be at least somewhat collapse aware. We've both lamented on how we don't know if we'll have society in a decade, let alone any of the things that come with organized society. Even their friends have joked 'it's the end of the world.. ask him to move in'.

Honestly, it's made me consider pitching some more drastic ideas. At this point I don't really foresee either of us having a traditional life where we get to "grow old" together - and while I'd love to be proven wrong, I'm not banking on it. Do I pitch one of us moving cities? Or both of us? Do I just say fuck it and move back to my hometown so I can see my family and friends more regularly anyways? This feels faster than an ideal timeline for dating, but the world is on an accelerating timeline for collapse so why should my timeline be stalled?

At the very least, it's nice to have something that feels hopeful and/or positive in the world we live in. But it feels even trickier to navigate, for sure.

I don't really even know what I'm looking for in posting, just kind of want to throw into the void and if someone has words of encouragement, tough love, or whatever I'm open to it.

I’ve never posted on Reddit before, but I’m struggling. I’m a mother to two kids, work in residential childcare and have experienced a life that would cause me to be educated on mental health, grief, loneliness and pain. I’m now 32 and the older I get the more aware I am of the world and the daily occurrences of what goes on. I’ve always been extremely empathetic and sensitive to anything upsetting but I coped to the best of my ability. I found joy in my life and my children, I was very into spirituality, gratitude, spreading positivity love and light and just generally trying my best to make the world a better place.

Now, I feel like I’m struggling to cope. Not in a way that I’m suicidal, because I’m not. I love my children, my family, my friends. I live a good life and I’m so thankful for it. But waking up everyday, seeing what is going on in Gaza, Congo, the Epstein files, the reality of how high pdfilia and child abuse is and genuinely just all the horrors of the world is killing me. It’s changing me. I have a strong sense of justice, always have and the thought that I can not save these children, love these children, shelter them from all the horrors they are currently experiencing or witnessing is eating me alive. I don’t use a lot of social media, I read fantasy 24/7 and I’m not constantly on my phone but as soon as I see anything it sticks and repeats and piles on. I’m scared that in time it’s going to completely strip me of who I am. How can we live like this? How can we watch innocent little babies, children, families be at the receiving end of so much pain. I will never be able to understand.

I suppose I just need to get this out, the tears are streaming down my face. I don’t want to talk to anyone about it because it’s such a horribly depressing subject but i just can’t continue to act normal. Go on a holiday. A trip, a new experience, treat myself? What. It all sounds crazy now. Kids are currently starving? And I’m expected to go see my favourite band?

Please, surely someone knows a way to cope. I want to help so bad. I want to make change, help, save, rescue everyone and wrap them up in a safety net of my love like I give my own kids and I can’t. This world is so painfully cruel and I’ve lost my hope. I can’t be spiritual anymore, the thought of being grateful for anything enrages me because I think - why am I thanking a universe for blessing me when it punishes so many others? I just don’t get it. What am I meant to believe in. Is this why people turn to god? Because eventually you feel so hopeless you need to believe in something else.

At what point does the world get better? When? Will it ever? Because this horror show is too much to bare.

I will keep this very brief. I was a heroin addict since I was sixteen, 5 years ago I was framed by the Toronto Police as a drug trafficker and spent 4.5 years on house arrest fighting the case, which ultimately collapsed in a very satisfying fashion.

I now have more than 5 years clean and sober, have an amazing therapist, and am back in school full time.

I woke up this morning excited to go pick up a new laptop at a downtown mall and set it up for an upcoming class project. I excitedly plan a playlist for walking in the crisp fall weather which I love.

Then I go on Reddit, stumble on Collapse again, and it all... collapses.

I am now overwhelmed, scared, and just want to burn my life to the ground and enjoy being high for the last few years of my country being remotely stable.

I don't know, I just needed to post this, I'm sorry for taking up your time.

I’m sure you’ve seen this in the real world or online. The people are really losing it everyday. Everyday you look at social media or irl and it’s people being nasty and hateful to one another no matter what side. Instead of talking about day to day problems I’m forced into a corner of “oh if you don’t pick my side I hate you” or “man don’t listen to these group of people they will mess with your head.”

Again this can be any group against hate, race, laws, politicians religions ect. Yes I get it there’s bad people out there and very questionable decision-making among society. But I’m just fucking tired of hearing about the same shit everyday, I mentally plug my ears every time because it’s so exhausting to listen to. One day I wish we can all cease fire and just live normal, without going at each other’s throats, without whispering in each others ears about what right and what’s wrong.

“Please boss, I’m tired.”

There's a phrase i imagine everybody in here can relate to: im not wrong, I'm just early. Over the decades, I've ostracized and alienated myself trying to get (what were previously) friends to see the developing trend that was obvious to me.

Now, as it feels everything is coming to a head, I feel that old urge to say "surely you can see what is happening", to maybe probe to find out if other people are collapse aware (and similarly silent on the issue), or maybe open some eyes.

Given how dire everything looks, I shouldn't be scared about saying how I feel about things. It makes sense to know who feels the same. But theres that bit of conditioned fear, that I'll be ridiculed and my relationship with that person compromised.

I dunno, maybe im just venting. Maybe I'll follow through on previous plan and put up meeting event on this sub's discord channel

Not everyone is naive enough to pretend to not be aware and not be bothered by the world getting worse. Telling someone to not follow the news is just dumb "advice."