Psychological preparedness

I joked a couple weeks ago about stages of grief. After hearing from a couple folks, I think I should expand on this, because I think dealing with the psychology surrounding peak oil is an essential first step in preparing yourself & your family for whatever the hell might happen.

First of all, what's commonly referred to as the five stages of grief (or the grief cycle) is actually "the five stages of receiving catastrophic news." That is, grief is a very complex subject - something as simple as "5 stages" probably couldn't do it justice. But since it's actually "only" about dealing with catastrophic news, I think it's right in line with learning about peak oil.

Here's a thing about it, and some tips for dealing with each stage positively:
http://www.brefigroup.co.uk/corporatecoachblog/2006/04/10/receiving-catastrophic-news/index.html

FYI - the five stages are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. FWIW, they say that you don't have to go in order.

DENIAL
95% of people who have ever heard of peak oil are probably in the denial phase. To assess this, I suggest you ask yourself: In your heart of hearts, would you say "there's no way there is going to be changes that are that drastic because of peak oil, global warming, major economic upheaval, etc. Life in 30 years is going to be more or less the same as it is now, if not better."

If you say, "yes, that's more or less what I think," I suggest you continue reading. Figure out how you think we're going to be saved, what the options are, etc. I think you'll find that we're sleepwalking into disaster, and the likelihood of a big fall is high enough to worry about.

ANGER
I actually think this may not be so much a phase that passes but rather a step, because I don't think it passes. Think about Kuntsler (the most widely-noted peak oil speaker/author - http://www.kunstler.com/) - he's still pissed off all the time. Maybe he's still in this phase, but maybe there are a lot of really good reasons to be angry.

BARGAINING
I think lot of folks are here as well, including many of you. You might be here or Denial if you're saying to yourself, "Oh E85 (ethanol) or one of the other bio-fuels will save us. Either that or coal, or hydrogen/fuel cells - or maybe even cold fusion!" If this is your perspective, again I suggest learning more and you'll probably see that there isn't an easy way out. Find your way out of this phase, because there are lots of marketing dollars as well as the government all trying to keep you here.

DEPRESSION
It's a pretty daunting idea, this whole global warming/peak oil business - to think that our own ignorance could lead to massive, terrible changes in civilization. Talk about a buzz-kill!

I hear there are peak oil support groups out there if you find yourself here. I tried to find one online, and I found one on Yahoo! but I don't think it's worthwhile - too many nut-jobs posting.

Not sure what I can tell you other than - try to look on the bright side! This will be a good thing in the end. Or perhaps try a Buddhist perspective - given enough time, it just won't mean a thing in the overall universe.

ACCEPTANCE
I'm not sure I'm here or not, but I'm fairly sure something major will happen (perhaps over a number of years, perhaps very quickly). I should also admit that I'm looking forward to it in many ways. I hope I'm prepared sufficiently in time, but there is a lot of good that will come out of this. Massive governments and corporations controlling our lives will be a distant memory. Life will be much harder, but *so* much simpler. No more worrying about getting fat & not keeping in shape - we'll have to work our butts off just to get by.

It's making me think I should get a jump-start on this whole self-sufficiency thing...