I fear that nuclear war could be happening soon…
Global tensions seem to be rising, and superpowers are allowed to be more and more reckless. It feels like the third world war is imminent, a nuclear war which would end everything.
I am so scared… I am so paralyzed to do anything now. Am I overreacting? Also, what should I be doing?
The best way to cope with the news is to ignore it. There is no reason to read about and obsess over things you have no power to change. Focus on your own life and the people around you, learn mindfulness and deeply ponder the structure of trees, the intricate shapes of the clouds, whatever nature is around you, and breathe.
yeh I’ve been doing just this a lot as of late… and Lemmy tell ya, there’s a lot of natural beauty in his world, from clouds to the fractal shapes of plant life (ferns esp). best not to worry about impending doom and things you cannot change.
Yeah, the heightened potential for nuclear annihilation is terrifying but there’s frankly nothing you can do to survive it. Even if you somehow lived though the bombings, there’s no corner of the globe where starvation nor irradiation would not reach. The Earth would be uninhabitable and death would be certain for most land animals.
It’s a tragic way to die and for the human race to cease to be. But it’s only death and that’s certain to happen one way or another. There are countless other ways you could die that are either within or beyond your control. Many are far more likely to happen than nuclear war. Do you fret about being killed in an accident every time you step into a car?
I know it’s a lot easier said than done but try to live in the now rather than the future. Plan for tomorrow but recognize that, unlike the present, the future is not guaranteed. Don’t take the present for granted, go do things that bring you fulfillment now because ultimately that is the only time that you have control over.
I disagree. Someone who really prepares by storing food, having a place underground to survive for a period, and takes sufficient precautions could live. It would be expensive and difficult to prepare, and even then may not work, but I don’t think it’s true that people can’t try to prepare at all.
It’s certainly plausible to survive the initial bombings by taking adequate shelter, you may even be able to stock up enough provisions to survive for several months. The problem is what follows.
Nuclear winter is hypothesized to change the climate to the point where growing food is impossible, potentially for several years. Any animals you can hunt before they eventually succumb to starvation will have been poisoned by the fallout, their meat contaminated.
The fallout will spread across the globe, making the air you breathe toxic, either by radiation poisoning or by any number of harmful construction materials such as asbestos which is now particleized and floating freely.
If by some miracle you do still cling to life by this point, you will either be completely alone or surrounded by people just as desperate to survive as you are. Only in fiction do either of those situations end well.
So in that situation you need beans and rice and water purification (filters) that last 3 years. It’s expensive, but not impossible. There are people who already have that stored, and most of those people are very smart and well-prepared.
I actually think the threat of nuclear war is pretty low compared to other points in history.
Now the entire world turning into a Nazi state on the other hand
The danger of nuclear war wouldn’t be the radiation but poisoned water, food, air, due to the vaporized stuff thrown high into the athmosphere.
Hope that helps.
That definitely helps putting my mind off of the fear of radiation. Thanks.
The billionaires don’t want all-out nuclear war, what they want is world domination by a few, over a literal slave class mix of humans and robots.
However, in case of imminent attack in an outbreak of a nuclear WWIII, the best plan is to drive toward the biggest city in your region, or stay put if you currently live in a big city.
I’ll take instant vaporization over whatever the survivors are going to need to deal with in the aftermath.
You can die any number of ways at any time for any reason. Why fixate on one? Probably more likely to die in an automobile accident or some mundane bullshit than nuclear war.
if you find you have constant anxiety or are having intrusive thoughts or are obsessed with something and are unable to control it then please please please see a doctor or therapist if you can
there are lots of approaches and therapies you can use to train your brain to cope with anything better and have more agency and feel a happier life
Just to be a devil’s advocate: fear is an evolutionary response and is there for a reason and is sometimes highly rational. Talking yourself out of fear to conform to society’s expectations is not always smart.
A weird thing I’ve found somewhat calming is to prepare for the worst. If you think that might calm you down, look up how to make a go-bag, so that if you were to find yourself in a situation where you’d have to evacuate, be it running to a bomb shelter for a few hours or permanently leaving your area, you’d have a bag with basic survival supplies (flashlight, first aid supplies, non-perishable food, drinking water, swiss army knife if you can get one, clothing) ready to grab. I find the thought that if the worst case scenario happens, I wouldn’t be completely unprepared. Of course, this doesn’t work for everyone.
Then there’s the general things people do to cope with these feelings: talk to someone, preferably a professional, find something to give you hope. That something can be a game, a craft, a friend, good news, etc.
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Nuclear War in films, like most aspects of life, is extremely over-dramatized. IF, and that’s a big If, a country launched a nuke at another, it would not mean an end to the world, or the nations involved.
Nukes are not reality-destroying devices. They will destroy a part of a city. They would destabilize life in that area, but one bomb is far from a global crisis. Your life would remain the same unless you are near the impact site.
Here is one key disaster preparation step you can take, relevant in a nuclear attack as well as storms and civil unrest: Stock up on water. Keep a few
milk jugslarge containers, clean them out well, and fill them with tap water; Then shut them and put them somewhere cool and out of the way. That’s the most essential disaster prep step you can do.Edit: Milk jugs will biodegrade and may begin leaking within months. A large office cooler-type bottle is a better solution. You’ll have to buy it, but it’s a relatively small investment.
You better change that water every now and then though.
I looked up the advice I had blindly followed and apparently milk jugs are biodegradable. That’s good for the environmentalists, but not for water storage. That said, stored water won’t “go bad”. It won’t even acidize like a glass of water on your countertop.
Pure water, maybe. But I’m pretty sure that if you just put water out of the tap, algæ will grow in it
It’s great advice about storing water for an emergency.
Nukes won’t burn the world to a cinder, but they will end the world’s infrastructure.
Say good bye for probably a longer period to clean water, electricity, healthcare, etc. There is a point to say that the dead will be lucky.
Having said that, there will likely be pockets of livable arras where humanity will survive, but life for the survivors likely will be shitty for a number of decades until things stabilize again
Buy potassium iodide tablets. If it happens and it’s too close, you won’t even know. If it isn’t too close, take the pills and become a wasteland raider.
Otherwise just live your life because nothing you do really matters concerning nuclear war. That’s like worrying about an asteroid impact.
Iodide only protects from iodine isotopes.
Frankly it doesn’t matter because if you’re close enough to need anti radiation meds, the lack of food, water, power, and shelter will be a much more pressing issue. The gist of my comment was supposed to be “go buy these pills for peace of mind because that’s about the only ‘preperation’ you can do for nuclear war. Really you should just relax and live your life”.
I got you read https://goodgoodgood.co/ 2 articles on Hope:
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New study finds hope key to a meaningful life
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Hopeful people live better lives (14 year study)
Hope that tomorrow will be better than today and to do today with action solo and with others via collaboration, coordination, logistics, and short-term & long-term thinking to get to that tomorrow.
Read up on the many many benefits for Hope and same for benefits of gratitude, chosen family, friends, & community. All 5 have massively helped my mental health. Overtime as you keep building them up it will help you too. Try to do the same for others when you are able to in near future once you have yourself setup for all those
Read books, videos, etc about each of those things and with each one pause whenever you feel like it and do whatever it says to make it part of your life. Dont chase any of it embrace all of it as now. You are hopeful and grateful right now. You have others no matter what from those and up to internationally with real allies of the people
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The closer you are to the blast, the better. This ensures a quick and painless death. If your’e really frightened of nuclear weapons, rest easy in a flat in a major city. You won’t have to suffer any of the scary mutations or side effects of rural folk.
You don’t control geopolitics but you do control your own outlook. If you can’t accept a someday threat but continue living today, then you are losing the battle before you even know if you have to fight. Yes, losing the ability to get through the day is overreacting, even in light of the threat potential. I could give you 6 other things to worry yourself into paralysis about if I wanted to. But you control your own outlook.
Vote! Then find something else to think about, since apart from voting for sane politicians, there is not much directly you can do to prevent nuclear war.
Give away everything you own. Get 3 part time minimum wage jobs. You will then be excited for your pain to end.
