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Carnack |
Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 6:59 PM EST
Forgive me if this is disjointed. My brain is a little fried but still insistent.There is a lot of talk of survival on this sight (in other news Water is wet) and what would be needed to do so but after some thought I feel that the preperations need to go a tad further. I'm speaking of living. Of eaking out a small level of enjoyment from life in spite of the ya know world ending...thing. Survival is the goal of prolonging your existence but for many we need something to shoot for beyond the next day even if that goal is in the distant future. So when will your transition from a survival mindset to one that enables actual living? Will you or will you simply keep the survival mindset and not allow for anything more? We speak a lot on what we need to survive but what do we need to live? To enjoy our existence on some level? What (if anything) do you want that could make living better? 6 out of 6 found this valuable. Do you?
Keyword tags:
Carn's Lost It
Life
Life After The End
Living
Survive
Surviving
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Sullivan714 |
1. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 8:23 PM EST
Do you mean in the now moment? Like how to enjoy living rather than being obsessed with preparing for the worst?
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BigLoki |
2. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 8:41 PM EST
In a word? Others.No matter what kind of anti-social behaviors you may have, or even an intense dislike for others. People are what will make your life worth continuing. Maybe not for the social aspect, in some people's case, but for the advancement of the group, and the good of those that remain. Arguably, and acre of crops can sustain 8 people (if you disagree... who cares, it's just for demonstration purposes...lol) If you only have 2-3 people tending them, they will have no time to do much else. If ten people are tending two acres, then there is less work for each of them to do, and they could have time for other things, maybe even some leisure time. Not everybody knows everything, pooling skills, and talents; even having a willing set of extra hands can get more projects done, improving quality of life. With enough people, in a location that can sustain them, it would open up a lot more time for personal projects, rest, or social activities (harvest festivals, performances, ect.) To me at least, some level of culture (not high society type in this context) can make a dire situation livable. Having even small things to look forward to. Seeing my kids (assuming we all made it) have a chance at some semblance of a life, having somebody to just talk to, having new people to get to know. So, that's the simple version of my answer to what I think the question was. If we're making a list there are other things, but that's, to me, what would matter the most for living vs. surviving. Do you find this valuable? |
madhatter456 |
3. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 8:55 PM EST
I think what carnack is trying to say (tell me if im wrong) is not how the group will *survive* the end of the world as we know it, but rather what would make us *want* to continue life regardless of the possibility of a horrible death by being eaten alive by well man-eating monsters. If you've ever seen the movie Zombieland, Woody Harrelson's character lost his son. Now if youre a parent ( i personally am not) you probably can't imagine anything more horrifying. Now the two things we see keeping him going are getting a new high score on zombie kills, and finding another effing twinky (you know the food). So the best way to *live* as i put it above would be to find a focus. This goes not just for continuing in an undead world but for a lot of things in life. You need to find a focus. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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madhatter456 |
4. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 8:56 PM EST
and carnack, you haven't totally lost it yet, this thread (I think) is valuable.
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SasquatchJim |
5. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 9:11 PM EST
To be honest, I think this is the one area where I shine the most. I generally have fun in life no matter what I'm doing, even if it's ostensibly something bad. I make an effort to make fun and/or entertaining things happen around me every day, and can normally keep the folks around me cheerful. You can call it optimism or you can call it insanity, but ever since I took it up everyone's really seemed to have taken a shine to it.As anyone who spends time on the IRC knows, pretty much every day I relate stories of the funny and entertaining stuff that happens to me. Most of that happens 'cause I try not to let anything keep me down; instead I just keep pressing on and making my life fun. I honestly don't need a whole lot to keep me living. As long as I've got at least one other person (AKA an audience) I'm fine. Do you find this valuable? |
Rand22 |
6. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 9:19 PM EST
"I think what carnack is trying to say (tell me if im wrong) is not how the group will *survive* the end of the world as we know it, but rather what would make us *want* to continue life regardless of the possibility of a horrible death by being eaten alive by well man-eating monsters. "I think you hit the nail on the head there and i find this thread valuable. Too many people are deadset on just surviving, yes that is important, but without the will or reason to go on, then just surviving is a fruitless effort of toiling and suffering just to last another day. We are all going to need something to find the reason to keep going and we will have to exploit any small amount of fun and joy that can be etched out of post apocolyptic life to make it worthwhile. Do you find this valuable? |
PedroAsani |
7. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 9:29 PM EST
Well really, a large part of it is simply that the alternative is quite unattractive.But what will make it worthwhile? Enjoyable? Yep, as said before, it's going to be the other people. It would be far easier to simply prepare and build a BOL for one. You could live out your life as a hermit, never seeing another living soul, forgetting human speech and just really getting into growing a beard you can hide a badger in. But it's going to be those you surround yourself with that make the difference. People you like, you love, you occasionally argue and fight with but would do anything for. Family, friends, random strangers who over time turn into trusted allies. That and rum. Rum is awesome. Do you find this valuable? |
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madhatter456 |
8. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 10:08 PM EST
See but people, and "Building a BOL", well i consider that to fall under the survival aspect but you are right in that other people and the bonding that occurs between people in times of hardship will make life a little more enjoyable. But I think what will keep you sane the most is a control variable. SomeTHING that will keep you going. For those who are familiar with the story of how Achilles got his "impenetrable" skin he was dipped by his mother in the River Styx (located in the underworld), now as the story goes his mother held him by his foot. But the reason for this was so he wouldn't be swept away into the underworld, that foot was his connection to humanity. So thats why I'm saying focus on one thing an object rather than the ever changing and unpredictable nature of human interaction. Do you find this valuable? |
epic_epicness |
9. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 10:08 PM EST
To be honest I think all of us plan to live. Survival is just the first and most important step in that process. we all plan to make a settlement, establish a food and water supply, and progressively work toward a quality of life well beyond that of merely existing.While others plan to raid gun stores and take over the mall and live off of bottled water and canned food we build aquaponics, and dig wells. while others want to drain gas stations for the rest of there lives we work on woodgas and build ethanol stills and biodiesel. They buy generators where as we buy windmills and solar panels. With the preparations we make some of us will be looking for our xbox remote while the rest of the world is looking for its next can of beans. What more could you possibly want? Do you find this valuable? |
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PedroAsani |
10. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 10:59 PM EST
"What more could you possibly want?"Rum. 2 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
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epic_epicness |
11. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 11:19 PM EST
"Rum."Only one thing comes to mind with this comment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTi40w0nLgo Do you find this valuable? |
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Carnack |
12. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 22 2011, 11:38 PM EST
"I think what carnack is trying to say (tell me if im wrong) is not how the group will *survive* the end of the world as we know it, but rather what would make us *want* to continue life regardless of the possibility of a horrible death by being eaten alive by well man-eating monsters."Mm more on how you plan to live after the end. My mother for example had one meal a day generally consisting of of cold beans in a pot split between her and her six siblings and parents. Sharing was a requirment and the only thing she had that was strictly hers was this little plastic lamb. On the property there was a large husk of a tree trunk and behind it she had built this small farm out of some sticks for her lamb to live in. That stuck with me for many reasons. Here she was poor as dirt with only a single toy and she just built a farm to play in. Not much money or anything else but she was determined to have some fun that didn't include being pile-drived (again) by her brothers. We can survive on food, water, and a hole to call home. But to live? That takes some doing and I am not afraid to say that I will struggle with it. But not for nothing. I plan on keeping everything needed for a lot of D&D quests as well as other games. Give people something other than a battle plan to huddle around. Epic is touching on what I'm talking about. If you plan for just the essentials (ma'am) you will survive but the quality of your life will be abyssmal. Plan beyond the needs and touch on some wants. Maybe equip your BoL with a water heater for hot showers. Grow coffee (brace for ass-kissing though), and if you're Pedro maybe a library (every castle needs one man). Because people will eventually want to DC from the death and mayhem of the world and touch on what makes life worth living. Friends, family, T&A, pwning noobs with my mad RPG skillz. Plan for that. Do you find this valuable? |
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madhatter456 |
13. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 12:07 AM EST
soooo if you had an answer this whole time were you testing us or did you get tired of my petty attempts to sound well educated and decided to play the trump card?
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Carnack |
14. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 12:24 AM EST
"soooo if you had an answer this whole time were you testing us or did you get tired of my petty attempts to sound well educated and decided to play the trump card?"Um what? I'm not trying to trump anyone and trust me I have no place dissing someone elses education. Do you find this valuable? |
FrankLeeDeRainged |
15. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 6:09 AM EST
I've spent the last six months thinking about this topic after receiving advice on this forum as to why each winter in my mountain BOL is harder than the last.I've researched a whole group of topics from philosophy and psychology to quantum mechanics and I have arrived at some concussions such as; An opportunistic 'chancer' type personality like mine doesn't only thrive on situations that are random and chaotic but depends on them for stimulation. And incidentally those situations represent an ever present possibility of a 'get-out-of-sh!t-free-card' and we 'chancers' -if we are any good- understand that we'll end up in trouble sooner or later. The situation I bugged-out to here has a great deal of chaos, but all of the 'randomnessĀ' here is thinly or evenly distributed in the structure of the place, the rocks and vegetation or the weather. This is in contrast to a man made environment where the structure is artificial and as minimally random as can be contrived. Hence phenomena such as; London street markets with their own dubious property/theft By-laws, carnivals/fiestas/street-parties where behavioral norms are temporarily suspended or the Bohemian districts and artistĀ's quarters in most cities. It gets too complicated to explain here without going into causality spaces and models of dynamic probability but the upshot is I have (perhaps thoughtlessly) secreted myself in what is effectively a flat probability space where I must constantly strive against the micro-chaotic that I cannot profit from. Therefore my existence becomes a feedback loop of subjective boredom (thrown into sharper relief each winter). Also this environment renders my considerable talents for lucking-out of bad situations completely null and void. And that, my friends is a large part of the reason I'm writing this from central London ; D _ Do you find this valuable? |
Uzzgub |
16. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 6:45 AM EST
I know something i would miss after the Zpoc would be music, if the civilization has gone, and your I'm still left standing i would want things to keep me distracted.If my fort/coloney/settlement was say 2 years after Zed Day, and the local area was clear of Zeds/Raiders and the farming was running well, i would then hit a point where i would get bored, then fustrated then very, very angery. That is why im filling my Ipod with songs, and when i have the cash to spare i will buy a solar charger and some speakers that dont need batteries for it, to go in my BOB, and i will also think of getting a Kindal afterwards, caus i love reading, that will have manuals as well as novels on it. Something else you could go with is a small laptop with a solar charger with a load of movies on there so you can have a movie night, all these things will keep up morale and go a long way in stoping 'Cabin Fever' from setting in on those long cold winter nights @ Carnack good choice with the D&D, hadnt thought of that, may have to get a PDF file on my phone for the rule book and a dice app as that would keep me and my friends happy for years, and you never know we may finaly finish a quest =) Do you find this valuable? |
LJ126 |
17. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 11:25 AM EST
I'll be entirely honest, I focus heavily on "survival" and not a whole lot on living in my preparations. That being said, I would probably derive pleasure from many of the tasks associated with survival though, because I enjoy being outdoors and physically-intensive labor. Hunting and gathering would fulfill two recreational needs at once, because I also enjoy cooking, especially over fire. Alcohol, good books, bad books, and firearms tinkering would probably fill my need for recreation as well. If it didn't, I'd probably grab a rifle, a pouch of ammo, my Kabar and a full canteen and go for a long walkabout, to get to know the area better. Despite being an introverted recluse (shocker!), I do like talking to people and getting to know them. I think I'd probably use that as a source of recreation as well. Do you find this valuable? |
SGTGerman |
18. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 5:13 PM EST
If there's one thing I've learnt in the army, it's that if you're with a good bunch of blokes, nothing is ever boring. You could be doing the "custiest" job in the world, but stuck with bunch of cnuts this is meaningless. Also important is simply a purpose in life. Why do you exist? Why did you survive? Having a partner for example gives you the motivation to live. Do you find this valuable? |
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LJ126 |
19. RE: Surviving and Living
Nov 23 2011, 7:00 PM EST
I will definitely second what SGTGerman is saying; being around good, entertaining folks makes a world of difference. Being stuck with a bunch of folks you can't get along with is damn near Hell.Carnack, ever heard of a game called "Tunnels and Trolls?" D&D but only requires a single six sided die, though a handful of them is preferable (and a lot less time consuming). It's actually a lot of fun. Haven't played a tabletop RPG since I was a teenager, but I'm sure if SHTF I wouldn't be concerned with being labeled a dork or not... Do you find this valuable? |
