I know, it really is serious. If I go off my meds, I get very ill. I read in one of your other posts somewhere on the forum that you were hospitalized a few years back because of all of this, before you got a handle on it. I was too. I have so much admiration for you for pulling through and being there for other people.

Rattly

We have two weeks left. and what was this thing about 12/23 being a predicted day, too?

It's called "moving the goalposts". The doomies are realising that not a damn thing they claimed would happen, is showing any signs of happening. So they shift the time window a little. It gives them time to come up with some excuse, make a few more sales, cause more hysteria, etc.

Expect even more dates to show up over the coming weeks, all just as meaningless.

As for the earthquake, you already know it means nothing. It's Japan… they expect significant earthquakes to happen, so should everyone else.

It helps me to know that the area hit is in the "Ring of Fire", and that they get temblors all the time; it also helps me to know that no one was hurt in this one. But still. I get this stab in the stomach when I see stuff like this.

I've been going along pretty well in the last several days. I even showed my therapist this site, and she was very impressed and proud of me for finding it. And I haven't had to take any Ativan for a couple of weeks now. But I feel incredibly fragile, and I am doing that awful, relentless mental countdown. We have two weeks left. and what was this thing about 12/23 being a predicted day, too?

Not much point to this post, really, just to touch base with you guys and get a rationality booster. I am yearning for this to be over. I want my life back, run-of-the-mill black depression and all.

Rattly

What maybe makes this the hardest for me is my good old-fashioned fire & brimstone upbringing. I got it pretty well drummed into me early on that 1) I am, first and foremost, a sinner who cannot be forgiven unless she repents; and 2) it is people like me that God reserves his worst wrath for. So, WHOA, I DO NOT WANT TO BE DYIN'! not until I've figured out what repentance means how to do it. And I haven't. I'm pretty run-of-the-mill when it comes to being a decent human being; I try, but I like stuff especially if it's my style and on sale, I find good gossip irresistible, I shock myself with how impatient I can be and how mean my thoughts can get.

So I walk around half the time asking myself how on earth God can like me, and I'm trying very hard in church to replace that particular God with one who loves everybody. Who doesn't walk around with a spare lightning bolt in his belt loop.

But 12/21 is making it hard to control that. I love the coverage of the topics on the left-hand page of this website, and I'm taking the advice to read each one of them. What I really want, though, is for someone to come along and say "OK, so I just got out of this meeting with God, and he wants to let you know that He likes you just the way you are."

12/21 is probably as much about not loving myself and about long-term depression as it is about anything else. Stupid, isn't it.

Thanks for the goldfish image. I think this was probably the first laugh-out loud moment I've had about the end of the world! and yes, oddly enough I am afraid of flying. I'm also afraid that my looking afraid on a plane is going to make people around me afraid I'm a terrorist. hmmm…

The best thing to do is try and remind yourself of this one fact. It's not that these doomsday events might happen or there's a "what if" or a "maybe" hanging around here. These predicted events are not only silly, they are completely 100% no doubt about it impossible. It's like thinking "what if my goldfish sets fire to the house" or "maybe my head will fall off all on its own." These things just don't happen do they? Of course not, they're absurd ideas, but they are no less absurd than the claims promoted by 2012 proponents. Planets don't just magically appear out of nowhere, planet earth doesn't suddenly decide to flip it's rotation axis, planetary alignments don't suddenly start producing these magical gravitational forces that they've never had before.

You're worrying yourself over ridiculous ideas, they only sound like they make sense because you don't understand science, or that's what I'm assuming anyway. I know from first hand experience that someone telling you that you're being silly isn't always enough, but one piece of advice that has always won me over was "know your enemy." Irrationally afraid of flying? Learn about flight, learn how the wings generate lift etc. You see what I'm saying? You're irrationally afraid of the cosmos, so learn about it. Learn about gravity, about the laws of physics and all the other stuff that you fear. There's not one person here who this hasn't worked for, myself included.

I wish you the best in getting over this and trust me, you're welcome to ask as many questions as you like, provided you aren't deliberately scaring yourself. I'll let you go now, I'm sure I saw your goldfish playing with a box of matches…

My other weakness, and it's big, is that I was born into a family of pessimists. I think it's encoded in my DNA. There was a song we learned as little kids, and one of the lyrics was "if you're on the bottom you can't fall down." It's kind of my motto. Useless, but voila. So here I am, worst-case-scenario-izing, and I get totally DRAWN IN by anyone who sounds faintly like they know what they are talking about. (Some of the other threads here are places I cannot safely go.)

I will say, though, I have had the good sense never to google "2012" or "end of the world". (I found you guys via my one google search on the topic "the world will not end in 2012.")

I am glad I am not alone in this battle, some of whose warriors have come out the other side and are ok. Thanks JasonB. Yes, I want to talk to my boyfriend; I don't have the courage yet but this going it alone is leaving me feeling so far away from him.

My fear of 12/21 is my dirty little secret.

How can it still be a secret when you told us? ;-)

So yeah, I need to talk to my honey. And I'm afraid to. He countered me last summer with rationality - a good thing by itself - but not much actual comfort, which is what I need right now.

MEN! ;-)
But maybe you should realize, even if it does not help, that he at least tries to do it in a very clumsy way ;-)

We've all been in this situation, and sadly some still are, but once you've found someone you feel comfortable with, and just talk with them about what it is that is giving you these fears, and then instead of feeding that fear, start killing it off by bringing some scientific thinking into which ever claims are bothering you, discussing how impossible they are, read about them through this site (links to the left), and then just laugh it all off! Come 22nd and the 23rd and so on all the way through to 2013, you will wonder why you and your friends and family even got worked up over non scientific nonsense. Final thought for you: find ways to keep yourself busy, go out with friends, do activities, do some side projects like I am, and eventually all this 2012 BS will drain away into nothingness. Happy days :)

And good luck! ;-)

If a body such as Nibiru existed it would be visible by now. Not visible? Ok, if it's not visible then its mass or gravity could be detected regardless of whether the loonies consider it a planet or a brown dwarf. Furthermore, any credible scientist will tell you that if a body existed having entered our inner solar system then we wouldn't be here now, we would have perished long before it got close to the Earth.

It would have already disrupted the orbits not only that of the Earth but….also that of Mars and Venus too….that's scientific FACT!!!

All the planets are in orbit as they should be and no changes have been detected. What are these looney tunes gonna do when they wake up on December 23rd? Morons…absolute morons.

Nibiru doesn't exist….it can't be seen….it can't be detected….it's not there.

No one I know (except an elderly, pessimistic, curmudgeon whom I avoid like the plague) thinks we are going down the tubes in the cinematic way that the 12/21 Fan Club does. (And I am not - really not - a willing member!)

So yeah, I need to talk to my honey. And I'm afraid to. He countered me last summer with rationality - a good thing by itself - but not much actual comfort, which is what I need right now. This fear kind of sends me back to a child-state (in fact, it has roots back in the Cold War era when all of us kids were ducking and covering to the sound of air raid sirens and my father was crying in front of us because the US and Russia were on the brink over missiles in Cuba). So, I know… it kinda makes sense in that context. Not a sense I want to embrace, but ick - there it is.

That said, I sometimes feel that the only place I'll be "safe" during the week of 12/21 is in a psych hospital (I got put in back in Jan. 2011 after the blackbird die-off. It sent me over the edge totally, and I could not tell anyone but the resident shrinks treating me.)

Anyway, thanks for listening. Off to work to impersonate a brave, sane woman…

And yes, you are helping. I don't want to live like this. Half of me knows I don't have to, and I am glad you are here to help me "bulk up" that half.

I told my boyfriend about all this briefly back in the summer, and I don't think he really understood the power my fear has over me sometimes. So I have dropped the subject and I feel very far away from him.

How do you expect that your boyfriend can help you when you do not give him a chance to help you?
Men are not always very good in understanding the subtle hints of a woman. ;-) Not even when it is very obvious for you.

Also you are as a musician and writer in a very good position to use the very fear you experience now and translate this to a master piece in music and writing? ;-)

My best friend is very calm and relaxed, so I know I can talk to her without freaking her out. She actually went on a cruise to Mexico and visited the Mayan ruins. A Mayan elder told her that she is sick of this end of the world b.s. and what it was doing to people. She said it's just a big celebration for them. That's it. There are a lot of very helpful videos in this forum as well, and if you have any specific worries, look to the left, or do a search.

I hope you feel better!

how do you talk to friends and loved ones about your own fear (if you do at all), when it's really really bad for you to be alone with it?

If you worry about scaring someone else with it, maybe choose who you decide to talk to who doesn't share the same panic and anxiety. Maybe start by trying to talk to them about how it's impossible or ridiculous, read around here and then talk about what you know. You might be able to convince yourself while explaining the science to someone else. Of course there's always everyone on these forums who don't scare easily and are more than willing to listen to people with genuine fears. It's never fun to be alone with your thoughts, especially when they're filled with thoughts like these. Hopefully once you get more replies here, and we can get a discussion going, you can feel better.

I've been afraid of this approaching date for years now. you would think that I'd be too smart to fall for it—I'm well-educated, middle aged, and I have a good head on my shoulders. But I also live with chronic depression, panic disorder, I've had a ridiculous amount of violence and trauma in my life, and all of that has left me ultra-vulnerable.

I'm having a very rough day today. Thanksgiving is over, it kind of feels like the 12/21 countdown has begun in earnest. My agreement with myself ever since this fear arose for me in 2009 was that I would not under any circumstances share it with friends. That I would protect them, knowing the effect it has on me when I hear that someone else is genuinely afraid. So I don't. My therapist knows. She is not available for calls on the weekends. And today I want more than anything to talk to someone.

I love David Morrison's videos and articles, I love the work that you all are doing. I think the "managing your fears" page is very useful and supportive. But sometimes, I can't even deal with reassurance without getting triggered. This morning, at my church, we had a wonderful sermon on worst-case scenarios. It was all about the end of the world from a Christian perspective. My minister knows exactly what my baggage is with all this. I should have been able to draw comfort from her words, but I came away in a state of panic and right now I'm unable to return phone calls.

I have a responsible job to go back to tomorrow, I'm a very good musician, a writer, and I have a dog whom I love to pieces. At the moment, I can't draw on any of that. I told my boyfriend about all this briefly back in the summer, and I don't think he really understood the power my fear has over me sometimes. So I have dropped the subject and I feel very far away from him.

So here's my concern: how do you talk to friends and loved ones about your own fear (if you do at all), when it's really really bad for you to be alone with it?