After I came to understand that the Cold War doom-thinking was not going to rule my life.
As a child I was convinced that a nuclear winter was imminent. I didn’t think it was right to have children because why bother.
Then of course there was overpopulation. That was going to be a catastrophe. It was noble to not procreate and add to the problem.
And what’s the point about working hard and planning for the future when you’re likely to be incinerated? Or worse—die a slow, lingering death from radiation poisoning and starvation?
Today’s eco doomers face the same problem.
Today’s patriarchal tyranny doomers face the same problem.
Today’s everyone-except-me-is-racist doomers face the same problem.
Why doesn’t anyone tell them? (In fairness, you couldn’t have told me I would be OK and to pull my intellectual head out of my ass. People probably did tell me. They were certainly visibly living the good life while I was cynical and nihilistic.)
Heed the call of conscience. (You have one, and don’t delude yourself on that point.) Be useful to others and kind to yourself.
Everything’s going to be OK. Clouds are beautiful.