You may realize that all of your future plans no longer work because the world you imagine contained fossil fuels.
In addition to doing your own laundry, and paying for your own expenses, Peak Oil awareness confronts you with the recognition that, just to survive, you might have to learn many other basic skills you have no familiarity with and probably no interest in. As one person put it "I don't want to be a farmer."
How do you figure out "what to be when you grow up" in a post-oil world? Do you continue with the future you're planning or start something different?
You have no idea what type of culture you'll be dealing with and what role you'll be expected to play,. All you know is that people are saying that it is likely that most of the skills you've acquired might not be all that helpful in the future you'll face.
If you have mentors in your life, people you respect and look up to, who are aware of peak oil, they are likely as confused as you are about what the future holds.
You realize that even if Peak Oil doesn't come in your parents' lifetime, it will most certainly come in yours.
You may feel angry that you've been told things about your world you now believe aren't true.
You may turn to older adults in your life, looking for help and guidance and instead be dismissed. They may tell you that Peak Oil is "nonsense," when they themselves have done no research on the subject and appear to have no interest in doing any.
Maybe your parents were the ones who talked to you first about Peak Oil, and are now wavering on their commitment to your college or graduate school tuition, because they aren't sure if it is a wise investment anymore.
If you are in college, or near completion, you may be facing or accumulating huge debts in the form of student loans. How will you pay these kinds of debts, if there are no jobs left in your field, or no cultural need exists for those services. Will those debts even be valid?
You may come face to face with the fact that you are now simultaneously expected to shape the future, but are also going to be dramatically transformed by it in ways you can't anticipate.
Older adults might now look to your strength, optimism, and creativity as essential for the upcoming formation of communities. What if you'd rather be self-absorbed, pessimistic or apathetic?
Colin Campbell's website shows a picture of one man being held up by 42 others. He refers to this as "The 42 Slaves of Fossil Fuel." Will you be expected to make up for that "energy loss," like it or not? Will your manual (muscle) labor be needed, just as it was 150 years ago on the farm?
As a child, you were powerless and not responsible for much of the outside world. Now, on the threshold of adulthood, you are expected to be both. As the world dramatically changes, as does one's role in it, now might be the time to re-examine the question "Who am I?" and "What does a 'successful life' mean?" Take some time to dream.
Recognize the tendency to cling to fanaticism in a time of dramatic changes. Fanaticism is the "quick fix" for the slower and self-directed process of getting to know yourself and accepting how you are different from someone else. Shun any group that offers simple explanations to complex questions or blames any race, religion, or nation for "all our troubles." A demand to conform and "fuse" with a group, any group, is a retreat from life's intricacies and a denial of the challenge to "agree to disagree."
The increasing demand for positive idealism and hard work can replace the more destructive goal of "being bad" or "being nobody." Develop universal skills that can accompany you wherever you choose to live. Ask yourself: "No matter how hard it gets economically, what are skills my neighborhood will still need? With or without fossil fuels, what tasks of daily living can I be helpful to them in performing?"
As Franklin Sanders has said, "The morning after the Armageddon, someone will wake up wanting breakfast, and someone will have to make it for them..."
If you have ever felt "useless" or that society had no real place for you and your generation, take faith in the knowledge that this will change in the future. Work now to develop practical, tangible skills that will be useful to your family and your community.
