Emotional Survival Guide

avocado · Post by **avocado** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 3:21 pm

This afternoon I created an Emotional Survival Guide for Burning Man. Its based largely on a survival guide put together by John Clavis aka God, but I've formatted it (poorly) and added some introductory material.

If anyone has ideas for better formatting (or wants to do that) let me know.

It can be viewed http://www.funkcamp.com/avocado/emo_surv.html

Distribute widely.

Blonde Iguana · Post by **Blonde Iguana** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:01 pm

Whew. As a BM virgin (and an introverted one, at that), I've been feeling the pressure of the unknown and of expectations...that I'll have to be sociable and have an incredible social time and connect with hundreds of people and wallow in the ecstasy of beautiful human contact 24/7....nice to know that doesn't have to happen, that I can go off by myself, that I can dip in and out of the swirling human soup as I please, and that I can feel miserable every once in a while if I feel like it.

Tancorix · Post by **Tancorix** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 8:14 pm

The drug references might turn a few holier than thou people off but I absolutely loved that guide. The H.A.L.T. tip is something I will use this year...there's a lot of good stuff in there even for the veterans.

And as Bob likes to mention, it's nothing more than a big fucking camping trip. Keep that in mind and the rest will work itself out.

TheJudge · Post by **TheJudge** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 8:39 am

"The truth is, despite what anyone says, Burningman is all about drugs. "

Bullshit. Bullshit. BULLSHIT!

I will not profess to say that you dont need drugs on the playa. For some people, its a chance to experiment without too many side-effects. For others, its a useful tool to stay awake and see everything. For others, its a buzz-kill, relationship destroyer, anti-social vortex. Your mileage will vary.

But to say that the event is ALL about drugs is pure bunk. If someone doesnt understand someone's art, maybe the art wasnt meant to be understood in the first place. Each person's mind behaves differently and drugs may or may not help in that regard.

As for an emotional survival guide, I think it would be nice to keep this thread alive and see what the reactions are after the playa. I've written in the past about "post-playa depression" and I would be curious to see what people experience after this year.

JezebelinHell · Post by **JezebelinHell** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 3:23 am

Yeah, I'm not anti-drugs or anything, but if I were "all about drugs" I'd just save the $1,000 I spend on BM and use it to buy a pound of coke or something. Cool guide though. I kinda got the impression the "BM is all about the drugs" thing was intended as a bit of a joke...but maybe that's just me.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:57 am

it was an interesting read but I in no way found it to be an 'emotional survival guide' especially since there was rampant conflict of opinion. I found it more of an 'here's a bunch of peoples brief anecdotes from the playa'.

Lysergic · Post by **Lysergic** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 1:21 am

Ditto to what Stuart said. I think a lot of what people said was more or less inherent. But we all come from different background and experiences and so many people haven't broken certain shells or been exposed to certain inner/outer workings. Some people haven't even camped a day in their life, while others do for weeks at a time frequently.

Personally I love camping, nothing is more invigorating and rejunivating than communing with nature, our roots and eachother. I've camped in a lot of different terrains before but never a flat desert playa in the middle of nowhere with no trees or rivers/lakes. So it'll be interesting and challenging to say the least, hooyah!

dougaldutch · Post by **dougaldutch** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:37 am

I am with Lysergic and Stuart on this one, as a virgin Burner and someone never having experienced the type of situation BM presents I looked upon the possibility of an emotional survival guide as another tool to help prepare me for the playa. It was not however as implied a survival guide but rather different peoples takes on how they coped emotionally at BM and I kept waiting for a synthesis or some common points drawn from the discussion. Useful yes, survival guide no.

Since how everyone deals emotionally when out there is different, the varying opinions allowed me to pick out parts that were relevant to me and gain further incite. If the topics were split down into different emotional areas then that would have been an improvement. I will await my return before I throw in my 2p about the content.

Cheers

DougalD

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:18 am

Chiming in with the last 3 posts.

A lot of that sounded like common sense to me. However I've also got the sense that some people attending may feel like they need to be 'on' all the time in their day-to-day lives, and therefore they would take that to the playa. Also that some people don't camp or put themselves into highly unusual and potentially stressful situtations, not talking work here or regular life situations. So that emotional guide may be news to them but not to others. As long as some people find it helpful then that's good.

So how about some more ideas?

Here's some of my suggestions, from a virgin. I have other experiences that have prepped me for this, and yes these are common sense to me but I'm thinking may not be to some. Maybe some stuff is redundant but there you go:

~I look after my emotional health by making sure my physical needs are looked after. I also have no problems taking space, and asking for what I need, while being intuitive of other's needs, all important. Know your personal boundaries and respect them. Intuit (or ask!) other people's boundaries and respect those. Listen to your gut instincts. Don't assume to much- it's easy to ask.

~Know yourself and what you need. I know that I need quiet down and alone time so I take it. I also need a lot of grounding food at an event like this so I'm taking lots of protein and fat food. If I were to eat fruit a lot during the week I be too spun- not good.

~Don't put pressure on yourself- we have enough of that in the regular world. Stuff gets done and stuff doesn't- that's okay. And when everyone says no expectations, they mean it!

~Smile and give people hugs. Ah, that feels good (but you don't need to do it if you don't feel like it!).

~I'm okay, you're okay!

JezebelinHell · Post by **JezebelinHell** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:05 am

And remember, if you're suffering an emotional breakdown, the best medicine is a gram of PCP. If you can't find PCP, then Crack or speed both make excellent mood regulating substitutes. There's no problem so big that it can't be countered by consuming ridiculous quantities of psychoactive drugs.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:46 am

do you work for pfizer?

atossab · Post by **atossab** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:41 pm

P.S. " Don't Crack"

atossab · Post by **atossab** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:43 pm

P.S. " Don't Crack"

Angel Ben · Post by **Angel Ben** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 1:42 pm

JezebelinHell wrote:... There's no problem so big that it can't be countered by consuming ridiculous quantities of psychoactive drugs.

Including, ironically enough, overdosing on ridiculous quantities of psychoactive drugs ;)

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:13 pm

more prep work to do...

gladeye · Post by **gladeye** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:44 pm

If you're going to do drugs, you should know yourself and be an experienced pilot, because Burning Man can be like flying a jumbo jet. It's the only time of the year I'll do E or shrooms, but under the circumstances I think of them as much as a sacrament, or at least tool, as I do sources of psychedelic pleasure.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:12 pm

Great stuff. Thanks. Interesting to see how others view it and how many others see things the way I do.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:18 pm

sparkletarte wrote:~I'm okay, you're okay!

Hahahahahaha. My mother had this on her bookshelf and every time I saw it I thought, "I know." :P

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:37 am

My favorite is that Lloyd Llewellen comic book where they go into the 70s and one of them is reading "You're Okay, I'm a Little Better."

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:05 am

theCryptofishist wrote:My favorite is that Lloyd Llewellen comic book where they go into the 70s and one of them is reading "You're Okay, I'm a Little Better."

"I'm OK, you're...um..."

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:19 pm

lame, i dont see anything about avoiding me.

Emotional Survival Guide

Emotional Survival Guide

hey

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Re: ~