I've been re-reading with new eyes this paper "Becoming homo sapiens sapiens: Mapping the Psycho-Cultural Transformation in the Anthropocene" by two friends of mine, Carol L. Berzonsky and Susanne C. Moser http://susannemoser.com/documents/Berzonsky-Moser_2017_Anthropocenepaper_pre-pub.pdf

The paper looks at the human transformations needed in the Anthropocene from the perspective of depth psychology, in terms of a 3 part structure for transformation.

Severance, the separation from the previous world, is the first of the 3 stages, and I'd like share a little bit of what they write about what severance feels like in this thread.

Severance is the breaking with the previous world. Anything like that going on for you these days?

The need to re-examine worldviews in the severance phase is often precipitated by an outer crisis. You don't say.

The authors say that crucial questions get raised, such as “How did I get to this crisis?”; “Is the old way really coming to an end?”; “What exactly is over now?”; “What does this ending mean for who I am, for my future?”

These experiences and questions are not pleasant. In fact, the main reason for facing them is that the consequences of not facing them are worse.

There are stages that follow severance, where something new emerges and is integrated. Sounds fun right? Let's hurry up already. But the paper reminds me, that there is work that must be done, things to be faced, and some to be let go of, first.

The paper names skills that help with these stages - and I'll end this thread with them.

"One is the ability to engage deep and unpleasant emotional states such as anger, despair and grief without hurting others."

"Another is the ability to face actual and symbolic
deaths, including the actual loss of people, nature, and the cherished elements of a collective identity such
as economic or social “progress."

All to say, this work you are doing - the hard feelings, the uncertainty, the grief - is real, it matters, its important, and while deeply personal, it might also be part of something larger,

something that might (?) be the seed bed from which something (we don't quite yet know what) could emerge.