On Billionaire Bunkers, Burdened Bodies, and Brilliant Binges

I don’t know why these rich white men are tryna hasten the apocalypse. Like... why are you rushing to go burn in hell?? 😩

Almost a week ago, the United States bombed Iran. Another stupid and impulsive decision by Sweet Potato Saddam, the dumbass with the nuclear codes that white people put in office again.

Turns out, they’re Apocalypse Accelerationists, which I didn’t even know was a thing. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TELL JESUS TO HURRY UP?? In what warehouse did you go and find that audacity on clearance??

The arrogance is staggering. And it connects directly to everything I’ve been watching this week, from who’s building bunkers to who’s buying survival plans while the rest of us are just trying to get through a Thursday.

Let’s get into it. 👇🏾

Now, adjust your tin foil hat accordingly, but there’s a story going around that the U.S. has a $21 TRILLION dollar underground city built specifically for the ultra-wealthy to escape to if there’s a near-extinction event. I cannot confirm this. What I CAN confirm is that billionaires absolutely have their own personal bunkers. That part is real.

And either way? Congratulations on creating really expensive tombs for yourselves, you wealthy nitwits. 😒

If the rest of the world is extinct and you’re one of the last 1,000 people remaining, that doesn’t sound like a flex. That sounds like prolonged misery. That sounds like actual literal hell. 😱 WHY would you want to be in the last 1,000?!

I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t feel the sun on my face. FOR YEARS. Underground. With recycled air and rich people. Chile. Claustrophobia would kill me first 😩. I would be completely unable to function. Like… just tap me clean out. Take me out in the first group that gets wiped out because my survival in the wild skills are not that great. 😭

And here’s the thing about these bunkers. They come with workers. Staff. People who are supposed to keep the billionaires comfortable while the world ends above their heads.

Why would those workers NOT revolt?? You’re underground. You’re outnumbered. The whole social contract has been dissolved. What exactly is the plan there?

Y’all gon end up literally eating each other. Which... honestly sounds like some already got a head start. 😬😬😬 Them Epstein files been SNITCHING ON PEOPLE!

Billionaires are idiots if they think living in a bunker won’t drive them completely mad. That is not a survival plan. Y’all still gon die and your money is useless but congrats on your bunkers! 👏🏾🙄

Imagine trying to unlearn hypervigilance in this cruel world. I have been in therapy doing the deep, necessary, uncomfortable work of it because as a Black woman, there are more traps than we can count. That constant, exhausting state of being on full alert, watching every move and anticipating every trap wears us down. Doing everything right so that no one can find a reason to dismiss or discard you. It is FRYING to our nervous systems.

That’s a hard thing to heal through. Because the threat is real. I’m not imagining it. You’re not imagining it. Every time you start to relax, something happens that puts your nervous system right back on high alert. People make it very hard. 😮‍💨

And then a week like this one happens. And every nerve in your body goes: See? This is why we stay ready.

Look at this week. Jasmine Crockett, one of the most qualified, sharpest, most prepared women in political spaces, lost a Senate primary in Texas to a white man who had no national political experience. And you know what people did? They came online to talk about nuance. About what she didn’t do. About what she could have done differently.

Meanwhile, Habanero Hitler showed up with no plan, no policy, no coherence and won the presidency. TWICE. White men fail UP. They have wayyyyyy more room for error. But y’all want Black women to be perfect in every single way to give us any chance at anything. And if we’re not perfect? The pile-on begins. 😒

And it’s not just politics. Hanifa, a brilliant Black owned fashion brand, had some challenges on shipping their preorders. And people WIPED THE FLOOR with them. Not just criticism. Vitriol. The kind of disproportionate, sustained, relentless pile-on that we reserve specifically for Black women and Black owned businesses who make a mistake that any other brand would survive without a second thought. And now she’s taking a break from the company.

I’ve watched it happen to so many of us. We have to double and triple check everything otherwise we get scalped. THAT is why hypervigilance makes sense. THAT is why our nervous systems stay on high alert. The world keeps proving that it’s warranted.

And THAT is exactly why it’s still costing us everything to hold it.

The hypervigilance was never going to protect us. It was just going to exhaust us.

Doing everything right doesn’t always get you the thing. The system wasn’t built to reward our perfection. It was built to require our perfection and then move the goalposts anyway.

So if the hypervigilance isn’t protecting you, and it is DEFINITELY costing you. Your peace of mind. Your ability to move forward quickly. And sometimes, your money.

The only real answer is: you accept that it can’t save you. And then you do what you feel called to do regardless. You say FCK IT.

You cannot pour out goodness from a body that has been clenched for decades. Drop your shoulders. Not because the world got safer but because you decide to stop waiting for people to approve everything you do. You will make mistakes. You will be projected on. You will be misunderstood. It just is the price to pay to being human.

Allow yourself to be imperfect, but commit to growth. Dassit.

Lean on your village. And know that the system’s inability to properly see and value you is not a verdict on your worth. It is a verdict on the system.

So speaking of billionaires, bunkers, and what happens to the people who were never meant to survive... I need you to watch Paradise on Hulu. Right now. As soon as you finish reading this.

Sterling K. Brown is at his best as Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent who protects the President of the United States. And when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, the escapees gotta deal with all that comes with that.

The latest episode of the show (season 2, episode 4) is the type of storytelling that makes me ADORE the gift of writing. It is is layered, extraordinary, devastating and just simply incredible TV.

It’s on Hulu. Get into it and then come back and tell me your thoughts. IF you’ve already watched this latest episode, TELL ME HOW YOU’RE DOING CUZ I’M STILL IN SHAMBLES!

Ok so my question for you (reply and let me know): do you feel you are hypervigilant? If you aren’t, how do you maintain that openness?

With love and a deep exhale,

P.S. Speaking of bunkers, let's talk emergency preparedness (because there is truly too much madness happening and we gotta stay ready). This ain’t hypervigilance as much as it’s preparedness. So I have an EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS list that I’ve used to make sure I’m stocked up if any madness goes down. 🔒 Paid Subscribers: DOWNLOAD THE PREP CHECKLIST BELOW. Because we deserve to breathe AND be ready. 💫