Valery Simonov

HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE CITY DURING WAR

(advice from a resident of Donetsk)

FOREWORD

War has its own logic. In accordance with this logic, events develop around, people begin to live according to it, and people act when war comes to their house. In this book, I will share more than three years of experience living under shelling in my hometown of Donetsk. I will describe the logic of war and give advice on how to survive ordinary person during the war in the city. You will gain knowledge based on practice that will save you from fatal mistakes, and possibly save your life.

I will not describe in this book how to properly apply a tourniquet, stop the bleeding, or carry the wounded. All this is in abundance on the Internet. There will be other information here. You will understand what is happening around, where it is most dangerous to be, how to distinguish incoming shots from outgoing ones, how to behave on the Internet so as not to become a fire spotter on your own house, when you should not worry even when shelling a city, where various types of danger can await you , in what cases to run to the bomb shelter, and much more.

This book - practical guide on survival in the city during the war. Download it to your mobile phone so that it is always at hand. And I pray to God that the day never comes when you may need this knowledge ...

ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT

First of all, I want to talk about the most important thing. First, war is the extreme degree of degradation of society. It is like a boil that is born, matures, fills with pus, and, one day, breaks through. When bombs begin to fall on your head, you realize that the total godlessness of society has led to all this. I am telling you this as a deeply religious person, and you will understand this too, but then it will be too late to change anything. Perhaps you are reading these lines with a smirk, but believe me, when your city will shudder from explosions, you, sitting somewhere in the basement, will be the most religious person. Your prayers will be more ardent and sincere than the prayers of Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, and you will not need a prayer book. You will be surprised how your lips will find the words for prayers. If you don't want to be in this situation, start fighting against godlessness right now, and then maybe you will prevent a war.

Second, we are all going to die one day. And to die in a city in which there is a war, the chances are much greater than in normal peacetime. You can die on the street, at home, and even in the basement, where you will hide from shelling. There were many examples in the Donbass when shells flew into basements and cellars, where literally, just now, people had descended. Even if you take every precaution, you can still die. But don't despair, I have good news for you. You can take care of your soul in advance, and move from death to life. In this case, you will not suffer any harm from death. You ask: "Is it possible?". Maybe. Reconcile with the Almighty, receive forgiveness of all previously committed sins, start life from scratch. Live as if it were your last day on earth, do not defile yourself with bad deeds, and your conscience with bad thoughts, be ready at any moment to meet the Creator, and you will be happy.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
(Gospel of John 5:24)

That's all I wanted to say about the most important, before proceeding to the description of survival in a war. If you put your relationship with God in order, then death will not be so terrible for you, because you will ALREADY have eternal life and, leaving your mortal body, you will immediately find yourself in the arms of the Lord. Isn't it wonderful?

ENEMY AT THE GATE

The front line is approaching your city. Each of you will certainly ask yourself the question: what to do? I will not give you advice on what to do. I will describe what will happen around you, and what to do, you decide for yourself. Each of you has a unique situation, different opportunities, and a different worldview. Everyone looks at the war in their own way. Someone takes up arms, someone leaves, someone decides to stay, but at the same time does not want to take a direct part in the war. I have no right to give you advice: take up arms, leave, or stay. You make decisions yourself, I will only try to give objective information that will help save your life.

I don't know who your enemy will be and how the war will unfold in your region. I do not know whether your city will be completely surrounded, or whether it will be possible to deliver food, necessary goods and medicines to it. I don't know if any countries will support you or if you will fight alone. I don't know how loyal your enemy will be to the civilian population if the city is captured. In my situation, there are humanitarian corridors, Donetsk is not surrounded, the delivery of goods and medicines is possible. In the event of the capture of the city, the civilian population is likely to expect purges, filtration camps, prisons and robbery. No one wants to give up the city just like that. The war will be for every house, every street, every district. I assume the city will be destroyed. This is briefly about the conditions in which I personally find myself.

So, the front line is moving towards your city. First of all, the outskirts of the city and villages within a radius of up to 50 km begin to suffer. I want to warn you right away that in the acute phases of the war, the military use the definitions of friend or foe only in relation to each other, and in relation to civilians, this concept is relative. Let's say, three days ago, the defenders of the city stood 20 km from the city in some village. For the inhabitants of this village, these soldiers were “their own”, and for the military, the inhabitants of this village were also mentally “their own”. Everyone unanimously endured shelling, rescued the wounded, pulled people out from under the rubble of destroyed houses, the military could deliver humanitarian aid to civilians. But three days later the situation changed. The army of "defenders" left, the army of "liberators" came. "Liberators" and "Defenders" switched places.

Now those who yesterday were "defenders", without any twinge of conscience, will fire from heavy artillery at the same village, and civilians will suffer from shelling in the same way, along with yesterday's "liberators", who turned into "defenders" . If a sniper sat down in your five- or nine-story building, they will shoot at it from a tank, regardless of who you are for the military: “friends” or “strangers”. At the time of the battle, the tanker will think about you the least. His main task will be to destroy the enemy. And if for this it is necessary to demolish the house, he will demolish the house, without even thinking that there may be someone else in the house besides the sniper. Therefore, people themselves should take care of their safety first of all. If for some reason you are in the house, while there is a fight on the streets of your city or village, it would be best to go down to the basement.

A little about basements. If you went down to the basement, be sure to leave a sign at the entrance to the basement with the inscription: "HERE PEOPLE". Even if it is a basement in the courtyard of your house in the village, still let those upstairs know that there are people in the basement. This must be done for two reasons. Firstly, during the cleansing of a city or village, no one will immediately climb into the basement. They will first throw grenades at him, and only then they will look: is there anyone there? For the military basement, this is a threat. An enemy can hide in the basement, mines and streamers can be stuck in the basement, and so on. If you use a sign to let know that there are ordinary people, and you will hear that someone approached the basement, shout as loudly as possible so that you can be heard above, something like this: “Don't shoot! There are people here!" But at the same time, categorically do not stick out, because the military can shoot at you with a machine gun. Let him hear your voice first, and only then, if he enters into a dialogue with you, can you carefully appear, raising your hands so that the military man can see that you have no weapons in your hands.

Secondly, a sign with the inscription "PEOPLE HERE" is necessary in order to get you out of the rubble if your house is destroyed. In addition, the basement should be equipped with a place to sleep and rest, warm clothes, a supply of water, canned food, and other food. Take the most necessary and valuable things (jewelry, money, documents) with you. Jewelry and money (if you have a lot of them) can be buried somewhere in a secluded place, or sent to your relatives. But the documents must be with you. Otherwise, any of the conflicting parties will be arrested to determine your identity. It is not necessary to live in the basement, because shelling is not carried out continuously around the clock. You yourself will see and understand when you need to hide in the basement, depending on the nature of the war in your region. I will describe the nature of the war in the next chapter. And here I will add a few words about what is happening within a radius of up to 50 km from the city.

Most affected are settlements within a radius of up to 50 km from the city. The belligerents exchange artillery strikes from various calibers, ride tanks, arrange raids by sabotage groups, and conduct reconnaissance in force. All fields, meadows, forest belts, and plantings are carefully mined by both sides. Keep in mind that one day, going for mushrooms, or fishing, you run the risk of being blown up by a stretch, and at best, left without legs. In your garden, they can install the “Grad” installation, during the shooting of which, something like a local earthquake is created, and cracks will go along the walls of your house. In addition, if they want to suppress this installation with counter-battery fire, it will be destroyed along with you and your home.

Since the time of noble knights has passed, giving way to the spiritual degradation of the current generations, the war has acquired an animal grin of cynicism and hypocrisy. Grad installations will stand in your garden, ammunition will be unloaded in the neighbor's yard, and tanks will huddle against the fences of your neighbors living on a parallel street. Simply put, the military will hide behind you like a human shield. Moreover, somewhere nearby, like kites, journalists will be circling, who will not film and show how a tank or Grad is shooting from your yard. They will remove the smoking ruins of your house if it is destroyed by enemy counter-battery fire. It's called: PROPAGANDA. Each side will use this method to convince the whole world that its opponents are the "warriors of darkness", against whom, they ("warriors of light"), are waging an uncompromising battle.

In addition to all of the above, looting flourishes in the war zone. Of course, much depends on the commanders, who actually become the power in the locality. Sometimes it comes to the point that the commanders of the warring parties agree to shell the village entrusted to them in order to drive the inhabitants into cellars and cellars, while they themselves rob empty houses at this time. Suppose there are several rich houses in the village, whose inhabitants fled the war for some reason. No one lives in these houses, and the commanders know this. They agree with the enemy commanders that they will shell the village, and they themselves adjust the fire so that the projectile or mine arrives at the right house, so that later, under the guise of "rescuers", they calmly loot. They can easily take the car "for the needs of the army." My relatives, for example, had their house completely dismantled, leaving bare walls. Moreover, this happened gradually, as the military rotated in the village. The first wave of marauders took everything they could carry. Sheepskin coats, fur coats, coats, TV, refrigerator, and so on. The military men who replaced them removed the doors, plumbing, and dug metal-plastic windows out of the walls. The following marauders removed the wrought-iron fence. Neighbors said that the last wave of jackals even picked up the trampled linen that was lying under the feet of previous waves of marauders.

Often, local entrepreneurs who may “go missing” fall under the distribution. “Missing” are young girls, as well as people who expressed political preferences objectionable to the new government. Be prepared for the fact that your neighbors can easily hand you over, remembering how you argued with them a year ago about this or that political force. The corpses of many local people will then from time to time be found buried in the field, plantings, at the bottom of rivers, and stakes. It can be not only the corpses of entrepreneurs, young girls, and politically unreliable neighbors, but also the corpses of marauders, local drug dealers and drug addicts...

Of course, I described the worst aspects of life in settlements located in the zone up to 50 km from the city. Nevertheless, people somehow live, adapt, go to work. But the villages are suffering a lot. In the event of an offensive / retreat, the village can be wiped off the face of the earth. I had to visit villages where up to 90% of houses were destroyed. Some of the houses didn't even have walls left. It was eerie to look at the chimneys sticking out alone among the ruins. The worst thing is to live in the villages located in the "gray zone". The "grey zone" is a strip of territory between the conflicting parties. There is no power there, there are no shops, often there is no electricity and water. Shells and bullets fly through the heads of these people in both directions. Very rarely, volunteers can bring humanitarian aid and distribute it under the guns of snipers. Sometimes, for fun, snipers will shoot at civilians, thus honing their sniper art.

THE NATURE OF THE WAR

I will describe the nature of the war in the Donbass, but in your region the war may have other features that may coincide in some ways, but differ in some ways. I will not give moral assessments of the war in the Donbass. War is always dirty. It exposes both good and bad qualities of a person. A person will not be able to hide these qualities during the war, they will manifest themselves regardless of his will. But I don't want to talk about that.

First of all, the war is technological in nature. Some technologies are used in war and some are not. For example, in places where hostilities are taking place, mobile communications and the Internet are completely cut down. Or rather, should be cut down. This is done in order to complicate the enemy's life. But, on the other hand, the Internet and mobile communications can be used to track the enemy. Therefore, mobile communications and the Internet work in Donbass. And, despite the fact that mobile communications and the Internet are served by Ukrainian operators, soldiers of the armies of the DPR and LPR use their services. Their conversations can be listened to, and artillery strikes can be carried out in places where many subscribers gather in one place. Therefore, the military must turn off mobile phones when they are on the front lines. But they don't always do it. Sometimes they call each other on mobile phones during a fight, or they may get a call from their relatives. There is even an incidental moment on the Internet when collectors called one fighter during the battle and began to demand to pay the mortgage debt.

It is very dangerous to use Android smartphones because it is tracked by satellite and corrects your location with high accuracy. If you roam with an Android in range of enemy artillery, you are almost guaranteed to be hit by a mine. If you are in a city that is being attacked, the fire can be adjusted by clusters of mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, and so on. Earlier, during the Second World War, when there was no mobile communication, the fire could be adjusted according to the light in the windows of the apartments. Therefore, people hung windows to keep the city in darkness. Now, in the age of new technologies, the role of luminous windows can be played by mobile communications, of which there are several copies in each apartment. If military aviation is operating around the city, air bombs can fly on your heads, just because there are many lovers of various gadgets in your house.

Perhaps you think that no one will shoot at the sleeping areas. I do not know what the nature of the war will be in your region, so I will not argue. The war in Donetsk is being waged in residential areas, in schools, in kindergartens, in electrical substations, and in burial sites with hazardous waste. At the moment, when I am writing these lines, the filter station is being shelled for the third day. There is a 13-degree January frost outside, there was damage at the station, and the whole city was left without water for some time. The damage was repaired by the efforts of the repair team, but there are several chlorine tanks on the territory of the station, and if they are destroyed, there is a danger of the death of about a million people. In your case it might be different. You yourself will see how your enemy behaves, and on the basis of this you will make a decision: turn off mobile communications or not. My job is to give you an understanding of how the war is being waged, and that your gadgets may be your hidden enemies. As for the Internet, I will tell you in more detail when I describe the conditions of life during the war in the city.

In addition to mobile communications and the Internet, the military is armed with night vision devices and infrared radiation devices. This makes the nature of the war more nocturnal than daytime. That is, during the day the sun warms everything around, and the devices cannot work normally. The temperature of the human body is 36.6 degrees, and the atmosphere itself, and the surrounding objects, warm up to 50-60 degrees. Devices become virtually blind. This is used by sabotage groups that advance during the day. During the day, it is easier to hide from conventional devices, such as binoculars and scopes. But at night, according to the thermal imager, everything becomes clear at a glance. At night, it is easier to detect the location of snipers, sabotage groups, the movement of soldiers and equipment. Everything that radiates heat gives itself away to night vision devices and thermal imagers. Therefore, the war is very often fought at night. During the day, people move quietly, go to work, dig in the garden, and at night they hide in basements and bomb shelters.

War does not have a permanent algorithm of actions. It's kind of like boxing. The opposing sides, like boxers, converge in a deadly fight that can last for several days. Opponents pour tons of deadly metal on each other, destroy houses, mow plantings, burn fields with crops. This can be around the clock, as long as the opponents are not exhausted. During this period of time, it is better for civilians to constantly be in shelters. The fire will be so dense that it will be dangerous even to jump out into the street, to the toilet. Mines and bombs will burst everywhere, fragments and bullets will fly. Residents of high-rise buildings located on the front line live at this time in basements. Therefore, it is very important to have places equipped for rest and sleep in the basement, as well as supplies for several days of water and food. Despite the fact that apartments upstairs may have electricity, gas and water, not everyone runs the risk of going to their apartment to wash, heat up food, or go to the toilet - fire can be so dense. There were cases when in such areas, during active hostilities, residents of high-rise buildings buried their dead neighbors right in the yard.

Then comes the quiet time. This is the time for licking wounds. Hospitals are filled with the wounded, mortuaries are filled with corpses, corpses lie in the fields, in the gardens, on the streets. Ammunition is running out too. The parties bury the dead, exchange the bodies of dead soldiers, exchange prisoners, bring ammunition, mobilize people to make up for human losses, and carry out the redeployment of troops, which the new situation requires. This period can stretch for months. The war again turns into a sluggish exchange of artillery strikes and the work of sabotage groups. When there will be a new outbreak of activity, no one knows, but this period can be called a period of relative calm. Schools, shops, enterprises are working again.

I hope that in this chapter I have been able to describe the general nature of the war. Some of the nuances that complete this picture, you can learn from the following chapters. When you have read the entire book, you will have general idea about what war looks like, you will feel its breath, dynamics. Perhaps this book will help you make a decision: stay or leave, be afraid or not. In any case, a million-plus city does not turn into ruins instantly. For example, when the war started, my brother-in-law was working at a construction site 30-40 kilometers from Donetsk. He saw dozens of full packages of Grad fly away from the Ukrainian side, towards Donetsk, every day. A week later, he thought that there was nothing left of Donetsk. But when he arrived in Donetsk, he was surprised that the city lives, works, celebrates some holidays, and cleanliness and order reign in the city. A big city dies gradually, it is impossible to kill it with one blow, unless, of course, an atomic bomb is dropped on the city, or chemical weapons are used. The big city falls into ruins for months, and there will always be time to leave when there is another relative calm. The question is: can you live to see this calm, or not? You decide. I repeat, I am trying to convey information about the processes taking place around the city, and in the city itself. It is up to you to decide what to do, based on your specific situation.

WAR COMES TO THE CITY

As the front line approaches the city, the city begins to empty. The city will not remain deserted by any means. In spite of everything, utilities, shops, hospitals, markets, car service will work. Checkpoints will appear at the entrance to the city, and even between city districts, as well as at major traffic intersections, there may also be checkpoints. A curfew may be declared in the city. Here I will make a very important remark.

The city is being rebuilt on martial law, and the thinking of the townspeople must keep up with the thinking of the military. If you drive in your car with a DVR, you can go missing, along with the car (depending on who you run into). The fact is that enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups are starting to work in the city. Under the guise of ordinary drivers, taxi drivers, they ride around the city, and the DVR automatically records the location and arrangement of checkpoints, the deployment of the military, the location of military equipment, firing points, and so on. Since the city is oversaturated with the military, they can be anywhere: in hotels, church buildings, car depots, hostels, in short, where they could not be found in ordinary civilian life. And enemy intelligence is working to figure out where these people are. Therefore, in the eyes of the military, every person with a DVR is a potential spy. If you have a DVR, be prepared to be arrested as a spy. I think it's not worth explaining to you that your future fate looks very vague. They can take your word for it and let you go, they can make you an invalid, you can simply be shot: depending on who you run into.

If you're a salesperson and you have a tablet that you dump customer orders on, you might suffer the same fate as a dash cam owner. You then have to prove that you are a sales agent, and not a spy, marking the exact coordinates of civilian objects on the map. How well you succeed, again, depends on who you run into. A similar attitude towards you can be for photo and video shooting. If you are a video blogger or a photography lover, ask if you can get accreditation (permission) for photo and video shooting. You can be checked, and if you do not arouse suspicion, get an official "crust" from the authorities for your favorite pastime.

When approaching roadblocks, your mobile phone must be turned off. Of course, you can ignore this rule, but if your wife, or beloved mother-in-law, decides to chat with you while passing through the checkpoint, and a bell rings in your pocket, you can get a “hat” from the military. If you press the "reply" or even "reset" button, you can get double or triple the hat from the military, especially if you use a smartphone.

Documents should always be with you. The military usually asks for a passport. The documents for the car are the last thing they care about, or they don’t care at all. If you get both your passport and your driver's license, they will only take your passport. If you only have a license, they will require a passport, and they may not even look at the license. If you are stopped by the traffic police, they are only interested in rights. If you are walking, you must have your passport with you. If you do not have a passport, you may be arrested until your identity is determined. If your documents burned down along with your house, get from the authorities, who will be the authorities at that time, at least some piece of paper confirming your identity.

If you are driving a car around the city and you see that a column of military vehicles with headlights on is rushing along your lane, pull over to the right curb and stop. Otherwise, you risk catching an automatic burst. They smashed the mirrors of my friend with butts, and they wanted to shoot him in the leg, only because he was driving in a deep rut in winter and could not jump out of it in order to give way to the soldiers who were driving behind. Idiots are everywhere, and some you may encounter in a city surrounded by war. Many people with an undermined psyche, on the nerves, and their emotions can prevail over the mind. They may first break your mirrors, shoot your leg or wheels, and only then start thinking that you really had no opportunity to jump out of this damned rut. Or maybe they don't even think about it. They'll smash mirrors, shoot a leg or a wheel, and drive on, scorching you for what it's worth.

CITY IN THE RING

From now on, there will be no more peace. You will constantly hear the cannonade, and shells of various calibers will fly around the city. But there is no need to panic. Listen to your fear and don't let it turn into panic. Fear will keep you from doing foolish things. At first, you will be afraid of everything in the world, and this is normal. When you learn to distinguish "outgoing" shots from "incoming" shots, some of your fears will go away. When you learn how to determine the range of falling shells in the city, you will be freed from some of the fears. You will react only when danger threatens you directly. I hope this book will help you get rid of some of the fears faster than if you try to figure it out yourself.

A city can survive if people keep it alive. Only being in a military city, I was able to understand why people who survived the siege of Leningrad were awarded. Every resident of the city becomes a hero, fulfilling his public duty. Public transport drivers, shop assistants, housing and communal services workers, firefighters, employees of the Gorvodokanal, electricians, car mechanics, entrepreneurs, doctors, telecommunication network workers, teachers, priests, and many other people become real heroes doing their usual work. They keep the city alive. Thanks to them, the city lives, breathes, learns, heals its wounds, believes and hopes. You will understand how much you love the person behind the counter of the store when you can go into the store and buy products from him. You will be close and dear to those people who got these products to the store somewhere and brought them.

The carburetor in the car service will be dear to you, because he remained at his workplace, and you can fix the carburetor of your car. You will be ready to kiss the whole brigade of electricians who came to fix the cliff on your street damaged by shells, or the firefighters who are extinguishing your house under mortar fire. You will understand that the salaries of all these people are not worth the risk that they expose themselves to doing their seemingly ordinary peacetime work. Many of them will die in their workplace, but thanks to the people doing their usual things, the city lives. If you are one of those people, keep doing your job, keeping your city alive. This will give you the strength to endure the trials that have fallen to your lot. But if you are an electrician, firefighter, or Gorgaz worker, be careful in areas close to the front line. Very often, the enemy, after shelling, after a while, can again hit this place from artillery. This is done in order to inflict damage on the teams of doctors, firefighters, gas workers, electricians, rescuers who arrived at the scene of the tragedy.

However, I write very important things. If every person continues to do their usual work, the city will have electricity, gas, water, food, the city will be clean, well-groomed, and hope will glimmer in it. When, in 2014, in the deserted Donetsk, which was abandoned by all representatives of the authorities (police, traffic police, managers), even at night during terrible shelling, watering trucks drove every night, and all traffic lights worked, and the morning began with the usual rustling of wipers' whisks, I realized: THE CITY LIVES! And this is very IMPORTANT, because it keeps HOPE in the hearts of those who stayed with you in the city.

You don't have to worry: there will be groceries on the shelves of shops in your city, and gasoline at gas stations. True, the range may not be as wide as in peacetime. If in peacetime there were 10-20 types of hard cheese on the shelves of the dairy department, then in war time up to a maximum of five can be submitted. The same with milk, yogurt, and so on. Prices will also be inflated, due to the difficulty of delivery. Entrepreneurs will find an opportunity to bring goods to the city: the military does not disdain bribes at checkpoints. Checkpoints are becoming a source of enormous income for the military and special services. They compete with each other, put each other "sticks in the wheel", arrange checks, and even brawls with shooting. Each checkpoint is a small customs house through which flows of people, cars, and various goods go. Therefore, at checkpoints, everyone pays tribute to each other, part of which goes “up” to the authorities, and ordinary people who have become hostages of the current situation pay for everything. Especially popular with the military is the scheme of creating an artificial queue in order to let those who do not want to stand in it for bribes.

I want to immediately warn you: do not try to bypass roadblocks on rough terrain. The fact is that the military of both sides carefully mine all the territories adjacent to the city. On small country roads, there may be small checkpoints, remote from the eyes of the authorities. There you can be killed, robbed, shot for fun at your car from a sniper rifle, ATGM or a grenade launcher. In the fields there will definitely be tripwires, anti-personnel, and anti-tank mines. The safest thing to do is to travel through the checkpoints declared by the military administration as the main entry points for the civilian population.

When crossing a checkpoint, you may be asked to show your mobile phone, look at your contact lists, SMS messages, photos, go to your social media page. If something seems suspicious, or you don't like it, you can be arrested. young and beautiful girls better to cross checkpoints with moms. Some stupid and preoccupied soldier, under a far-fetched pretext, can take a lonely girl off the bus, and then she will never be found. Therefore, it is better for girls to be with escorts, and if the inspector shows unhealthy interest, just let him know that the girl is not alone. Don't be aggressive at checkpoints and don't get into arguments with the military, because the military is not the police. They have a completely different charter, and they are not governed by civil law. They can easily shoot the whole clip into your car and make a sieve out of it, and if you continue to resent, the next bullets will fly you.

SHELL AND DESTRUCTION

Here I will describe which projectiles produce their characteristic destruction and shock waves, so that you understand the degree of their danger. But first, take some precautions to protect yourself from unnecessary injury. When you see that there is a danger of shelling the city, first of all take scotch tape and seal the windows crosswise. If you have double-glazed windows, the windows need to be glued not only inside, but also outside. Some people screw the OSB plate to the window frames from the outside. This is an even more reliable way to save glasses from a shock wave than scotch tape. But remember, in this case, you will have to live in the dark. OSB may not save you from large fragments, but it will help you from a shock wave, and from every little thing.

For you to understand, the shock wave is several meters thick, it is not flat, as one might imagine. I first encountered a shock wave in the summer when Donetsk was hit by a Tochka-U ballistic missile. I was sitting at home, it was about nine o'clock in the evening, the window was open for ventilation. Suddenly, there was a light pop on the blinds, and an invisible hand began to move the blinds away from the window, as if in a blowing gust of strong wind. Only the wind was not heard. I watched with amazement how the blinds, deflected by 10-15 centimeters, unnaturally hung in the air, and then smoothly lowered to their original place. And at that moment there was a deafening explosion, from which the glass shuddered. Only then did I realize that it was a shock wave.

Then I felt the effect of the shock wave repeatedly. From experience I will say that the sound comes a little later. First, an invisible and inaudible wave comes, pressing on the glass with terrible force, along the entire plane of the glass. The glass bends inward and may not hold. The wave simply squeezes out the glass, and it crumbles into the room. In this case, injuries can be obtained if you stand close to the window when glass fragments fall. If the window is protected from the outside by the OSB plate, the OSB plate will take pressure on itself. If the windows are covered with duct tape, perhaps the duct tape will help the glass withstand the pressure of this wave, and the glass will not burst. The larger the window, the more pressure it experiences. There was a case when in the center of Donetsk a blast wave squeezed out shop windows, while the explosion itself was at a distance of about 25 kilometers. Usually such things come from very powerful rockets and bombs, the blast wave from which diverges 50-60 kilometers from the place of the explosion. From mines and smaller projectiles, the blast waves are not as powerful, and objects that are in the immediate vicinity of the explosion site suffer from them.

If a mine or a shell flew into your yard, your windows will be blown out with a 90% guarantee. Only in this case, the expansion of glass in your apartment will be much stronger. Even if you are at a considerable distance from the window (lying on the bed, for example), you may be injured by fragments of window glass. The adhesive tape that will be pasted over your windows can hold on to some of the fragments, which will protect you from injury. But in this case, in addition to glass fragments, fragments of a shell can fly into your apartment. But here already, neither adhesive tape nor OSB stove will help. Large fragments can even break through the load-bearing walls of your house. Next, I will describe how destructive various calibers of projectiles are.

Mina, caliber 82 mm. It should be noted right away that the maximum firing range of an 82-caliber mortar is a little more than three kilometers. This means that he threatens either houses close to the front line, or he is used by sabotage groups to shoot at the city. They ride around the city in cars, with a mortar and mines in the cabin and trunk. Or they can equip a minibus for a jihad mobile. A hatch was made in the roof of such a minibus, through which saboteurs shoot at the city. They can stop somewhere in the Khrushchev yard, in a vacant lot, in an industrial zone, on a playground, fire three to five mines, and leave immediately. In Donetsk, the 82nd mortar was very widely used by sabotage groups. I myself came under fire from such a mortar, so I can describe the features of its use from personal experience. Since the maximum range of this mortar is not great, you will definitely hear the shot itself and the sound of a flying mine. The problem is that due to the short distance, you will have little time to run away and hide somewhere. There will be a maximum of four seconds between the shot and the arrival of the mine, or even less. This time is only enough to fall to the ground. Why you need to fall to the ground, I will write a little later.

Usually saboteurs fire a few mines and then hide. They will not shoot at the city from one point, as they can be caught or eliminated. Therefore, mortar shelling does not last long. As I already wrote, 3-5 minutes, maximum 8-10. If mines are falling in your immediate vicinity, do not attempt to get up and run for cover. You won't make it. I am writing specifically about the 82-caliber mortar shelling. I repeat: the time between the shot and the arrival of the mine is too short for you to be able to take care of yourself. This is one of the dangers of shelling with this mortar. In my case, I just had time to get to my feet, as another shot was heard, and I didn’t even have time to fall, as the mine flew in and exploded.

The mine itself does not have a strong destructive effect. It cannot break through the wall of a house, or a tree. My friends, the 82nd mine flew onto the roof of the production workshop. The roof was made of corrugated sheet, under which there was no insulation, no boards, nothing. Under the corrugated sheet there was a workshop room. The mine hit the roof (corrugated sheet, or in the common people “galvanized”), and exploded. The shock wave blew a part of the galvanization inside. This is a piece measuring 0.5 by 0.5 meters, which is bent inside the room. Together with him, small fragments flew into the workshop, but there were not many of them. Almost the entire mine shattered outside. The second mine fell to the ground near the workshop. Fragments broke the facade of the building and nearby glass. The windows located in the same building, only a little further from the explosion site, survived. They weren't even knocked out by the blast. It happens that mines burrow into the ground and do not explode. The shanks of unexploded mines can stick out of the ground or asphalt: in no case do not touch them! Let the sappers deal with this matter.

The general conclusion on the 82nd caliber can be made as follows. A mine is dangerous only in open areas in the immediate vicinity of a person to the explosion site. Its insidiousness lies in the fact that between the shot and the fall of the mine, a person has practically no time to take care of his safety. If a person has a good reaction, he will only have time to fall to the ground. Whoever has a worse reaction will not even have time to do this.

Why is it necessary to fall to the ground? Fragments of mines fly in ascending order from the point of explosion. If you manage to find a ditch that you can fit into so that your back is flush with the pavement, you won't even get scratched. But if you stand on your feet, you may be cut off by splinters of your leg. The car you're sitting in won't save you. It's better to jump out of the car and lie on the ground. Look on the Internet for the nature of the injuries of people in the Donbass who came under mortar fire. You will see that many people have their legs cut off from the ankle to the hips, and above. This is just a dangerous zone of fragmentation. If you are sitting in a car, you also fall into this zone.

If you decide to hide from mines among the trees, you must consider the following. The mine can hit the branch above your head. Even if this branch is not directly above you, fragments of the mine will fly from top to bottom. Such a case occurred in Donetsk on January 30, 2015, when a sabotage group fired at the line standing behind humanitarian aid, which was distributed in the Kuibyshev Palace of Culture. One of the mines hit a tree branch, and fragments flew from top to bottom, killing about 12 people. On the other hand, if you hide behind a tree, it can save you from splinters. But the mine can also explode behind you, then the tree you are hiding behind will not save you. You can't predict exactly where the mine will land, so if you're destined to die, hiding won't save you from death. The war in Donbass is replete with cases when whole families died in shelters (basements of houses, cellars, etc.), and when people survived when mines landed in their homes, where they were at that moment. People living in war-torn cities eventually understand this law of karma, and stop caring too much about their safety. I heard the story of a Moscow TV presenter who came to Donetsk to cover the events that are taking place here. He got into the shelling zone, and was quite surprised how the men in the yard continued to calmly play dominoes, while mines fell with a roar on the neighboring street. In a sense, this also affected me and my wife. We decided not to hide in our cellar during the bombing, and gave the cellar for shelter to several families of neighbors, with children.

Mina, caliber 120 mm. This is already serious. A mortar of this caliber hits at a distance of up to 7 kilometers, so you will hear a shot from it at a farther distance than a shot from the 82nd mortar. The very sound of the shot will let you know that something heavy is shooting somewhere, and you will have more time to find shelter, because the mine will fly 3-4 seconds more than the mine of the 82nd mortar. At least during this time you can run to the entrance of the house, some basement, or find a suitable ditch. If mines fall near you, open your mouth so that your eardrums do not burst.

Fragments from this mortar pierce through cinder block walls, can cut down small trees and relatively thick branches. If such a mine explodes in the courtyard of a high-rise building, most of the glass in it will be knocked out by fragments and a shock wave. The shock wave often blows off the upholstery of balconies, and scatters plastic throughout the yard. Large fragments can break through the panel walls of the house. If a mine hits the roof of a high-rise building, it will break through it. If a mine flies through a window, it can bring down a flight of stairs, or an intermediate floor. In high-rise apartments, it is better to hide in rooms that do not have windows and are one more wall away from the walls that communicate with the street. These rooms are usually a corridor, and a toilet with a bath. If you are hiding in the bathroom, it is best to lie down in the bathroom - its walls will be additional protection. You must understand that if a mine flew into your apartment, this does not mean that you will definitely die. The more precautions you take, the more likely you are to survive. Next, I will describe two cases where people survived direct hits of 120 mines on their homes.

The first case is widely known, this is the situation of Anna Tuv from Gorlovka. Two 120 mines flew into her house when Anna, her children and her husband were inside the house. Anna's husband and eldest daughter were killed, and Anna herself and two children were seriously injured. The second case was told to me by the victims themselves, whose situation my wife and I filmed as volunteers in order to attract public attention. This is a large family (14 children) living in the city of Dokuchaevsk, Donetsk region. When the shelling of their city began, the whole family was at home. Mines fell, each time approaching their house, and the family gathered in a remote room that does not directly communicate with the street. The mine broke through the roof, and exploded on impact with the interior partition. The blast wave demolished all the slate from the roof, and some wooden partitions. The fragments pierced the boiler, gas stove, refrigerator, walls and doors of the house. None of the sixteen people were hurt.

It is very important to think in advance where you will hide in case of shelling, because when seconds count, you will not have time to do this because of confusion and shock. Some people start looking for bomb shelters. But from experience I will tell you that bomb shelters are effective only in the case of direct active actions, when you need to hide for days, and the battles are taking place on the streets of your city. With chaotic shelling of the city, when there is no plan to capture the area in which you live, you never know if your area will be shelled or not. Therefore, you live an ordinary life, into which shelling can sometimes burst as an “uninvited guest”. In this case, you simply will not have time to run to the bomb shelter, which is located three blocks away. On the one hand, while you run there, the shelling itself will end. On the other hand, you risk dying. Therefore, you need to look for a suitable place right next to your home.

If you live in the private sector, this could be your basement or cellar. If you live in an apartment building, this could be either your basement or a bathroom or hallway.

Shells 152 caliber. Everything above 120 caliber can already be attributed to howitzers, guns, tanks, and so on. The range of artillery guns is significantly higher than the range of the mortar, and reaches 15-25 kilometers, and even more. Accordingly, you will hear the sound of a shot in the form of a distant muffled gurgling, and the flight time of the projectile is increased by a few more seconds. In order to approximately navigate in the distance, one kilometer of the projectile flight is overcome in one second. How many seconds pass between the sound of a shot and the sound of a fall, how many kilometers approximately the projectile has overcome.

I think it's not worth saying that the destruction from 152mm shells is even higher than from 120mm shells. Explosion craters can be several meters in diameter and more than a meter deep.

RZSO "Grad" system. In Donetsk, 122 mm Grad rockets were mainly used, so I will write only about it. The firing range of the Grad is up to 45 kilometers. The sound of gunshots is similar to the distant sound of thunder, only without the thunder itself. Shooting from the Grad differs from a natural phenomenon in that after the noise emitted by outgoing rockets, silence suddenly sets in, while in a natural phenomenon this noise is crowned with a thunderclap. Quite often, artillerymen, using natural phenomenon, as a cover, pour full packets of "Grad" to each other to the sound of rain, thunder and lightning. The destruction from the "Grad" is approximately the same as from the 120-mm mortar. Even if the "Grad" flies into your hall, you can remain unharmed if you are at this time in the bathroom or corridor.

HOW NOT TO BECOME A FIRE SPOINTER ON YOUR HOUSE

This is a very important chapter that will probably save the life of not only you, but also your neighbors, so be very careful about what is written here. As I wrote above, in the current wars, new technologies are widely used, and ordinary means of mass use, such as mobile communications and the Internet, are used. I will not repeat myself about mobile communications, and say that your smartphone can adjust fire on you. In this chapter, I will talk about the Internet and social networks. Most likely, the Internet will work in your city, as the intelligence services of both warring parties use it for military intelligence purposes, and for propaganda purposes. I don’t think you should be told that your posts, likes, and correspondence can be tracked, and because of this your name will appear on some “hit list”. My speech will be about something else.

Social networks are monitored not only by special services, but also by military intelligence, and this poses a direct danger to your life. I know from my own experience that social networks are a source of information for a city located in a zone of military conflict. People actively use groups that are directly related to their city. There may be several dozen such groups, and most likely the special services of both sides are behind them. But in this case, it doesn't even matter who is behind these groups, because the military is monitoring them externally.

These groups are usually divided into two categories: citywide and district. For example. In Donetsk, the most visited citywide groups are called: "Typical Donetsk", "Donetsk Live", "Donetsk VKontakte", and so on. If you live in Moscow, it could be "Typical Moscow", "Moscow VKontakte", and something like that. District groups are named after the districts of the city. For example: "Typical Kalinovka", "Typical Petrovka", "Typical Budyonovka", or "It's a Tekstilshchik, baby!". Citywide groups have up to half a million users, and district groups - tens of thousands. These are REAL users, because during the war people are forced to subscribe to these groups in order to receive information about their city and region. Before the war, I didn’t use social networks at all, but when the war began, I had to start a page and subscribe to such groups.

In groups, people directly exchange information in order to know what is happening in the city and regions, ask for help, help someone themselves, and so on. But during the shelling, social networks literally explode from active correspondence. And this happens at any time of the day or night. When a cannonade is heard, there is a roar of guns, the first thing a person does is open a computer and look: what do people write in his favorite groups? But I will tell you a secret: at the same time, these same groups are watching and monitoring the military. And this is a danger to your life. And then I will explain in detail why.

First, the fire can be conducted FROM YOU. That is, your "defenders" are shooting at your "liberators". They cover their ammunition depots with artillery fire, accumulations of military equipment, possibly inflicting preemptive strikes on artillery points. But you do not know this, and do not understand! You think that the fire is on the city. You hear a roar and your fear tells you, “They are shooting at us! What to do?". Therefore, it is very IMPORTANT to distinguish outgoing shots from incoming ones, so as not to sow panic and not do stupid things that can end very sadly. How to distinguish outgoing shots from incoming shots, I will describe in the next chapter.

So, the fire is from YOU. What do your "liberators" want to know? They want to know exactly where the fire is coming from in order to suppress the firing points with counter-battery fire. Based on the experience of the war in the Donbass, I will say that the parties are hiding behind the civilian population, without any particular twinge of conscience. Grad can drive up to your nine-story building and release a full package towards the enemy. This usually happens at night, during curfew. They can easily drive a howitzer to your house, and extinguish it for half an hour at your "liberators". And your "liberators" at this time will frantically search for information on where the fire is coming from in order to suppress this place with heavy artillery fire. The only trouble is that you live not far from this place, and get "under the distribution."

Moreover, the howitzer or "Grad" will most likely shoot back and leave, and the "response" will fly right on your head. Then journalists will come to this place and shoot a video, what bastards your "liberators" are. And the "liberators" will shout that the "defenders" fired on themselves in order to accuse them, and thereby incite the civilian population against the "defenders". Although, in fairness, it should be said that the “liberators” shoot at Donetsk for punitive purposes, when the “defenders” shoot at them from the trenches, and the “response” flies not at them, into the trenches, but at a peaceful city. This is done purely for the purpose of psychological pressure. This is the kind of war we have - dishonorable and vile.

But I seem to have digressed a bit. Let's imagine a situation. You woke up from a roar, and you don’t understand what it is: “outgoing” or “incoming”? Your fear is telling you that this is "incoming" and you are about to die. You rush to your computer and start reading what people write in your city groups. There are thousands of people in the groups just like you, who do not understand where and where the shots are being fired from. Everyone is gripped by fear. The people who are closest to the “outgoing” shots begin to calm the audience, and literally “voice” for the entire Internet with a capsluk: “I SEE!!! THIS IS FROM US!!! THE HOUSE SHAKES!!! THIS IS GRAD!!! UNDER MY HOUSE GRADY!!!”. And then the crowd pounces on the writer: “What area? Where do you live?”, “What is the address? I HAVE A MOTHER THERE!!!”, “What is your house on this street???”, and so on.

It can be, indeed, ordinary people. And someone's mother can really live there. But it could just as well be the military. Under the guise of men and women, young girls and students, mothers of many children and fathers who have gone to work, the military will hysteria together with everyone in order to get the most accurate coordinates of “outgoing” shots. And when they get them, after a while, a full package of "Grad" will fly to this place, and turn your nine-story building into ruins. Therefore, more experienced people will never tell the address and the exact information where the shots are fired from, even if they have a negative attitude towards the “defenders”.

Those who have been in Donetsk from the very beginning have already learned to distinguish “incoming” from “outgoing”, and sleep peacefully during the cannonade. The hysterics are mainly newcomers who have sat out active hostilities somewhere and returned to the city during the so-called "truce". More experienced people constantly besiege them so that they stupidly do not adjust the fire on peaceful quarters. Experienced people can reassure everyone by writing something like this: "No panic, outgoing." It is not even necessary to write the district, since people in the city hear approximately in which district the roar is heard.

Secondly, the fire can be conducted ON YOU. Here, the whole city is already in motion, as not only beginners, but also experienced people begin to worry. Although experienced people will quickly determine the degree of danger to them personally, and if they are not personally in danger, experienced people calm down. Of the experienced people, those whose relatives or acquaintances live in the area that is under fire can worry. But experienced people make phone calls to under fire acquaintances and relatives, and not throw a tantrum on the Internet.

And on the Internet, approximately the same thing is happening as in the case when they shoot FROM YOU. In this case, military spotters will pry out information from panicking people where exactly the shells hit. If the goal is to hit a house, a boiler room, a transformer substation, people, out of their stupidity, will tell the military where the shells are falling, and they will correct the fire according to these tips. Therefore, when you write: “THE SHELL FALLED ONE HUNDRED METERS FROM MY HOUSE!!!”, be prepared for the next projectile to hit your house directly. And it can happen "thanks" to you. So be careful and think with your head before posting something online.

In addition to the methods described above for adjusting artillery fire, there is a method for adjusting with the help of "bugs" that saboteurs scatter near the objects that are planned to strike. In the Donbass, such facilities were often schools, hospitals, and kindergartens. My neighbor found bugs in in large numbers around the technical school where she studied. If your child brings home a bunch of bugs: “Mom, look what I found!” Report it to the police, and give it to the police. Or smash them with a hammer to the state of complete unusability. What these bugs look like, look on the Internet, there is such information.

The fire is also corrected by drones that will fly over your city from time to time. You can’t influence this in any way, but you mean that these drones will shoot down your “defenders”. Drones will be fired from anti-aircraft guns, so you don't get scared in the evenings when you hear heavy machine gun fire in the city. This is your air defense. Sometimes you come across a large drone that explodes in the air with the same sound as a shell or mine explodes.

HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE "OUT" SHOT FROM "IN"

It is very important to learn to distinguish "outgoing" shots from "incoming" ones, because not only your peace of mind, but also your safety depends on it. I described security in more detail in the previous chapter, and here I will describe how to distinguish “outgoing” shots from “incoming” ones. "Outgoing", this is when they shoot FROM YOU. And "incoming" is when they shoot at YOU, respectively.

I'll start with airplanes. Airplanes mean "incoming" arrivals of air bombs. If you do not have normal air defense, you can be bombed insolently, at low altitudes. This means that you will always hear the sound of an approaching bomber, and you will have some time to go down to the basement. The apartment is unlikely to save you from an air bomb that fell on the roof of your house, since most likely it will bring down all the interfloor ceilings under it. You are also unlikely to have time to run to the bomb shelter, and you don’t know exactly where the bombs will fall. Running into a bomb shelter makes sense only when your city is being bombed continuously, plane after plane, flight after flight, day after day. Then the danger of falling under fire increases greatly, and it is best to stay in a bomb shelter during this time.

But if you have air defense, the enemy will either not bomb you at all, or will try to do it at high altitudes, about 10 thousand meters. This means that you will not hear the sound of an approaching bomber at all. You will only hear a bomb explosion in your city. A single explosion is what distinguishes an aerial bomb from other types of artillery that work around your city. Remember, there should always be two sounds: SHOT and EXPLOSION of an incoming projectile. And you must learn to distinguish these sounds.

So, how to distinguish a shot from an explosion? You don't have to be a jack-of-all-trades to understand that you need to navigate by sound. But, unfortunately, many people do not think logically beyond listening to sound, and therefore we have to talk about it. Not everyone loud noise means you are being bombed. If you hear single loud sounds, it means that you are either being bombed from high altitude aviation, or they shoot FROM YOU. If they are shooting AWAY, there will first be a loud gunshot sound, after which there should be a very distant, barely audible sound of the projectile exploding, which was fired AWAY. Therefore, always listen very carefully: if after a loud sound (shot) after a few seconds you hear a barely perceptible sound similar to a distant thunderclap (explosion), then they are shooting FROM YOU.

Exactly the same rule works in the opposite direction. If you hear a loud sound, carefully look for the second sound with your hearing. If it is not there, then it has arrived FOR YOU. Keep listening carefully. If the shelling started ON YOU, there should be a dull sound of a shot, and after a few seconds a louder sound (explosion). This is an arrival. Always look for two sounds: OUT and ARRIVAL. It is by them that you will determine who, and at whom, shoots. Even if the gun is at a distance of 15-20 kilometers, you will hear its shot. At this distance, you may not hear the mortars, but at this distance, they do not finish off. As I wrote above, mortars hit up to 7 kilometers. If you are at least 15 kilometers from the front line, only guns can finish you off. And the shot from the guns is more powerful than the shot from the mortar, so you will definitely hear it.

Summing up everything that has been said in this chapter, I want to clarify some details. You must understand that the sounds of "exodus" and "arrival", located at a distance of 15-20 kilometers, are so deaf and barely audible that they can be affected by the noise of the wind and the sounds of city life. If the day is windy and the city is noisy, you may not hear the sound of "exodus" from the enemy, and "arrival" to the enemy. That is, you will hear the sounds of “outcomes” FROM YOU, and the “arrivals” will drown out the wind and the noise of the city. And vice versa. You may not hear the sounds of “outcomes” from the enemy, but you will hear the sounds of “arrivals” TO YOU. In addition, if your "defenders" have time to deploy counter-battery fire to suppress artillery points that fire at YOU, then all the sounds merge, and it is already difficult to determine where the shot is and where the arrival is. All this may seem confusing to you, but when you (God forbid!) find yourself in a city during a war, you will understand the logic of shelling. My book will help you do it faster.

AND SOME LAST TIPS...

At the end of this book, I would like to give some final advice. Always keep your documents handy. I mean not only the passport. Documents for real estate, diplomas of education, and so on. It is best to send them to relatives located where there is no war. And just in case, make notarized copies. You must understand that a shell can fly into your house, it can be completely destroyed, burned, along with documents.

Buy large water canisters. If you are drinking purified water, have a supply of drinking water for a week or two. And have separate water for washing and flushing the toilet. Your plumbing may be blown up and repaired, but it may take some time. It is not necessary that the entire city will be without water. Some areas may remain without water, but this does not make it any easier for you. It’s better to have water supplies at home than to travel to another area with friends or relatives with large containers, right?

Take care of your medications. Have at least a minimal set of medicines in the house. You or your neighbors may need them.

Withdraw money from bank accounts. Banks will most likely close and leave your city. If your card has Internet banking, leave some amount to pay for mobile services via the Internet. During the war, you will face many problems that you did not even know existed. Topping up your mobile connection can be one of those problems.

Buy a solar power bank to charge mobile phones. If there is no electricity in your city for a week or two, you will be left without mobile communications. And solar power banking will help you to be independent of the presence of electricity in the network in this regard.

If the situation is generally terrible, your life will be in direct danger, and there will be no way to leave the city, and humanitarian missions will not work, stay close to the military. Though a volunteer, even a nurse in a hospital, or an assistant in the kitchen. At least you will not earn money, but this will allow you not to die of hunger and cold. The military will always have supplies. Even if the whole city will die of hunger and cold, the military will have food and warmth. In wartime, the supply of the army is a priority, because if there is no army, then there will be no one to protect the city.

It seems to be everything. Peaceful sky above your head, and God forbid that the advice collected in this book will never be useful to you ...

I am not a doctor, I will not write about the causes of depression and how to treat it. I will write only about the situation when you have depression and you have to live in it for a while. I am writing only from my own experience, because all these articles about what depression is, what horror it is, and how urgently you need to drag yourself out of it by the hair - they, frankly, upset with their inefficiency. Articles about depression should be written by depressed people - then at least the recommendations will be adequate.

So. There is such a Theory of Spoons (I highly recommend reading it). Depression is easier to illustrate with batteries, but the same principle applies. In normal times, you have, say, 10 batteries every day. You can spend them on many things. For example, for work, for household chores, for raising children, for sports, for hobbies. In each of these cases, you invest a battery, or even two, and you have the strength and inspiration for all these things.

When you are depressed, out of 10 batteries you have 5-4 left. If there is only 1 left, which is enough only to support life, it is better to immediately get to a specialist.

In order to survive depression as productively as possible, preventing it from destroying your life, you need to rationally distribute the remaining batteries, that is, learn to live on 5-4 batteries instead of 10. The approach requires a certain awareness and planning.

How to do it:

Stop torturing yourself for depression.
- Reduce your tasks and responsibilities to the minimum necessary for survival.
- When you need to do something with force, do it very slowly.
- Live within one day.
- Communicate with those who support you without trying to change you.
- Make it your responsibility to do things that recharge your batteries.
- Use the time of depression to get to know yourself better, learn how to take care of yourself and develop a healthy selfishness.

More:

1. Stop beating yourself up for being depressed. Stop kicking yourself in order to get yourself out of depression in this way. It takes 1-2 batteries to self-beat for depression, so you will be left with nothing at all.

2. Make a list of all your tasks, responsibilities, necessary contacts that you make when you are not depressed. Let's say you go to work, raise a child or go to school, do housework, meet friends, take time for hobbies, spend time with your parents, participate in social activities, go to the gym. Then cross off the list everything that is not necessary for your survival.. As a result, for example, a source of income will remain, because you need to feed yourself and children, because you cannot leave them. Communication with friends, hobbies, social activity- all this must be crossed out and postponed until the end of the depression. You still won’t have the energy for it, but if you make a conscious decision not to waste it, not to force yourself and not to slow down, then you can save a battery and a half.

3. Stop kicking yourself for being depressed. Stop kicking yourself in order to get yourself out of depression in this way. You will be left without batteries at all.

4. After only the tasks and responsibilities that are necessary for survival are left on the list, analyze how much effort you usually put into each of them. Let's say that at work at normal times you make a career, come early, hand over projects 150% completed, constantly strive to look for new ideas, read literature in your specialty after work. Now rewrite the list of your work tasks and responsibilities: what is absolutely necessary to do so that you don’t just get fired? Return to your career after depression. In order not to be fired, it is necessary, for example, to arrive on time, to submit projects on time, and the projects must be in a fairly well-made form. All. During your depression, focus only on doing your job well enough so you don't get fired. You still won’t have the strength for the rest, and to force yourself is to take the rest of the forces that are set aside for other things necessary for survival. For example, for raising children. It is the same with upbringing: to be a good enough parent during the depression, to postpone the desire for the ideal until the end of the depression.

This will also save you 1-2 batteries.

5. Stop beating yourself up for being depressed. Stop kicking yourself in order to get yourself out of depression in this way. If it helped, you would have been out of depression long ago.

6. Even after you have reduced your usual volume of affairs and duties to the absolutely necessary minimum, you still will not have the usual strength and vigor even at a minimum. You will have to force yourself to do even this, because you don’t want anything, just lie face to the wall. When it's hard to force yourself do everything slowly. You do not want to get up - slowly roll over on your side, slowly put your feet on the floor, slowly lift yourself out of bed and slowly go to wash.

Out of habit, you want everything to be as it was before - you jumped up, ran. And you feel like it doesn't work. You fall into despair, self-torture and lose confidence that you are even able to function. First, self-torture wastes batteries. Secondly, you can function, just at reduced speeds. If you allow yourself to take things slowly, to slow down, to slow down, to do a teaspoon an hour, you will be able to accomplish many things that seem impossible. At least you get to the bath, you can get dressed for work, arrive on time and fulfill the necessary minimum of your duties.

When you do something very slowly, keep track of your condition. For example, how your muscles contract when you get out of bed. During depression, it is very useful to "move into the body" from the head. How I breathe, how I lie, what my left heel feels. First, it's refreshingly interesting. Secondly, riding in my head on a black engine “Oh-God-I-I-have-depression-what-horror” and mentally whipping myself with a belt for depression takes strength, and there will be nothing left for work, a child and minimal self-care.

7. Do not pull yourself with constant attempts to do something about your depression and get out of it as soon as possible. Yes, preferably right now, fell-wrung out and ran to be a productive member of society. Live one day. We got up in the morning - think only about what needs to be done today within the required minimum. Don't wonder when the depression will end. And what happens if it doesn't end. And how much are you missing out on when you're depressed. And how to live on, since life is so terrible. You will spend a whole battery on worries, and in the evening you will have nothing left for household chores or a child.

Why do depressed people start their appearance, stop washing their hair, washing clothes, taking a shower? Because the few remaining batteries were devoured by the black engine in my head. It would be nice if he brought it somewhere else, because he runs in circles and spends resources in the air.

8. If possible, reduce communication with those who are trying to convince you that life is beautiful, to prove to you that you are wrong in your depression, humiliate you for your depression and try to stir you up and get you out of this state with all your might. Some of them act from the best of intentions, they just have never been depressed themselves and do not know what it is. Most of them solve their problems at your expense. All this wastes batteries and increases your self-torture for depression, which leaves you completely exhausted. And you still have to perform the duties necessary for survival. If this works out, communicate only with those who support you, without trying to change you.

9. Usually the literature on depression also advises to play sports, drink vitamins, go out to people and not concentrate on bad thoughts. In my experience, there is no strength for sports, but to fight thoughts is to waste batteries. Yes, in general, as you read an article on depression and methods of "fighting" with it, you don’t want anything at all. The fight takes too much energy.

Depression is a good time to get to know yourself better, listen to your dark thoughts and feelings and accept them. No need to try to stop the black engine in your head, disassemble its rails, derail it. Take a look at him. What design and model? What pipe? And the wheels? And who built this decadence? Through binoculars.

Yes, there are such thoughts and feelings. So what? They are good to write down, draw, present in the form of artistic images. You can start a depressive blog - usually, it collects more readers than a positive one. Why is a mystery, but your depression on the internet will get more response, sympathy and support than your posts about how beautiful this world is.

If you have used your batteries wisely and have been able to ease the self-torture for being depressed, you will find that depression has its own beauty and aesthetics. During depression, very interesting, heartfelt and vivid thoughts come. Your world has been reduced to a penny, many external things have ceased to be of interest and are, as it were, behind glass, but within a penny everything is very lively, sharp, filled with deep meaning. Another such opportunity to come into contact with this piece inner peace, with this unique, deep perspective will not. It seems that Proust said that his best years were the years of depression?

10. If you find any activities that allow you to recharge your batteries, consciously and daily make time for it. Not for pampering, but for the purpose of extracting energy for living. If a walk in the fresh air adds strength to you, go for a walk in the evening. Yes, you have a girlfriend or mom on the phone, homework or something else. Resolutely hang up the phone and go for a walk. It used to be that you could waste your batteries, but now - not those times. A friend or mother will not die, but for you it is a matter of survival and functioning.

11. Depression usually ends. On their own, or with the right choice of antidepressants, or as a result of psychotherapy, or as a result of restoring hormonal balance, or somehow. So, as soon as you get used to it, you understand the charms of healthy egoism and the exclusion from your life of everything superficial, unnecessary and secondary, you decide, finally, to collect all your depressing notes and drawings and publish a bestseller, like bam - and it's all over. You wake up in the morning and you understand everything. All 10 batteries are at hand, strength and vigor over the edge, sad thoughts have disappeared, life is beautiful and amazing, there are huge prospects ahead, it's a beautiful day outside.

And even somehow sad. But nothing, because she will someday return again? And we will meet her fully armed. At the same time, we will add a bestseller.

GRU officer's advice. I think many things will come in handy now for the citizens of Ukraine, although the article was written as a manual in case of war in the Russian Federation, but who knows how everything will end with this "Euromaidan", maybe the tips will be useful to both Russians and Ukrainians ... One way or another, scenarios can be different.

Local battles, full-scale war, futile occupation followed by the dismemberment of the country. I explain this so that there is an understanding of a very important point that people usually forget about under stress: your actions depend on the situation. No initiative, just common sense.

Shooting in the street is not the end of the world. Even if you have a point for the initial treatment of the wounded at your entrance, and a 120mm mortar crew in the yard, this does not mean that you need to urgently run (although if you have a mortar, then you need to change your position, they will certainly smash it along with you).

Yes, yes, shooting and corpses does not mean anything, if not strange. An untimely “go to hell” maneuver can cost you your life. Do not fuss, do not panic, look at WHO and WHOM they are shooting at, and most importantly, why.

While we're in the city

If in the course of events and unrest, you have decided to run, then I will try to briefly scatter your chances. There is very little chance of survival in a big city. There is not enough food in the cities and no one will distribute it in case of unrest. Food is available only in shops and food bases (you can forget about them, troops or bandits will appear there immediately).

It makes sense to buy food on the first day, when they are still being sold; then the shops will close and the staff will start tyrit everything. If the moment with the "purchase" clicked, then the gun in hand and we go to "privatize". I advise you to contract a neighbor for this business and not one, firstly, you will take away more food, since you still need someone to cover you from the same thugs who met you inside or on the way back; secondly, your firepower with a smoothbore is somewhere around zero and an extra pair of barrels will not hurt, but remember, if you gather too many people with you, then you are a “group target”, and it will be very sad to “share” the swag ( 3-4 people, no more need to take with you).

Of course, you must have supplies of water and food in the apartment. With water it is still worse, there will be no delivery. If the water from the tap disappears - you have a toilet tank. DON'T DARE DROP THIS WATER! It is no different from tap water, one riser with cold water. And this is a week to live and not grieve (well, not to die, that's for sure). If possible, then a couple of canisters in the teeth and "gut" the gas station. Fuel is very important. But remember, you can’t keep him in an apartment. Vapors are highly flammable. Make a cache, preferably in the attic, in the basement people will hide from shelling.

You are unlikely to be killed. On "muddy waters" no one spends ammunition on people without weapons. Of course, this is not a reason to go for a full-length walk before bed, but remember that you are not the number one goal. As the experience of the city of Grozny has shown, it is quite realistic for men howling at full strength to completely ignore the locals, they are not up to them. Of course, the "fool" can always fly in, especially at dusk, but still not so bad.

Remember that you should not be located either near the television center or near the infrastructure, and, of course, if people with weapons entered the apartment and "informed" you that now they have a machine gun crew here, then you tell them "OK , settle down, ”and dump. No “This is my property, I will not go anywhere” - this is a bullet in the forehead right away, they are not up to you, if you interfere, you will lie down. Leave even if they don't ask. Since their opponents can “cover” your apartment at any moment, and they will not shoot with stones from slingshots.

It's also better not to jump in front of the hospital. The parties to the conflict will bring the wounded there, perhaps they will try to win back this strategic building. There will be a shot. In the event of bombings, someone will certainly sigh in the hospital, do not even hesitate, those who wrote the Geneva Convention, usually, are not in GT, from this its observance is somewhat conditional. As in "Pirates of the Caribbean": "This is not a set of laws, but rather a set of rules to be followed."

Remember, once such a batch has begun, your property is no more. And strongly to arise I do not advise. You need to kill if someone pulls their hands to your food and water. Everything else is nonsense. If you exchange a car for a machine gun in the armory of the nearest police station, then you are a great fellow. Even if you exchanged a new Mercedes for a used AKSU and only 2-3 stores, then you are still a great fellow. You don't need a car anymore. You will not be able to leave the city on it 100%, but the desire to shoot at you will be very serious. While you are in the city, I do not advise you to wear camouflage clothing, otherwise it may “fly”.

So what do we predict now? In our city "M" street fighting began. We have made the decision, due to circumstances or for tactical reasons, to stay in the city (although this is a bad idea, almost always). We know that shops can be robbed already on the second day, there are weapons in the nearest police department, there is a little water in the toilet bowl (get a couple of drinking bottles in the store - even better), your property is no more, a man with a weapon is always right, there where there is a person with a weapon - there should not be you who dress like a military man - fights (even if he doesn’t want to), a cache with fuel and lubricants is a big plus (fuel and lubricants, by the way, can become a currency commensurate in liquidity with weapons and ammunition), to important objects we don't even get close.

And here's something else. NEVER GO ANYWHERE JUST SO, ESPECIALLY "SEE WHAT THERE". In urban combat, many things are done "quietly", by reconnaissance and sabotage. Any reconnaissance group, seeing you, 100%, will go cut you. It is in films that they point with the finger “quietly”, and move on. AT real life you will be cut on the spot. Their survival and accomplishment of the task depends on the absence of witnesses. Moreover, a group in position in an urban combat, maneuverable, will do the same if you "light up" their positions and move on. Even the machine-gun crew at the crossroads, which has only just "dug in" will not have warm feelings for you. So if they notice you from afar and call you to “talk” with your finger, turn around and run as fast as you can. The guys can smile, look friendly, lure with swag - come up, and everything will change. Locals often have to be "worked out" if they are caught along the way. So we don’t ask questions, we don’t get out of our “shell” once again.

We decided to leave the city

Now we're starting to get out of the city. The problem is this: either the city is blocked, or there are fights in it. If, due to circumstances, you missed the moment of the start of active battles, this is very bad, but it does not mean that you are doomed. You can always leave the city. Here, regardless of the situation, there are two points. First: moving around the city, second: passing through the cordon. Around major settlements there are ring roads - this is the main problem.

Motorized infantry on boxes in a few hours, moving on smooth asphalt, will encircle the city. If this happens, then immediately discard all thoughts of "slip unnoticed." Any “incomprehensible” movement is, in the conditions of battles, immediately a turn, and the golden rule “I don’t see - I don’t shoot” often does not work. At the cordon, we are going to surrender respectfully. But we haven't gotten to that yet...

Yes, here's another thing: DO NOT GET IN THE CAR!!! Any transport in the city will be fired at 100%.

So, we have a backpack with the swag needed for survival, ideally, a small-sized weapon (aksu + pistol, standard cop set), and another small bag that duplicates the main backpack, only on a much more modest scale (for example, in a backpack you have food for three days, and in the bag for another day, etc.). The bag is closer to the body, and do not take it off. It is very important to take with you separately, at least in shorts, all the jewelry that you find.

Cover the backpack with a white sheet and fasten it on it. This is necessary so that any warrior who spots you (and there will be many of them, and don’t even hope to pass unnoticed in the city) sees that you are CIVIL and does not decide to “open” his position for you. You will be escorted in the sight, and you will go further. Of course, you are not marching along the main avenue, but do not smear yourself with mud, a la Schwarzenegger - they will graze you and shoot you, because they will not understand who you are and what you are. Accordingly, you have no camouflage.

You are a civilian and must look like a civilian, with a white backpack, like with a white flag, otherwise they will shoot you. You must show with all your appearance that you are not of interest, you are just dumping. Of course, you carry a weapon with you, but you don’t carry it over your head, but hide it. Pistol in pocket (cocked). Automatic, if you get hold of - (ideally Aksu), fold the butt and hide it under your jacket. I advise you to remove the fuse on the machine immediately, it can be hard, you can get confused. A cartridge in the chamber, of course. There should not be any voluminous things on the chest, at most a hidden machine gun - if you have to fall, then you will lie on some kind of purse that will lift you above the ground, it will be easier to hit you.

If a man with a weapon is walking towards you in a direct course, stop “without tricks” at the positions of his comrades. He, most likely, will gut you for swag, he would like to shoot you - he would have already shot you. He will take away the backpack - give it back (we would have given it anyway at the exit from the city, at the cordon), ask to leave you a sheet (put it on your back) and a bag (small, in which we duplicated everything in smaller quantities). This is a purely psychological moment, we calmly give away big things and ask them to leave small things for us, as a rule, people agree, this was our calculation from the very beginning. No one will let you go out with a bunch of swag, everyone needs it.

We say that we have a machine gun (we don’t take it out and show it, but calmly talk about its presence) and ask you to leave it - they will take away 100%, but this will allow you to keep the gun (don’t talk about it, if you give the machine gun back, you are unlikely to be shredded) , the machine would have been noticed so, and if you immediately handed it over, then you are “non-violent”. You, as it were, exchange your things for your own. If there was no pistol, it was possible to take the smoothbore disassembled, the main thing is to give away the “big and terrible weapon”. We proceed from the fact that since you have sat through the cordon and street fighting, you have not just watched ads on TV, but have already gone to the bazaar in the nearest PS.

As for the speed of movement, if you walk around the city 10-15 kilometers a day, then this is an excellent speed. Remember that you will not go straight, but will wind around the neighborhoods, as there will be local battles. Accordingly, if there are 10 kilometers from your house to the Ring Road on the map, this does not mean that you will pass them in a day. Go DAY. Usually they move at night, but any dunce who walks at night - 10 out of 10 will get a bullet. We walk during the day with a white sheet, we surrender, we will hide - we will collect fire on ourselves.

Reach the cordon or barrage cordons, drop your pistol, and with your hands raised, actively demonstrating in a voice that you are here, showing a white rag, go to the soldiers. You don’t go anywhere, you go to a checkpoint or a support post, if necessary, go to it with your hands up 200–300 meters. The bottom line is that the post is equipped for "reception" and the soldiers feel more comfortable there, respectively, there will be less desire to shoot. You are starting to be bullied. You have already thrown off your weapons, you are a “quiet layman”, an officer will come out to you. Most likely, some lieutenant, no older. This is to the fact that there is no need to especially fawn before him. Offer to exchange valuables for the "right of passage". Certainly not with subordinates. If everything went well, then you left the city.

On the way, you will 100% lose almost all the swag and all weapons, spending 1-2 days on the ridiculous distance. AND THIS IS NORMAL. The city, taken in the ring, is a huge camp of prisoners. You can give anything to get out. Because hunger will begin inside and soon enough.

So, we walk carefully, but do not hide like "scouts". We are dressed as civilians and we have a white rag on our backs (from the front it will be clear that you have no weapons, but from the back it will not be clear about weapons, you need to insure). We have a small bag with vital swag. There is jewelry (gold) as a currency. A weapon that we do not forget to part with before we approach the military at the post (if they accept you with a weapon, it will be difficult to explain that you are a civilian; you will either be recorded as a deserter or as an enemy in disguise). If you left the city half empty in 1-3 days, moving from district to district, then this is normal.

From personal experience: regular peanut snickers are very nutritious. 6 double Snickers is the daily calorie requirement for a man. It may not work to heat food (most likely). Snickers is certainly not a buffet, but the war is on, do not be picky in terms of food. The Snickers theme was honestly stolen from the Chechens. They fight for them. You can have a bite to eat right on the way, a very good topic, with sugar, glucose, it lifts your mood (considering that you are in a terrible psychophysical state - glucose is very useful).

The main thing is to understand that the guys with machine guns are very dressed up, they are being shot at. Giving them a reason to shoot you is very easy. So be careful and don't get carried away. The face is simpler, agree to everything.

So, now I will very briefly tell you where and why you need to dump. Remember, up to this point we have specifically analyzed the HARDEST SCENARIOS. Now we will do the same. I do it on purpose, “why?”, I think there is no need to explain.

So, the worst option: we almost without food and weapons found ourselves outside the city. Ideally, each of you should take, in advance (now), a map and draw several places on the map where you can retreat. NO HEROS! Let the foam come off, and there you will already figure out where and what is happening. You must choose places according to the DIRECTION of the cardinal directions. A simple example: SPB. Most likely, you won't have to stumble to the West. To the south is also pointless. You will go either to the North, to Karelia, or to the East, to the Novgorod, Tver regions. With Moscow, approximately, also, the North (the Arkhangelsk direction) or the East (the Ural ridge).

Remember: DO NOT approach military installations! The idea that “their Russian soldiers”, at the base in the region, will be accepted and fed is nonsense. In the BEST case, the officers will send you, they are not up to you, this is not a refugee reception center. But the fact that the bombing of the object can start is an objective reality. Also, do not forget the following point: now the deadline is “next to” the house. If the "kneading" has begun, it is better not to even imagine what is going on in the head of the military, relatives and friends, who may still remain in the city. Remember - all people. The military is just as worried, nervous and freaking out, like all ordinary people. But they do it with weapons in their hands. So the idea that "soldiers will help" is not a good one.

In general, according to your mind, you should have a “house in the village”, in which in the underground there is a cache of stew, canned food, water, medicines, etc., where you should retreat. The Chechens did just that, went to villages and villages. But we proceed from the worst scenarios, since many do not have such real estate.

So, it's easier for me on the example of St. Petersburg. Now I will estimate on the map. So, for each direction we should have MINIMUM two places. Near and far. For a close one, I recommend using any tourist campsite near a small settlement. If you have previously been in nature near some lake or river, for example, at barbecues, then it is quite possible to go there. First, you will know what to expect. Be aware of the availability of drinking water and food there. Secondly, you know the place. This will greatly support you psychologically. Refugees are a very sad picture, it is hard to look at them. But the “herd” exodus of refugees may not be organized by anyone, and you will leave alone and without an end point where “some” red cross will accept you. Most likely, it will be so, do not even doubt it.

The first serious "philanthropists" appeared in Chechnya after the first war. Two civilian years were left to themselves. So, we have two points near the city. Now we need two points for a "deep" retreat. If we retreat to the North, then I would suggest the Solovetsky Monastery (on an island in the White Sea). There is a village. Rabocheostrovsk, it has a ferry crossing. Of course, there will no longer be any ferry, but at the river station you can always “privatize” rowing boat. The White Sea is relatively calm. Swimming is real (difficult - but possible, you have no more reasons to whine, so let's row). In the East, I would retreat to the Iversky Monastery in the Tver region. It is also located on a small island in the middle of the lake. Nearby there are food warehouses and production facilities (along the M10 highway).

Why monasteries? They will not be bombed in the first place (this does not mean that the list of targets will not change in the second stage). Yes, here's another thing: leave the thought of Christian virtue right away. No one is waiting for you there and you will not be welcome. You go there to actually be sold into slavery. Wake up to work for them, housework, guard or something else - they will feed you. You go and say right away: "I am a strong healthy man, I will do any work for you, for food." About the moral responsibility of the priests to the laity - forget it right away, and it's better not to even open your mouth about this.

Of course, everything is conditional. You can choose another location. But the main principle is: your property is no more, you are quite happy to be in a semi-slave position if you are fed. By the way, the absence of your property also means that no one else has it. Anyone who cannot protect his property with a weapon does not possess property. This is for a conversation: how to get vehicles.

Of course, no public transport exists anymore. It is a plus for us that now you can get into the car. The car can be "privatized" or found abandoned. An abandoned car with an empty tank should not be touched. You will no longer get fuel and lubricants, and even if you push it, then nothing will shine for you at the gas station. Get hold of a car - hang it with white rags, ideally make a “cross” on the roof with red tape (this is not a panacea, such vehicles are also bombed, but there are more chances that they will score on you).

If everything worked out, then you have a roof over your head, work, food and people to talk to (this is also important). Now you can wait a week or two, see what is happening, assess the situation in the country and make a further decision.

Now a little cynicism. If you have a convoy from the family, you are dead. If you have a family, then you must leave the city and find yourself in the country (with food and water supplies) in the very first seconds, as soon as people on the streets began to swear about the Great Poo. If you do not have positions for retreat and have a "convoy" - you are a walking two hundred, and the convoy too. Don't be stupid, get ready in advance, your loved ones SHOULD BE DRIVED SOMEWHERE. And they must have food. Then do whatever you want. If you want - come back and fight, if you want - go back to the clubs while the wife is "on the potato." But the main thing is to think about them in advance, then it will be too late. Everything that I have said so far is all for the “loners” who have nothing to lose. If you have a family, prepare in advance. As history has shown, the family is more precious than the Motherland, at least at the first stage.

We decided to take part in the fighting

Further I will talk about some specifics of the database. How to behave if you have seen enough of patriotic films and decided to "die for the graves of your grandfathers." So that it does not turn into a "virtual club of thugs" - I will tell some specific little things in theses.

So, we start butting heads. This could have happened from the very beginning, or we had previously run and hid. The main thing to understand is that even if you are Rimbaud, you will not do anything alone. War is a team sport. Therefore, you must certainly join one of the parties to the conflict. Once again: you cannot fight alone! Even Vasya Zaitsev was fed and supplied with ammunition by someone, so no tricks, commandos. Agree, as a volunteer, to any of the dirtiest work, but as part of the Armed Forces. Even if they make you a "shrew" - that's good too.

Immediately I say, any thoughts, aspirations and hopes that everything will be simple and clear - discard immediately.

- In the army, no one always really understands anything. Most officers are tyrants, and the number of moral freaks who are eager to fight will go off scale. And this is normal (more precisely, not normal, but the norm). Remember, no matter how smart you are, you stick your brains in as deep as possible, and do everything exactly as you are told. Even if it's some kind of dumb obviousness, you DO NOT IMPROVISE. All in accordance with the charter and orders. Whoever starts to "be smart", no matter how logical and reasonable it may seem, always gets into a zalet.

- Remember, if "their" yell at you - this is not bad. No need to get angry. It's bad when they shoot at you. And sometimes this happens, since it’s quite difficult to figure out where one’s own and where strangers are. The battles are maneuverable and positions change constantly. You can confidently fight for several hours until the headquarters realizes, by radio communications, that you are shooting at each other. So that happens too. And then you don’t have to make claims to the “opponents”, they didn’t like it either.

– Remember the weapon is always on the safe. You take it off only if you start shooting or go in the "head patrol" (but YOU are unlikely to be there, the commanders will not risk it). If next to you, on the march, there is an idiot with a fuse removed - correct it. DO NOT BRING YOUR HANDS TO THE WEAPON. Correct with words, tell him about the fuse. If he refuses, then make your own decision: you can tell the sergeant or officer, you can score as you like. But remember that a lot of guys were packed into 200s because of the assholes sloppy with weapons. On the other hand, the fighter you set up in front of the commander can shoot at you later. Decide for yourself. Better stand your ground and press it yourself if your character allows.

- Never point a weapon at friendly people. Even in a "joke", even put on the fuse, even with the magazine unfastened. For such a focus you will be "punished".

- On AK, the fuse has three positions. Actually, blocking, automatic fire and single. If you abruptly remove the safety in a panic, then you will probably lower it all the way and put it in single-fire mode. This is done so that the fighter, distraught with horror, does not squander the store in a second and is not left without cartridges. Remember this.

- The fuse on the AK clang quite nasty. If you need to remove it quietly, then pull it back and smoothly switch to the desired fire mode (this is almost always a single fire).

- Before leaving, jump in place. Check that nothing is clanging or strumming at you. Swivels on weapons are best rewound in advance with tape or bandage. Cartridge in the chamber, and on the fuse.

- Study the tables of shooting for your weapons. The bullet does NOT fly straight. It has a ballistic trajectory with highs and lows. Therefore, competent determination of the distance to the target and knowledge of the shooting table is a good opportunity to hit quickly, which means reducing the time while they shoot at you.

- Wind affects the trajectory of the bullet. Study the effect of the wind on your weapon IN ADVANCE, and not by sight.

- If you go to the "autonomous", then you take on yourself 360 rounds (that's 12 magazines) and the same amount, but you just throw them in packs in your backpack. Save a lot on weight.

- Remember that the stores located on the chest and abdomen are additional armor protection.

“Most of the deaths and injuries come from shrapnel. An ordinary padded jacket is quite capable of protecting you from small fragments. Having hung on top also unloading with stores - you can consider yourself relatively protected. Don't forget to raise the gate.

- Bulletproof vest is very good. Any. Even the most used one.

- If a bullet hit your armor, this does not mean that he saved you. Since the energy of a bullet, stopped by an element of armor, is capable of inflicting a monstrous armor injury on you. Ribs are almost always broken. And rupture of organs is also possible. So if there is no hole in you, this is not a reason to rejoice. It happens that a hole would be "preferable".

- Don't touch the grenade launchers. It's hard to shoot them. Leave it to more experienced comrades.

- After spending several days in the open air, a smoker can be spotted at 70-100 meters. Quit smoking.

- If you heard something - stop the group and "give silence." Listen carefully. Even if you slow down the group every five minutes, only rare idiots will swear at you.

– You never, having stopped, do not continue to stand. You need to kneel or lie down. It's very exhausting, but it's a matter of survival for the whole group. If someone is too lazy to sit down - make him.

- There should not be a finger on the trigger, even if the safety is on.

- On marches, put the machine gun on your hands and fold them on your chest with a cross. So it's easier to carry. At the same time, the thumb of a good hand is always ready to remove the safety lock, and throw up the weapon quickly enough.

- A belt (automatic) is always on the neck. Otherwise, if you get ambushed, there will be a mine explosion and you will fly in one direction, and your weapon in another, and you will turn from a light 300 to 200.

- Don't sleep on duty. If you fall asleep, not only enemies will want to shoot you. In the Second World War, for this, as well as for the loss of weapons, they were officially shot. Now they are shooting unofficially.

– You can pee on your knees without turning into a standing target.

- Go to the toilet ONLY stock. One shit - the second covers. If no one wants to follow you, be patient.

- Sneeze into yourself.

- Who runs slowly - quickly dies.

– The effectiveness of grenades is overrated. There were cases when grenades exploded in a small room, and inside there were only light shell shocks.

- You can't pull the pin out with your teeth. Only fingers.

- If you are cleaning (the last hours of your life), then as in a joke: two people enter the room, first a grenade, then you.

- Standing in front of the door and waiting for your comrades, who are gathering for an assault, hold the door so that it cannot be opened. Otherwise, you will see either a grenade or a barrel in the corridor.

- Roll the grenade across the floor. Don't throw.

- They rolled a grenade, an explosion, rolled another one, but not cocked. Let them go hide again.

- Do not run in front of a friend's trunk. You block his ability to shoot.

- Any closed door is INCOLUTABLE, as it can be mined.

- Do not open boxes, do not turn on electronics. Don't touch anything. Everything can be mined. It is important. Up to the point that you can not open the refrigerator, even if you really want to eat, and lift the toilet lid.

- There may be gaps in the walls hung with rags or carpets. So the enemy can quickly run from the front door to the front door. Remember this. The fact that you are in the last apartment does not mean that you cannot enter through the wall from the next apartment.

- You can hang nets from old Soviet beds on the windows. They are good at stopping VOGs.

– You can hear meowing, for example, from behind the closet door. I'm sorry, but the animal is doomed. Most likely, he was locked there with a grenade. Can't be opened. This is very difficult moment, always, in such difficult situations I want to be human but...

- If you need to shoot from the premises to the street, then you do not need to crawl to the windowsill or stand to the side of the window. Go deep into the room, stand on a stool, hiding behind a wall or the like. And don't turn on the lights, you can't, don't light yourself up (I'm not talking about WU).

- Fragments of brick or concrete, knocked out by fire, have the ability to fly at you. When hit in the eyes ... well, you understand.

- It is useless to shoot at people with a grenade launcher. Although now, it seems, they have begun to make high-explosive fragmentation shells, but, IMHO, this is heresy.

- Shooting for a long time without changing position is a bad idea.

- Bend over.

- No need to "calculate snipers." Not your job, and you do not have enough knowledge. Fight on, "ignoring" attention.

- Be prepared, mentally, to "work out" the civilians who have exposed you. Including women and children. If the prospect does not please, then move more carefully.

- On the AK-74 (an instance with good accuracy of battle), you can fasten the PSO sight from the SVD. At distances of 500-600 meters, the trajectories of the AK-74 and SVD are very closely connected, the sight will fit perfectly. You will shoot and carry fire, due to the caliber, much faster than with SVD. And those who decide to look for a sniper will not be interested in you.

- It is IMPOSSIBLE to shoot from a grenade launcher indoors. He has platoon time. He needs to fly 15–25 meters before the grenade is cocked. Accordingly, it simply does not work indoors.

- Modern RGO and RGN grenades explode FIRST of all on impact. They have a percussion fuse. and an explosion through the gap - this is a self-liquidator (in case the grenade fell into loose snow)

- No one, not even sappers, is engaged in the removal of mines and VU. They stupidly undermine them with a TNT bomb. No need to be smart and start shooting VU.

- On streamers, normal warriors, they put secrets so that they can’t be removed in a simple way. So "cutting the thread" is a bad idea. Just pass by. It's none of your business, there are older comrades for that. I will not teach how to do WU and stretch marks. I think you understand that this is an article right away. Learn first aid.

- When wounds are venous and arterial bleeding. They are treated differently. But something else is important here. There is no time in the heat of battle. With venous bleeding, a friend will die for several hours, and with arterial bleeding, literally 10-20 seconds, and then loss of consciousness and hypoxia begins. So, in order not to take a steam bath, you quickly apply an arterial guzzle over the wound (now the interns will start to resent, but such is life, this is not a citizen, you have to break it) and return to battle. Your friend will have half an hour or an hour to figure it out himself, well, or you will do it when you are free.

- The harness is always at hand! Neither in a bag, nor in a backpack - either wound on the butt, or unloading at hand.

- Always take TWO harnesses with you! You can give one to a wounded comrade and in a minute get a bullet in the femoral artery.

- There is such a thing as "suppression by fire." Actively watering the enemy, often, you can shackle his actions, without even hitting or causing damage to manpower. Tracers will especially help you.

- Remember the tracer, in addition to the fact that they very much clog the barrel, they also give out your position. So don't overuse them. Yes, and it is difficult to conduct aimed fire with them.

“Weapons need to be cleaned every day. Especially gentle in the area of ​​​​the muzzle brake. If there is a groove or a hole there, then the accuracy of the battle will drop dramatically.

- The last three rounds in the magazine, it is better to score with tracers. So that an empty store does not come as a surprise to you. Moreover, if you leave one cartridge in the barrel, then you will only need to spur on a new magazine, that is, the reload speed will increase.

- Watch your feet, do not be lazy to wash them. Rub it - and you are no longer a warrior. - If you see that you can shoot at someone, this is not a reason to shoot. If you haven't been spotted, ask the commander if you can get involved in the battle.

- If you notice someone, but you have not yet been seen, do not jump sharply to the side. Peripheral vision will give you away instantly. Gently and smoothly, slowly, sit down and calmly take a position. It will be much less noticeable.

- Remember, when sending a cartridge chamber, the bolt must be released sharply so that it clangs. Otherwise, it will "chew".

Equipment list

FOR WAR! Not for hiking! Notation system: items marked with an asterisk are items that are NOT a priority purchase. I write things for different seasons mixed up (but this does not mean that all this needs to be put in one backpack), it’s not necessary to drag everything with a failure, of course. You should have everything at home. So that you can change equipment for different tasks yourself. I must say right away that I am not a fan of Gorka. I prefer a good dense field uniform and on top of a camouflage coat, so "Gorka" will not be on the list.

1. Bertsy. There are two conditions for choosing: not to let water through, and weight. Choose the lightest ones.

2. MINIMUM five pairs of socks (including winter socks).

3. Tight pants

4. Thermal underwear

5. Several T-shirts, only cotton

6. Thick field jacket

8. Maskhalat (both summer and winter)

9. Fleece jacket (instead of a sweater, it is lighter, weight is very important)

10. Winter jacket and winter pants

11. Winter boots (I advise "Husky p.080" - cheap and cheerful)

12. Winter hat (knitted, no need to carry earflaps, it is heavy)

13. Cap or panama, for the summer. Better panama from tarpaulin, that would at least a little kept moisture. There is one in Splav, it's inexpensive.

14. Winter scarf

15. Arafatka

16. Gloves or mittens for the winter

Gear and equipment

1. Raid backpack for 60 liters

2. Assault backpack for 25 liters *

3. Five-point *

4. Sleeping bag

5. Knee pads

6. Canvas raincoat tent

7. Foldable mat

8. Unloading *

9. Bulletproof vest

11. Active headphones *

12. Ballistic goggles *

13. Armored helmet, or, in the worst case, a helmet

14. Flask or hydrator

15. Small infantry shovel

16. Landing rope 50m *

17. Pot with podkotelnik

18. Gas burner

19. Carbine

20. Compass

21. Paracord 20 meters

22. Fork spoon

24. Mirror

25. A set of threads and needles

26. Matches

27. Weapon cleaning kit

28. Gun oil

30. Shooting gloves

31. Insulating tape

32. Heat sources

33. Lantern

34. Tactical gun belt *

36. Watch with arrows

37. Pencil

38. Paper

39. Army radio *

41. Insect repellent (not smelly)

42. Binoculars *

43. Rangefinder *

44. Multitool *

By medicine

Take what you personally need, for your personal sores. Plus: 3 arterial tourniquets, 2-3 PPIs, lots of bandages, scissors, sutures, pain medication (pills if your teeth hurt, for example), disinfectant. You also need promidol and some HARD antibiotics (but you are unlikely to buy them at a pharmacy without a prescription). Activated charcoal will not be superfluous, otherwise, under loads, the stomach, it happens, starts to engage in nonsense. I also advise you to collect a set in ampoules of ketanov, dexamethasone and cordiamine. Well, a syringe for them, of course. This is an anti-shock kit. It will not let your heart rise due to the fact that the brain has collapsed pressure on you from pain or blood loss (and as a rule they go somewhere nearby).

How to survive during the war in the city?

Tips from a citizen of Donetsk

Valery Simonov

© Valery Simonov, 2017

ISBN 978-5-4483-9779-0

Created with the intelligent publishing system Ridero

Foreword

War has its own logic. In accordance with this logic, events develop around, people begin to live according to it, and people act when war comes to their house. In this book, I will share more than three years of experience living under shelling in my hometown of Donetsk. I will describe the logic of the war, and give advice: how to survive for an ordinary person in a war in the city. You will gain knowledge based on practice that will save you from fatal mistakes, and possibly save your life.

I will not describe in this book how to properly apply a tourniquet, stop the bleeding, or carry the wounded. All this is in abundance on the Internet. There will be other information here. You will understand what is happening around, where it is most dangerous to be, how to distinguish incoming shots from outgoing ones, how to behave on the Internet so as not to become a fire spotter on your own house, when you should not worry even when shelling a city, where various types of danger can await you , in what cases to run to the bomb shelter, and much more.

This book is a practical guide to survival in the city during the war. Download it to your mobile phone so that it is always at hand. And I pray to God that the day never comes when you may need this knowledge ...

About the most important

First of all, I want to talk about the most important thing. First, war is the extreme degree of degradation of society. It is like a boil that is born, matures, fills with pus, and, one day, breaks through. When bombs begin to fall on your head, you realize that the total godlessness of society has led to all this. I am telling you this as a deeply religious person, and you will understand this too, but then it will be too late to change anything. Perhaps you are reading these lines with a smirk, but believe me, when your city will shudder from explosions, you, sitting somewhere in the basement, will be the most religious person. Your prayers will be more ardent and sincere than the prayers of Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, and you will not need a prayer book. You will be surprised how your lips will find the words for prayers. If you don't want to be in this situation, start fighting against godlessness right now, and then maybe you will prevent a war.

Second, we are all going to die one day. And to die in a city in which there is a war, the chances are much greater than in normal peacetime. You can die on the street, at home, and even in the basement, where you will hide from shelling. There were many examples in the Donbass when shells flew into basements and cellars, where literally, just now, people had descended. Even if you take every precaution, you can still die. But don't despair, I have good news for you. You can take care of your soul in advance, and move from death to life. In this case, you will not suffer any harm from death. You ask: "Is it possible?". Maybe. Reconcile with the Almighty, receive forgiveness of all previously committed sins, start life from scratch. Live as if it were your last day on earth, do not defile yourself with bad deeds, and your conscience with bad thoughts, be ready at any moment to meet the Creator, and you will be happy.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

(Gospel of John 5:24)

That's all I wanted to say about the most important, before proceeding to the description of survival in a war. If you put your relationship with God in order, then death will not be so terrible for you, because you will ALREADY have eternal life, and, leaving your mortal body, you will immediately find yourself in the arms of the Lord. Isn't it wonderful?

Enemy at the gate

The front line is approaching your city. Each of you will certainly ask yourself the question: what to do? I will not give you advice on what to do. I will describe what will happen around you, and what to do, you decide for yourself. Each of you has a unique situation, different opportunities, and a different worldview. Everyone looks at the war in their own way. Someone takes up arms, someone leaves, someone decides to stay, but at the same time does not want to take a direct part in the war. I have no right to give you advice: take up arms, leave, or stay. You make decisions yourself, I will only try to give objective information that will help save your life.

I don't know who your enemy will be and how the war will unfold in your region. I do not know whether your city will be completely surrounded, or whether it will be possible to deliver food, necessary goods and medicines to it. I don't know if any countries will support you or if you will fight alone. I don't know how loyal your enemy will be to the civilian population if the city is captured. In my situation, there are humanitarian corridors, Donetsk is not surrounded, the delivery of goods and medicines is possible. In the event of the capture of the city, the civilian population is likely to expect purges, filtration camps, prisons and robbery. No one wants to give up the city just like that. The war will be for every house, every street, every district. I assume the city will be destroyed. This is briefly about the conditions in which I personally find myself.

So, the front line is moving towards your city. First of all, the outskirts of the city and villages within a radius of up to 50 km begin to suffer. I want to warn you right away that in the acute phases of the war, the military use the definitions of friend or foe only in relation to each other, and in relation to civilians, this concept is relative. Let's say, three days ago, the defenders of the city stood 20 km from the city in some village. For the inhabitants of this village, these soldiers were “their own”, and for the military, the inhabitants of this village were also mentally “their own”. Everyone unanimously endured shelling, rescued the wounded, pulled people out from under the rubble of destroyed houses, the military could deliver humanitarian aid to civilians. But three days later the situation changed. The army of "defenders" left, the army of "liberators" came. "Liberators" and "Defenders" switched places.

Now those who yesterday were "defenders", without any twinge of conscience, will fire from heavy artillery at the same village, and civilians will suffer from shelling in the same way, along with yesterday's "liberators", who turned into "defenders" . If a sniper sat down in your five- or nine-story building, they will shoot at it from a tank, regardless of who you are for the military: “friends” or “strangers”. At the time of the battle, the tanker will think about you the least. His main task will be to destroy the enemy. And if for this it is necessary to demolish the house, he will demolish the house, without even thinking that there may be someone else in the house besides the sniper. Therefore, people themselves should take care of their safety first of all. If for some reason you are in the house, while there is a fight on the streets of your city or village, it would be best to go down to the basement.

A little about basements. If you went down to the basement, be sure to leave a sign at the entrance to the basement with the inscription: "HERE PEOPLE". Even if it is a basement in the courtyard of your house in the village, still let those upstairs know that there are people in the basement. This must be done for two reasons. Firstly, during the cleansing of a city or village, no one will immediately climb into the basement. They will first throw grenades at him, and only then they will look: is there anyone there? For the military basement, this is a threat. An enemy can hide in the basement, mines and streamers can be stuck in the basement, and so on. If you use a sign to signal that there are ordinary people in the basement, and you hear that someone has approached the basement, shout as loudly as possible so that you can be heard above, something like this: “Don't shoot! There are people here!" But at the same time, categorically do not stick out, because the military can shoot at you with a machine gun. Let him hear your voice first, and only then, if he enters into a dialogue with you, can you carefully appear, raising your hands so that the military man can see that you have no weapons in your hands.

Secondly, a sign with the inscription "PEOPLE HERE" is necessary in order to get you out of the rubble if your house is destroyed. In addition, the basement should be equipped with a place to sleep and rest, warm clothes, a supply of water, canned food, and other food. Take the most necessary and valuable things (jewelry, money, documents) with you. Jewelry and money (if you have a lot of them) can be buried somewhere in a secluded place, or sent to your relatives. But the documents must be with you. Otherwise, any of the conflicting parties will be arrested to determine your identity. It is not necessary to live in the basement, because shelling is not carried out continuously around the clock. You yourself will see and understand when you need to hide in the basement, depending on the nature of the war in your region. I will describe the nature of the war in the next chapter. And here I will add a few words about what is happening within a radius of up to 50 km from the city.

Now, in 2019, Russia is experiencing perhaps one of the longest crises in the history of the country. Indeed, for many families and businesses, the crisis has been going on since 2008, someone felt the impact of the crisis in 2014 or 2015. One way or another, we are all affected by a massive economic crisis.

The current crisis is destroying large companies, making billionaires bankrupt, forever depriving entire cities and regions of the future. How to survive common man? How can people survive in the outback without work and the opportunity to move to Moscow? How to find money for the treatment of a child in a crisis?

How is the crisis affecting you and your family?

I can say one thing for sure, it will definitely get worse. Provided that you do not gather strength and solve your problems.

In this article I will talk not just about how to survive in a crisis, but about how to get out of a series of troubles forever and become an accomplished and wealthy person.

First of all, let's agree that we really look at the situation.

The Russian crisis of 2019, by and large, does not depend on anything that happens outside the country. The real cause of the crisis is purely Russian problems, we will not go into them now, read our more detailed materials on this subject:,.

Thus, even if something completely unbelievable happens, and the price of oil doubles, and all sanctions are lifted from Russia, the country's leadership will still come up with something that will smash the country again and lead to another round of "insoluble problems, it's only a matter of time.

However, you don’t even have to worry about this, because it is unlikely that most of the sanctions will be lifted from Russia, in the same way, it is unlikely that the price of oil will increase significantly.

Therefore, keep in mind that the crisis will not end either in 2019, or in 2020, or in 2022. Whatever happens, the Russian economy will be in a bad state, it will be hard for business, it will be bad with work, the incomes of the population will not grow significantly, and social sphere will get worse. Briefly speaking, ordinary people it won't get better.

So don't rely on anyone but yourself. Only your own actions will solve your problems.

How to survive in Russia?

In this article, I will give practical advice on how you personally get out of this crisis. Of course, I don’t know exactly what situation you are in, so let’s assume that everything is not so bad, there are some incomes and an opportunity to earn money. In general, our recommendations are suitable for any audience: working people, entrepreneurs, retirees. But for very difficult situations, I have special recommendations, they will be at the end of the article.

Take control of your finances

Ultimately, you will work to increase your income. But in the short term, you need to quickly get to grips with the budget you have now.

Manage your personal budget

Make a table with your monthly expenses and income, fill it out every day and make even minor expenses.

As always in our articles, there will be a lot of videos here. We have selected very useful videos for you, watch them now, save them in your browser if you haven’t finished watching (or to review later), the videos are useful (well, almost all), there are moments that expand and complement the article, there are cool things, which we do not mention in the text.

At the end of the month, it will be possible to soberly assess your budget, understand what parameters, how to strive for in terms of expenditure and revenue.

Most importantly, figure out how you can save here and now. What are your impulse purchases? What products can you replace with cheaper ones that are healthier?

Give up bad habits and unhealthy foods

Analyze not only your budget, but also your habits. Is there anything you are wasting your money on? What doesn't help you to be healthy, rich and better?

Here are a few examples of foods to avoid:

• cigarettes
• alcohol
• mobile games, computer games
• sugar (buy only for baking)
• culinary semi-finished products
• chips and snacks
• packaged juices and soda

Food can make up 40% to 80% of a family's monthly budget, so this part of the grocery basket needs to be put in order first.

How to do it? It's simple, remove an expensive (by your standards) and harmful product and replace it with a cheaper and more useful one. In some cases, you can remove an expensive but not harmful product, replacing it with a cheap and useful one.

First of all, you need to figure out which foods are harmful and which are healthy. A good way is to read the articles on the information portal of the Sekt school. Be sure to try new products for yourself, now they sell a lot of grains of good quality and at an affordable price, which will be much more useful and economical than pasta and dumplings (I'm not talking about Doshiraks): bulgur, pearl barley (we have a spoiled image of pearl barley, but in Italy, it is highly valued), quinoa.

How to survive the crisis?

Look for sources of additional income

Even if you have very little time, you can find an opportunity to earn additional income, albeit a small one.

Refer to large job sites such as HeadHunter, Superjob, as well as the vacancies section on Avito. Job sites always have remote job offers as well as part-time jobs.

How to prepare for a new crisis?

Make savings

Even if you don't have much money, save. This is important financially, it is also important for psychology.

Savings can be quite small, the main thing is that at the end of the year you have a small amount left that you can put aside “for a rainy day” or spend on large optional purchases.

As a rule, it is advised to save 10% of income, but for a start, 1% will be a plus.

There are two savings strategies applicable in a crisis situation, you can use either one or both.

The first is called “pay yourself first”—you decide how much money you save each month and the first thing you do when you get paid is that amount.

The second is to set aside all the money of a certain denomination that you come across during the year. As a rule, this is the smallest denomination, but in Russia people most often save 50 ruble bills (personally, I save not only 50, but also 2000 and 10 ruble bills, they are just very rare and every time for me it turns out to be a bonus to savings , although 2000ers are a temporary rarity). Within a month, such an accumulation will be imperceptible, but at the end of the year you will accumulate extra 5-10 thousand rubles.

In addition, most banks have a service for automatically replenishing a savings account; it is tied to a plastic card and, after each purchase, transfers a small amount to savings.

Crisis is the time of opportunity! Ideas for those who want to not only survive, but also succeed

Take control of your head

In parallel with putting things in order in your wallet, let's put things in order in your head. As you know, a crisis is a time of opportunity. Think about this idea. How can you use the crisis for good? Understand your habits, your thoughts, your career. Do things you wouldn't do in a more comfortable environment.

A crisis is a very difficult time. But also a crisis is a challenge, thanks to which you can become stronger, smarter, happier and richer.

Understand yourself

First of all, try to really understand yourself, if you have not already done this or have not done so.

What are yours psychological problems, complexes, fears? Do you have depression, even if it's mild? We all have "cockroaches" in our heads, absolutely every person, and in a crisis there are only more of them. No need to "drive" your problems inside - they prevent you from living, they prevent you from getting out of the crisis, they prevent you from developing.

Recognize your shortcomings and start working on them. If you need help, it's available. Traditionally, rich people solved their psychological problems, for the poor, these problems poisoned their whole lives and prevented them from reaching a new level in income. Now everything is different.

If you feel that you really have serious (but not clinical) problems that prevent you from living, working and overcoming a difficult situation in life, today such a useful thing as an online consultation with a psychologist has appeared, which greatly reduced the prices of specialists, and indeed made the services of a psychologist much more accessible. I personally wholeheartedly recommend the Happiness Trend project, but there are other psychologists who consult online.

If you have problems (again, not clinical), but no money at all, from the word at all, try using written practices from psychologist Daria Kutuzova.

Be confident

Self-confidence is the foundation that makes your life much easier and better, no matter what happens in it.

Uncertainty and fears are the poison that will poison any success and any achievement.

So do not even doubt, choose confidence.

How to cultivate self-confidence? To get started, watch Yitzhak Pintosevich's cool video training, it will take 40 minutes to complete the tasks.

To what Yitzhak said, I will add two more pieces of advice.

Use affirmations. The first version of the affirmation is to write down a few inspiring quotes for yourself on small pieces of paper, your most significant goals, reminders of past successes and look through for a minute every day.

The second version of the affirmation is not for everyone, but many successful people use it (including one of my close relatives), so if you take a shower in the morning, come up with a chant for yourself, for example: “Banzai, this is my day, I can” and all that stuff. I know it sounds strange, but I'm not too lazy to retell a story on this subject from Hal Elrod's book The Magic of the Morning. The author of the book lived for some time in his friend's house, there were many empty rooms in the house, so he sheltered Hal for a while without any problems. And Hal was very amused by the habit of this friend every morning to shout at the top of his voice something so motivating in his soul. Every morning, Hal thought: "Here's a jerk, screaming again." And then it suddenly dawned on him: “wait a minute, it’s me now living in HIS house, and not vice versa.” So draw your own conclusions.

There are many other options for affirmations.

Education and development

Whatever you do, you need to learn. What to study? There are three things you should study.

First, what everyone needs to study in general: personal development, creative thinking, personal effectiveness. In addition, if you work not as a narrow specialist (medical or working profession), but as an entrepreneur, self-employed, manager or manager in some direction, most likely you also need to study marketing and sales, regardless of the specific specialization at the moment.

Second, learn what it takes to achieve a higher level of excellence in your profession here and now, ideally something that can be applied today or tomorrow.

Third, learn what you need to get to the next level of career growth or professional development. For example, if you work in manufacturing, study disciplines that will help you work on more complex equipment (if you want to grow in this direction) or manage people (if you want to pursue a managerial career in manufacturing).

Create an individual educational program and work with paid and free sources.

Many useful videos can be found on Youtube, in addition, there are several services with whole free video courses.

personal plan

In order not to find yourself in the same difficult situation again as now, you need a personal plan for the years ahead.

There must be a well-developed strategy for the coming year.

Ideally, it would be good to have a fairly detailed three-year plan. And besides, you should have a more general plan for 5-10 years.

The foundation of the plan is a strategy for personal and professional development. How much do you want to earn, who to be, what do you need to do in order to earn so much in this profession or in this industry, what do you need to learn and what results do you need to achieve in order to become a master of your craft, able to earn the right amount, what will you do for this do this year, this month, this week.

Put yourself in the right context

You have a professional development strategy, you have a long-term plan. Now think about whether this is feasible in the environment in which you are and in the place where you live?

It is possible that you need to change your social circle, it is possible that it will be useful to change your place of residence.

So, understand what you want from life, who you need to become for this, what you need to do for this, who should surround you in this case and where you can achieve this (in what industry, in what company, in what place) .

And what to do in the most difficult cases?

Probably, the strategy I have described is always applicable and certainly always useful.

But, of course, there are situations when it is more difficult to do this, there are situations when it is easy.

If you are under 30 years old, and you are more or less healthy, all doors are open to you, any perspective is available to you.

What if you are over 50? Or are you even a pensioner over 70!

In addition, today there is a nationwide volunteer movement around Alexei Navalny, this is a great option for you also because Navalny’s program has measures that will simply help you personally (not that there are high chances for its implementation, Navalny was not even allowed to vote before the elections , but nonetheless).

Expand your comfort zone

It is for you that “getting out of your comfort zone” is most relevant.

Where you are now (in every sense), you already understand and know everything. The result of your finding is also evident, and, apparently, you are unhappy.

You need to discover the world around you, get new information, awaken the ancient instinct of a hunter and gatherer in yourself, which looks out for opportunities around and finds them.

What opportunities will you find? Unknown. It might be new interesting job, an old acquaintance who has earned a lot and will help you, a new acquaintance who will offer you to live in his house in the winter while he is on vacation in Thailand. Perhaps you know something or know how to do something that is very important and valuable for someone, you just do not know that someone needs it. Anything can be.

Publication from Psychologies Russia/Psychology(@psychologiesrus) Dec 17, 2017 at 4:14 pm PST

Break your habits, go to new sites, read magazines new to you, go to open popular science lectures, exhibitions, take part in social and cultural projects.

Learn to look at your problems easier

The more difficult your life situation the more problems you have. Learn to let them go. It seems easier said than done, but, in fact, it is only a matter of, firstly, choice, and secondly, habit.

Make a choice - not to worry, to be strong or strong and happy or happy.

And then cultivate the habit of calmly looking at your problems and simply solving them.

I bring here two videos, they are very important. Probably the two most important videos in the article.

If you have a really difficult situation in life, you must watch the first video. But the second - do not just watch once, but revise.

Name

How to survive in a crisis. Practical advice for ordinary people

You don't have to rely on anyone but yourself. Only your own actions will solve your problems.