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How to survive in a locked up world

For many years now, I have been creating artificial stressful situations for people, so that when taxiing them out people come out of them with useful experience and become stronger than they were before, and do not break down along the road.

What I am observing right now is that many are entering the current crisis with patterns of behavior that will increase the likelihood for them to be broken along the way.

In this article I have collected some recipes that will help many to consciously resolve some aspects of life in quarantine and in self-isolation.

First, let's deal with the facts.

At the moment, there are 3 global factors that significantly influence and will affect even more the course of events.

The first is the coronavirus, or rather the reaction to it.
Quarantines, self-isolation, restriction of movement, cancellation of events, closing of public catering enterprises, closed borders and closed air spaces.
In general, this reaction is quite adequate to the threat, but this reaction will have enormous economic consequences.

The second is the reaction of stock markets to future events. That unprecedented level of decline that has already occurred, and continues to increase, a little later we still very much comes around.

The third is what happens to oil. If there weren’t a virus, and accordingly a failure in the stock markets, oil would have a bit of an economy, but everything would have been relatively quick and not very painful, and together with the first two factors together they create the perfect storm.

Given all this, you need to understand and accept that this crisis will be long.
Quarantines and restrictions at best will weaken in three months. There are examples of this in China and Vietnam.

Confidence will return very slowly.

During this time, many people will be able to eat their “fat” supply.

Many businesses will manage to go bankrupt. And there’s nothing special to do with this either. Neither governments nor ordinary people have faced such a scale of disaster. Previously, there were similar situations locally, in some countries, regions, and most often people's problems were solved through displacement. Refugees just appeared. And now there’s nowhere to run, and it won’t work out. Borders are blocked, movement is limited. That is why we are all in almost equal conditions.

I am not saying this in order to thicken my colors and scare me. This is a simple statement of fact.

Now about what to do about it?


The most important and the key is to accept that the world will not be the same. It's like the world did not become the same after the Second World War, as the world did not become the same after September 11, and now we must understand that when a year or two has passed from now, the world will not return to that very one.

Many processes will be revised radically.

And the task of each individual person, as I see it, is to survive this period qualitatively, to remain healthy both physically and mentally, and as soon as everything starts to settle down a little and stabilize, have a resource and condition to join a new game.

It is for this that I have put together a series of recommendations and techniques that will minimize damage as much as possible and improve my chances in the future.

The first one.

Staying in a pre-trial detention center is much more painful for a person than being already in jail because there is often a hope in a pre-trial detention center that "everything is about to end and everything will be as before."

And these illusions are dispelled every time, and it is very painful, and increases the already considerable stress.

But for a prisoner who is serving a life sentence, everything is clear. He just learns to live in new conditions, and stress is reduced.

This I say to the fact that in this period it is important not to be guided by the promises of politicians and the government that “be patient a little more and that’s all ...” Even when quarantine, or restrictions on movement, are removed, everyone will not immediately run to restore everything.

It will be a long process.

Therefore, it is worth accepting that this is for a long time. This will allow you to relieve some of the stress that will be generated by disappointments and unjustified expectations.

The second one.

With great probability, everything that happens for an indefinite period will violate your usual scenarios and behavioral patterns.

In the beginning, it will be even pleasant for you, because the change of some scenery is always interesting to the mind.

But in two or three weeks, depressive states, panic attacks and other unpleasant reactions like sleep disturbances, attacks of aggression relatively close, psychosomatic manifestations can already begin.

This will be due to the fact that the foundation on which I stand is very important for our mind, and habits and rituals are an important part of this foundation.

One should set himself the task of creating new rituals and starting to follow them, even if there is no particular need for this.

This applies to such things as getting up in the morning, putting yourself in order, etc. Set specific repetitive tasks for yourself, so that even if you’re not going out at home, you’ll still have a schedule:

For example, decide that you call up your parents at 15:00, or do exercises at a specific time, or spend 30 minutes every day on reading business documentation, Or you’ll give out exactly 10 minutes to the news not at bedtime, but at 10 in the morning.

One of the reasons why Italians, Spaniards go to the balcony at 18:00 and sing that such a meeting at the same time adds stability and provides a foundation.

The third.

Many people have the idea that you need to “break through”, “hold on” and the like models. That is, to go through this period with the help of fortitude and indestructible will.

Everything would be fine in such a heroic approach, but there is a nuance called Post-traumatic stress disorder. The more you hold on to your strength, the higher the probability of PTSD subsequently. Therefore, in the course of the play, you should allow yourself weakness, and hysteria, and stick up, and tell someone that you feel bad and that you are experiencing.

To do this, meeting your loved ones online, such as in zoom or on Skype, drinking wine and talking about anything can be good support.
The main thing is not to “hold on” and “break through” in the context. Maybe it's worth interacting with a psychologist.

It is important to resolve all this at once, and not to drive deep inside. Here are some other tricks that will improve your condition:
Singing - to sing karaoke, just bawl songs, Italians also do not just sing.
Shouting is a very powerful tool to relieve tension.
Sex, sex, sex, in different variations. Not for nothing that the pornhub became free for Italians. Physical activity, again, in various forms: rearranging furniture, cleaning the courtyard of a private house, etc.

Psychologists say in such cases - do not plant the kidneys. More precisely, the adrenal glands are the body that is responsible for the production of cortisol, the stress hormone.

Short-range cortisol helps us to be productive. And in long periods it greatly depletes and leads to chronic stress, sleep disorders and the like. By relieving stress, we allow the adrenal glands to rest, thereby improving their condition. But do not relieve stress with significant doses of alcohol. It seems to be relaxing, but it creates additional problems that can further aggravate the condition.

Fourth.

It is not necessary to do all the time only what makes sense and purpose.

We are used to running somewhere all the time, moving towards our goals. Engage in activities in which you can be in the moment here and now.

Maybe it's needlework, maybe reading, maybe TV shows, maybe sex or even masturbation. That is, allow yourself to really do what is aimless.

Fifth.

It is worth changing your planning horizons. Stop planning for more than a week or two. It will be difficult for those who consider themselves to be achievers, who care about the results. In this uncertain period, the results will be difficult. Therefore, it will be necessary to accept that the process is now. Just a process, a process ...

and another process ... and ... Without result. And catch the pleasure of the process.

Sixth.

Start summing up the day. Not like what I did good in a day, or what I achieved.

And what I did, what I learned, what new I learned, whom I supported, with whom I talked.

Life has no meaning. There is life in which we can put meaning and value. Now especially this needs to be done consciously and intentionally.

Seventh.

Create a list of the activities available to you so that at the moments when it will seem “that everything is lost”, ass-ass, horror-horror, you can look into this list and choose something.
This will allow you to redirect energy from self-destruction to the structural channel.
It can be for example:

- telephone conversations with friends and relatives
- games on skype or feystime
- board games with roommates or remotely.
- reading (take care that there is something to read)
- workouts and strength exercises
- cleaning
- cooking and snacks
- writing texts and thoughts
- growing plants
- writing a business plan
- meditation
- sex and other amenities
- daytime sleep
- drawing
- dancing with headphones

And anything that will not burden you, but will be activity.

So. Once again I’ll list them, what should be done and not done:

1. Stop expecting a quick end to the situation.
2. Add new habits and routines.
3. Allow yourself weaknesses and not try to “break through”
4. Allow yourself meaninglessness and aimlessness.
5. Reduce the planning horizon.
6. Summarize the day.
7. Create yourself a list of available activities, in cases where it picks up.

These were tricks and approaches that would save your psyche from the destructive influence of the situation.

Now let's talk about what can be directed towards the future.

How can I invest in my future now?


The first one.

It is worth reviewing your budget and your usual expenses. Both in business and in personal terms.
The value of money in the near future may change significantly due to the fact that there will be a large surplus of man-hours in the world.

And here, to this point, you should not make emotional purchases such as 100500 rolls of toilet paper and a bunch of products that you will never eat.

The second one.

Start looking for alternative ways to make money right away. Even if you work in the farm industry. Most likely, financial flows will be very reformatted in the coming months.

And keeping your nose in the wind will be your plus rather than the minus. Do not count on much at once, but take steps. Resources such as kabanchik.ua, freelansim.ru, upwork.com, fl.ru, kwork.ru and the like allow you to easily find new interesting ways to earn money.

The third.

Start looking for what will create pent-up demand. These will probably be the first businesses to take off after they let go. Now the spring is being compressed, many of the needs that people and enterprises have will be put aside. It is important to find this pent-up demand, and prepare to accept it.

Fourth.

Make yourself an action plan that, even if everything is incomprehensible and unknown, can be implemented and this in any case will increase your productivity.

For example, plan to write detailed instructions for your employees and create an understandable structure for your business.

Or if you are not very friendly with accounting, plan yourself a training and practical mastery of management accounting.

Or implement budgeting. At home and in business.

Or re-read your leases, supplies, and laws that are related to it, so that when the time comes, you can review them.

Or clean up your purchasing infrastructure or computer network, or even personal photos.

Anything that this activity will qualitatively change your future opportunities.

Fifth.

Plan your training. Today we have a huge amount of resources available, where even for free you can study thousands of different topics, theories and practical tools.
Services such as: prometheus.org.ua, coursera.org is a storehouse of such opportunities.
There are tons of telegram channels where books, audio books, and instructional videos are available. Just make a plan and get started.

You can contact me, I can support and advise in these matters.

And, if you have read up to this point, the most important thing:

Use this time for your own good, and not for self-destruction.

Hope it was helpful.

Meet me in the new world :)

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