I will write something you will not come to like, but I have to write this, I actually was supposed to do this already several days ago, but somehow postponed it.

Now we will live through a psychologically tough period of switching from quick time to slow time.

We have been living for a month in the quick-time mode, many different events happened on a daily basis, the situation was changing from day to day, the news feed was full of different messages hastily following each other. We all lived in the high-energy mode, “on adrenaline”: both the ones at war and those who are volunteers, those who have left and those who have stayed. A person in this mode can work a lot, without any sleep, do incredible things following a fascinatingly intense schedule. They say such regime does not operate for long, burnout comes, but, in fact, one may live in this way even for quite long if the outer world is sending the respective signals.

And the outer world kept sending the respective signals in the form of hardly manageable event flow. When there are many events, that sets the pace for the brain to work, and, finally, for the whole body.

And now the situation is changing. The enemy’s troops already have no power and resources for active attacks. Even the reserves of bombs and missiles, aircraft and pilots for the total war on civilians will sooner or later start getting exhausted. And, at some time, we realize that the pace of the events has gone considerably down. Almost no news, and the news coming is almost the same from day to day. Some uncertain negotiations are going on, but every time they finish with a cheerful report “No special progress has been made in the negotiations today, the next meeting will be held tomorrow”.

But our subconsciousness reacts before our consciousness does, and on a deeper level. It gives the body the command to breathe out, for it not to die of tension. But our consciousness is not ready to breathe out. And that is a tricky point.

There is a large switch between quick- and slow-time mode somewhere in heaven, and it is now creaking to change to the slow-time mode. Those who attended the Maidan or actively participated in the events of 2014 know that I am talking about.

It is very difficult to overcome a storm, but it becomes even more difficult when a great calm replaces the storm. Over this slow period all types of “treasons”, conflicts and strife that used to be sleeping during the storm wake up, and they can tear to pieces the consciousness of an individual or the whole society in general.

Spring is transforming into a marathon, to put it mildly. And rules are different, breathing, way of thinking and life are different there.

But it is difficult to switch, so those who are covering the second kilometer at the pace of the hundred will not live up to the third kilometer. And the third kilometer is just the beginning …

Let me quote Alex Ruban:

“We are approaching the phase runners call a second wind. All those going in for running know that this stage is preceded by the pain in the breast, muscles, some dizziness, willingness to stop and the feeling that even a mouth wide open is not enough to breathe. For a well-trained athlete this phase is desirable since he knows that it’s going to become easier after it… For an untrained one it may evoke fright since the feelings resemble panic resulting from shortage of air”.

I don’t mean that the war will last long. I don’t mean that the war will be short. I am not speaking about war, I am speaking about your “breath”. Finally, victory is not yet the end of our marathon. We will still need to rebuild the country and to pull out the bear’s teeth.

Therefore, dear friends, start switching to the marathon. Set your mind and body, breathing and metabolism. If war finishes tomorrow, that will come as a pleasant bonus. And if it doesn’t, you will have enough power to survive. Mind that we were given 72 hours. And we are still here, while they are partially already in hell.

What helps:

1. Realization of the fact that time switching is a general process, not only happening to you, but to the whole society.

2. Understanding that you are not alone.

3. Believing in victory.

4. Being busy with daily affairs (different for everyone).

5. Saving energy by not wasting time on those who are not ready to hear you.

6. The picture of the future: personal, family, corporate, and national.

7. Self-care (“air hostess principle”: the mask should first be put on oneself); those who will not save themselves will not save either the country or the world.

8. Care for those who feel worse than you do.

Let me quote Alex Ruban once again:

“- feel free to ask others for help,

– help others,

– find something good in everything,

– transform everything into the good,

– look under your feet,

– look upwards,

– listen to yourself,

– hear others,

– believe in the future,

– overcome the past”

And remember: a great switch in heaven will once turn to the quick-time mode once again, with sudden creaking. And at that time we should have energy resources.

Author: Valerii Pekar, Ukrainian entrepreneur, mentor, teacher of numerous business schools, author, public intellectual

Translator: Halyna Pekhnyk

Illustrator: Maksym Palenko

Content Editor: Maryna Korchaka

Program Directors: Julia Ovcharenko and Demyan Om Dyakiv Slavitski