Eighty days of war. Is it possible to get used to war? A siren sounds, and we pretend not to hear, we read news and cry and move on. How can it be possible in 21st century?
Vova Ursulov:
I don’t think it’s possible to get used to living during a war. No, because there never will be. All life is divided into before and after
Yaryna Travnikova:
I don’t want to get used to living in a war, but it’s gradually happening. We have begun to live in a new reality, and it seems to me that there is no place for long-term plans. I am a person who loves planning, I really enjoyed setting goals and prescribing small steps to them. Now I just behave, depending on the circumstances, to see what is possible and impossible today. I think the war has changed us all, we will definitely not have the life we had before. I don’t think life after the war will be worse, it will just be different. However, today it is difficult for me to think about getting back “life before war”, I just think about what I can do now to make my life and the life of Ukraine continue even during the war.
Julia Krasii:
Sadly, I got used to living in a constant state of war. However, I guess it’s a normal human reaction—to adapt. I do whatever I can to make the war end faster, and this doesn’t take much of my time. So in my free time I started to learn to enjoy simple things again. Sometimes going for a coffee or an ice cream, sharing walks in the park with friends etc. I can call this my own way of adapting, but I don’t want to live like this a long time, though.
However, any coffee breaks and nice walks cannot be the same now. I believe that we all have changed, so did the world around us. Even when I am calm and embracing the beauty of the world, I cannot forget that some people in my homeland are getting killed right now.
I expect that we are never going to return to our old lives, because we are about to build new ones—better and brighter.
Marharyta Yanets:
It’s impossible to get used to living in war and definitely, we should not as these circumstances are temporary but not permanent.
Even if we are safe, even if we are far away from dangerous regions, we still are being influenced by war psychologically. Every one of us checks the news hundreds of times per day and worries about our relatives, our citizens, our soldiers, and our country. All thoughts are always about it. We all are having something like collective trauma because of it today.
When there was an outbreak of Covid-19 in the world two years ago, I was convinced that it was the most terrifying that can happen. But I was so wrong. The war is much more horrible.
Nevertheless, when we win, we will have to unite all our efforts to revive Ukraine and bring life back to it.
We will have to work very hard, but we know why we do it.
Nothing will be the same as it was before the 24th of February.
Now we have another reality.
And I believe that this is the reality in which we are free, integral, happy, harmonious, and at peace.
So, the only thing that I’m looking forward to is our win.
Maryna Yanovska:
I haven’t seen too much of war, I suppose. First 12 days we stayed at home even though it wasn’t quite safe. At that time, I couldn’t even imagine how to get used to it. That noise created by shootings and bombings always made me shake. The first few days, I was getting a bit scared every time I left our basement. For the first week, there was no time I went outside the house.
Then we moved to the west of Ukraine, and it was quiet there. No one seemed to be even concerned about the war. Let alone the dread.
And I got used to that. It’s so much easier to adapt to peace, rather than terror and death. I got used to ignoring air alerts.
When we returned, it was also quiet in Kyiv oblast (and so in my town). And air alerts are still ignored by me. I met my friends. We went for walks about five times by now.
It’s what getting used to means, isn’t it?
Now it’s hard to imagine returning to the state I’ve been in at the very beginning. I doubt, we would leave our home again. Now war feels far. Distant. However, it’s only till I turn on the TV. Or scroll the Facebook or Telegram and check news public.
It will never be the same as it was before the war. Many of us ignored it for 8 years. It felt unreal and unrelatable. However, now too many people saw the war on their own eyes. Lost their homes and close ones. We will never forget it. For a long time, we’ll hate the fireworks and thunder. But even more than that, we’ll never be able to forgive.
Halyna Kunashuk:
I just can’t get used to living in war. And I don’t want such a life. It is horrible. It is difficult. Furthermore, it is lost. It’s just our lost youthfulness. This is a terrible situation that in peaceful and civilized 21st century people of the country in the centre of developed Europe must die just because of their underdeveloped northern neighbours.
So I can’t just adapt to this situation. I am sure, that I have a right as a human to live in my native independent country, to speak and study my native language, to appreciate and promote its culture and traditions. And I am free to do that. I have that right! But my neighbours think differently. They want to deprive me of my land, my language, my culture, and my life. They want Ukrainians and Ukraine not to exist at all. And is that normal?
I hope, this terrible war will end with our Victory. Our army will save our country and our rights. And Ukraine will be a great, developed and beautiful European country. But I think, that after war everything won’t be as usual. Everything will change. The world will change. And especially our attitude to life will be different. We won’t be the same. I hope, people in Ukraine will become wiser. We will start to understand many important issues better. And in accordance, our life will change for the better. I really want to believe in it!
