Thank you. Two people have already reached out, and I am very grateful for that. (Will edit the post now.) May I ask you for advice on what to tell relatives who ask “And what would you have done if...”? Their ifs are usually so bad that I cannot come up with anything different from “Well in that case, I’ll probably be drifting down the Dnipro river right now”. I mean, I feel like I’m supposed to either give them some totally cool rational answer or burst into sobs, and I can do neither on the fly. If you could invent something real wise, that would help much.
Well, I guess it depends very much on the situation you are asked for. Generally speaking, I think those are idle questions: unless you’re prepared like a Special Force operator, you usually in a crisis situation will behave instinctively. And if the situation is so bad, then you’ll die, yes, like anyone else in that situation. But why they ask the question? Is this something that you are particularly probable to face? Like a job-related risk or a well known danger in the place you live? Because in that case, then I would put much more effort in thinking and training on how to cope. If, on the other hand, those are idle questions, then I think they deserve an idle answer: “I don’t know exactly, but I’m a grown woman, somehow I’ll manage it.”
As far as I can tell, it’s just healthy sportsmanlike interest. Like, “I went to the shop and a drunkard threw his bottle at me, so I waited for a bus on my way back.”—“AHA! And what would you have done if there were THREE of them, and they had KNIVES?!” - ”...”
Thank you. Two people have already reached out, and I am very grateful for that. (Will edit the post now.) May I ask you for advice on what to tell relatives who ask “And what would you have done if...”? Their ifs are usually so bad that I cannot come up with anything different from “Well in that case, I’ll probably be drifting down the Dnipro river right now”. I mean, I feel like I’m supposed to either give them some totally cool rational answer or burst into sobs, and I can do neither on the fly. If you could invent something real wise, that would help much.
Well, I guess it depends very much on the situation you are asked for.
Generally speaking, I think those are idle questions: unless you’re prepared like a Special Force operator, you usually in a crisis situation will behave instinctively. And if the situation is so bad, then you’ll die, yes, like anyone else in that situation.
But why they ask the question? Is this something that you are particularly probable to face? Like a job-related risk or a well known danger in the place you live? Because in that case, then I would put much more effort in thinking and training on how to cope.
If, on the other hand, those are idle questions, then I think they deserve an idle answer: “I don’t know exactly, but I’m a grown woman, somehow I’ll manage it.”
As far as I can tell, it’s just healthy sportsmanlike interest. Like, “I went to the shop and a drunkard threw his bottle at me, so I waited for a bus on my way back.”—“AHA! And what would you have done if there were THREE of them, and they had KNIVES?!” - ”...”
That doesn’t seem very healthy, unless it’s said in humour. What’s the point of drilling on impossible circumstances?
I don’t know, but my relatives and their guests do it all the time.