It’s probably worth mentioning right away that limiting emotional impulses is not the best way to bring lightness and happiness into your life. But there are some things that for every woman by the age of 35 will be just pleasant baggage, and not a heavy burden and useless experience.
For most of us, 35 years is... Golden time. The careless mistakes of youth are already in the past, in the eyes there is an alluring mystery and wisdom of life, and any 20-year-old beauty can envy her cat’s grace and ability to feel her sexuality.
1. Experiment with your appearance
By the age of 35, it would be good to decide exactly what hair color is absolutely not yours, which one makes you look fat, and which one makes you look older. It’s great if your appearance underwent all the harsh experiments at the peak of hormonal violence: at the age of 15-18. And at 35, without a twinge of conscience, you can review photographs of your daring youth, where there was a time of over-hydrated blonde, and pink curls, and green leggings, and crooked arrows a la smoky eyes (smoky eyes) at prom.
2. Have a blast (or not totally)
What could be more attractive than the look of a cat who has had plenty of exercise? She knows perfectly well what full drive is, but now she does not strive to break free at every opportunity. And this gives her a special mystery associated with her knowledge of the fullness of life. It’s great when a girl at 35 can remember dancing on the bar or on the table, and nightly swims in the pool, or even in the fountain, and other delights of passionate youth.
3. Make friends
Until the age of 35, you will have plenty of chances to find good, devoted girlfriends - at school, college, at work... She could even be your own sister or mother, and it would be very stupid not to take advantage of these opportunities. If you haven’t made a single girlfriend before the age of 35, that’s a pretty sad fact. Still, people at any age sometimes vitally need to share their joys or sorrows with someone and trust their innermost things.
4. Learn to cook deliciously
If at 20 years old poorly cooked meat can be attributed to lack of experience, then at 35 only a well-off and incredibly busy woman who has the opportunity to have a house help or a personal chef can afford the inability to cook. In all other cases, nothing can justify the inability to cook during these years.
5. Learn to earn money
Even if you successfully married a multimillionaire, then learning how to earn at least enough money for your underwear and lipstick will still not be amiss. In order not to end up at 35 years old, in which case, a helpless chick without the strength and possibilities of existence, a woman must be able to be financially independent.
6. Suffer in love
No matter what anyone says, almost any love suffering in youth is a great experience, and for many even a source of strength and inspiration. Only after going through such a harsh school of relationships can we understand “what is good” and “what is bad”, who can be trusted and who to be wary of. And often it is thanks to negative experiences in relationships that we can then recognize a true, sincere feeling.
7. Discover your sexuality
If by the age of 35 you have not succeeded, then you risk living with them all your life. What a 20-year-old woman cannot do, a 25-year-old woman is embarrassed to do; a 35-year-old woman must master the technique perfectly. A couple of sex experiments in the erotic collection won't hurt you. And the most important thing for a woman at 35 is to be able to have fun.
8. Patch holes in education
It is useful to read at least according to the program: “Anna Karenina”, “The Master and Margarita”, “The Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, and also get acquainted with the work Remarque, Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde... You can continue the list yourself. It wouldn't be a bad idea to improve your knowledge of history. It definitely won’t be superfluous, but it will definitely help to show off your erudition and better understand the world order.
9. Have a hobby
Self-realization in any of its manifestations is the best way against depression and illness. Some people become seriously ill with raising children, others scientific discoveries, parachuting or breeding hamsters. The main thing is to find what brings you pleasure.
10. Buy something crazy expensive
At 35, we are already big enough girls and can afford to fork out for a dream or even a momentary whim. The time for cheap fakes has passed and it’s time to buy really worthwhile things: say, elegant Louboutin shoes, or maybe a ring or earrings from Tiffany.
11. Learn to forgive insults
Holding a grudge against someone is more expensive for yourself. Nerves deteriorate, anger negatively affects mood and health. At 35, it's time to live life to the fullest and breathe deeply, without the stone shackles of resentment hidden in your chest. At this age, you should already have enough intelligence and self-respect to forgive your ex-boyfriend, best friend, or make peace with your relatives.
12. Increase self-esteem
No “I’m fat”, “ugly”, “I have short legs”, “sparse hair” and “thankless work”... By the age of 35, it’s time to either learn to accept yourself for who you are, or be able to hide and fight your imperfections. Fitness clubs, beauty salons, the right clothes and the right attitude towards your loved one are an indispensable must have for any 35-year-old lady.
13. Know the recipe for a cocktail that blows your mind and beware of its consequences
At 35, you certainly shouldn't be a chaste and innocent lamb. But it’s simply a must to be able to drink alcohol so that in the morning you won’t be ashamed of your behavior.
14. Find your hairdresser and gynecologist
These are two guardians of women's health. The first is psychological (the manipulation of a hairdresser is sometimes much more effective than talking with a psychologist), and the second is physical ( chief physician, after all, for women, which must suit you in all respects).
15. Learn and conduct small talk
If sudden outbursts of anger and harsh statements towards relatives, friends, and loved ones in adolescence can somehow be attributed to intemperance, then, you see, in adulthood a self-respecting lady should be able to control herself and be diplomatic in different situations. In addition, a woman must master the techniques of small talk - who knows in what circles and societies she will have to communicate.
In general, the list of what a woman should already have time to do before this wonderful period of life can be endless. Each of us has our own strict criteria and assessments of ourselves. The main thing is that they exist.
How to feel about your age when you reach the middle of your life's journey? Watch in our video:
In this article, we will talk about why it is so necessary for people over 40 to engage in self-development. What is a midlife crisis, why does it happen and how to deal with it. People who change their lives after 40 years gain a second youth and begin to live to the fullest.
Many people who reach the age of 40 or more become depressed. The reason for this is social stereotypes that a person can only be beautiful in his youth. Many companies hire employees under 30-35 years of age. The crisis at this age is intensified by the fact that a person begins to try on old age and worry about how he will look. It is at this age that many of their parents pass away. It reminds me of old age and makes me think that I'm next.
It is important to know! Decreased vision leads to blindness!
To correct and restore vision without surgery, our readers use ISRAELI OPTIVISION
- the best product for your eyes for only 99 rubles!
Having carefully reviewed it, we decided to offer it to your attention...
Many people believe that after 40 years it is too late to change anything. They are embarrassed to take courses, learn a new profession, and are afraid of being judged. They come up with stereotypes for themselves, how a person should behave after 40, what they should achieve, how they should look, etc. Many people are afraid of retirement and don’t understand how they will survive if they remain unemployed. Against the backdrop of these worries and worries, human health deteriorates.
The main questions of a midlife crisis are: “What have I achieved? What else can I do? Am I living right? Why did I come into this world? Why am I living? What will I leave behind? What's next for me? What needs and can be changed?
Olga Khukhlaeva
Is it possible to change your life after 40 years and how to get out of the crisis of adulthood?
To get out of the crisis, you need to analyze the past years and realize their value. The value is not personal achievements, but the significance of all life situations and circumstances through which one was destined to go. Thinking about his past, about his experiences, a person thinks about the meaning of life, about the values and priorities that he set. This leads to rethinking and reassessment of values, or vice versa, confirms that everything was done correctly.
Reassessment of values pushes a person to change and make changes in life. It is wonderful. The main thing is that a person does not have the fear of changing his life after 40 years. Not only a person’s internal needs, but also external circumstances can motivate change. For example, it is during this period that adult children leave the family and grandchildren are born. A person should find something positive in this. Children leaving for adulthood is not a reason to become depressed, but an opportunity to devote more time to yourself and your loved one. Go on a trip or change your field of activity. You can find yourself an interesting hobby. Some people dedicate their lives to their grandchildren and feel happy again to see a little version of your child grow up. In many countries, families have their own children after age 40. Why not. There is no need to be afraid of this, you will feel like young parents again.
At this age, you need to look at any changes positively. This is the age when you have enough strength, intelligence and experience to start any new business.
In addition to gratitude and acceptance of your past, you also need to appreciate your present. If it’s difficult for you, you’re depressed and don’t want anything, then write down on a piece of paper everything that brings you joy. Write down everything that makes you proud and happy. This will help you maintain a positive attitude.
At 40 it all just begins
People who have changed their lives radically after 40 usually communicate a lot with young people. They share their experiences, ideas and attitudes to life, and young people remind them by example how to have fun, enjoy life and not be afraid of change. Such multi-age relationships bring enormous benefits to both parties.
It is the midlife crisis that becomes a certain stage in a person’s development, enriches him and is an impetus for self-development after 40. This is a period of maturity when a person has not only accumulated enough life experience, but is also mature enough to realize it and understand the meaning of his existence.
All people are going through this crisis. But it happens differently for everyone. Some pass it quite successfully and painlessly. This happens if a person understands how to live and where to move next.
People who changed their lives after 40 years are open to change, reveal their entire hidden potential and resources. After all, in the first half of life, all energy is spent on creating a family, studying and career, and after 40 years there is time to think about yourself, about your true desires and needs.
During this period, a person must concentrate on his inner world and engage in self-development. Self-development after 40 years will give you the opportunity to become wiser and express your creativity and not fall into despair and depression.
How to discover new opportunities for yourself?
The soul of a person in the second half of life changes profoundly and amazingly. But, unfortunately, most smart and educated people live unaware of the possibility of these changes. And therefore, they enter the second half of life unprepared
Failure to understand these possibilities leads to the fact that a person begins to resist his age, focuses on shortcomings and lashes out at others. It is during this period that most often occur family conflicts, families fall apart, health deteriorates and professional productivity declines. But everything should be the other way around.
How can you help a person survive a crisis of 40 years? It is necessary to convey to the person that he has emotional problems, which are the cause of discord in the family and at work, and conflicts with friends. These problems can only be solved through self-improvement and active work above oneself.
Since the crisis manifests itself in depression, lack of joy and fear of the future, it is necessary first of all to help a person see the sources of joy in his life and convey that happiness is a state of mind. It cannot be found somewhere from the outside; happiness is a person’s attitude towards life. It is not determined by success, money, or the satisfaction of all desires.
To understand this, a person needs to keep a gratitude journal. In it you need to write down every day everything for which he is grateful today: for wonderful weather, health, housing, food, beauty, peace, etc.
Let's look at some sample stories real people who changed their lives after 40.
How did they do this and what exactly did they do?
Julia Child is a woman who first tried French cuisine at the age of 36. She was so impressed with it that she took a chef course and studied French food up to 51 years old. She became world famous when she wrote the book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” The amazing film “Julie and Julia: A Recipe for Happiness” was made about her.
Heidemarie Schwermer is known all over the world. She decided to experiment to see if it was possible to live a life without money for a whole year. She gave away her property and, in exchange for food, washed people's windows, did cleaning, and walked dogs. She felt so free that she continued her experiment. She lived like this for 17 years, now she conducts consultations and lectures on life without material values, since she is a psychotherapist by profession.
Richelle Jones lived with her son all her life, but when he grew up and moved to another city, she began to look for some meaning in life. As a result, she enrolled in photography and web design courses and began posting photos of her cakes on the website. Now she has opened her own pastry shop.
Saniya Sagitova from Ufa, after retiring at 55, decided that she wanted to travel. At 69 years old, she has already hitchhiked around 40 countries. She herself received a driver’s license to help drivers along the way.
Mark Manson is an American writer who runs his own blog. He turned to his subscribers with a request that they share their experiences of how they changed their lives after 40. During such an experiment, he collected advice from all people. The result was a kind of example of collective wisdom.
- Start taking care of your health, switch to proper nutrition, exercise. As the famous nutritionist Larisa Butkova said:
“Unfortunately, most people live in full accordance with popular wisdom: a person remembers his health when he gets sick, and begins to value it when he loses it. Therefore, there can only be one piece of advice here: do not put off “right habits” for tomorrow and do not look for excuses for yourself. It depends only on you whether your old age will be active or decrepit, and whether it will come at all.” - Get rid of exhausting relationships. Don't waste your life on people who treat you badly.
- Spend as much time as possible with your family and have children. It gives joy and prolongs youth.
- Don’t be afraid to start all over again, go to study and change your field of activity. Get rid of the prejudice that studying at 40 is too late. It's never too late to learn. It’s better to do something and regret it than to regret for the rest of your life that you never decided to do something.
- Engage in self-development. A person who is closed to everything new begins to degrade and becomes uninteresting either to himself or to those around him. You need to know yourself, reveal your internal potential, decide on true goals and desires.
- Loving yourself means taking care of yourself, doing something nice for yourself every day. Loving yourself means accepting yourself as you are, not getting hung up on the opinions of others and living your own life. full life. Listen to your inner voice and fulfill your wildest desires and dreams.
In the life of every person, sooner or later the moment of choosing a profession arises. When making plans for the future, many people picture in their imagination pictures of successful career advancement, increased income, minimal moral costs and, of course, the highest possible return from what they love.
How successfully the plans of the average worker come true can be judged by the passage of time; for some, everything is going as planned, while for others, work has become a heavy burden.
Every day, getting up early, going to the office, squabbles within the team and disgusting work moments cause not only indifference, but also aggression. Have you ever thought about changing your profession as an adult? It is especially scary to dream about this for people who have reached the age of thirty-five, when life is already settled, they probably have a family, and change is more and more frightening. Many people torture themselves with this topical issue until retirement, while others decide to radically change their lives and master a new niche. Is it worth changing your profession at the call of your heart? The answer is simple - it’s worth it!
An ideal profession, what is it like?
Each person’s orientation towards a profession has its origins in the family. It is not at all necessary that children follow in the footsteps of their parents and become an engineer like their father or a teacher like their mother. How many examples does history know when it was completely in vain that parents insisted that their child graduate from law school and become a sought-after lawyer or, on the contrary, devote his life to music, like everyone else in their family.
Van Gogh was forced to study trade, but his natural inclinations for drawing prevailed and quite successfully, and the world-famous Sobinov, having graduated from university and received the profession of lawyer, reached unprecedented heights as a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. All this suggests that natural abilities play an important role in the formation of a future personality.
First workplace very rarely coincides with the preferences of a young specialist. Many factors influence this: most often, after graduating from college, a person tries to find a job in accordance with his diploma, but due to a lack of experience and proper knowledge, the employee is glad to have the opportunity to apply his knowledge and receive at least a minimal reward for it.
Closer to adulthood, we begin to reassess our values and thoughts, which is why many of us think that we have not achieved adequate success in the career hierarchy and, most likely, are taking someone else’s place. From a psychological point of view, such thoughts are quite acceptable, because with age we not only accept our life as it is, but also try to change it for the better.
Sociological research shows that many are beginning to understand that work should bring not only financial reward, but also pleasure. As a result, working in the same team and performing the same work tasks is reduced to automatism, and all interest in work comes to naught, and the effect of “professional devastation” arises.
There are times when a professional path is chosen consciously, but the joy from the work process decreases over time.
Work becomes boring.
There is stagnation in professional development; there is no desire to master new material and find new creative solutions to “old” problems.
There are no prospects for career growth, because the peak of professionalism has long been reached.
My health is getting worse, I often suffer from headaches and depression for no apparent reason.
The human essence is such that a person feels complete when the most beneficial balance is achieved in his personal life and professional sphere.
What do you need to know about your ideal profession?
Successful self-realization of a person occurs only when priorities and motivators are correctly set. B.J. Bonnstetter states that the main motivators are:
- traditional;
- theoretical;
- individualistic;
- aesthetic;
- recycling;
- social.
If you realize your creative potential to the maximum, show your best professional side at work, and in return it makes you happy and brings satisfaction - you are on the right track!
Positive aspects of changing professions.
The first rule on the path to changing professions is to forget about age and professional skills behind you. According to scientists, a person who in adulthood masters new profession, has the same potential as a young specialist:
he easily assimilates new information, is happy about new achievements and discoveries in the professional field;
approaches each task with determination and creativity;
trying to achieve positive results as soon as possible in order to prove to himself and others that he is doomed to success in this area.
It is all these positive aspects and your inexhaustible potential that will be of interest to your future employer and will help you successfully pass even the most difficult interview. Be confident in your abilities and then your long-term dream can turn into a pleasant everyday life.
Are there any disadvantages?
No matter how professional a person is in a particular area, once you force him to leave his comfort zone, he stops believing in himself and self-doubt may appear. This state is normal, because one stage of life is over, but a new one has not yet begun. But remember that it is impossible to achieve improvement, development and success by staying in one place for many years, not moving upward, working on yourself, but reluctantly sliding along the beaten path.
The most important thing to do in this situation is to understand whether your fear is justified, what caused it and, of course, do not close yourself off from your uncomfortable moments, but work on them. If you are unable to cope and correctly interpret your fears and problems, it would be useful to visit a psychologist or coach who, together with you, will find a way out of a difficult situation.
What will help you survive the turning point?
Many books and films clearly show their audience that most changes in life are for the better. It often happens that after reading such a book or watching a movie, motivation appears to reconsider your values in life, change your way of thinking and, ultimately, change your profession. How long have you dreamed of leaving a stuffy office, breathing a breath of freedom from routine work and doing what you really like?
Each time you were stopped by a perceived consistency and a certain level of familiar comfort. It's time to take a step towards your dream! In addition, you probably had friends who went through global changes. They survived them, mastered new things, went through the unknown, right? So can you!
I would like to believe that the story told below will help you overcome uncertainty and start your professional life with a clean slate.
I once was the director of dealership centers, having worked in this field for about fourteen years, giving my maximum to my work and passing career ladder from the very bottom to the top, one day I decided that work no longer brought proper satisfaction. This understanding came after 35 years. I decided to change not only my profession, but also my field of activity. For me, my career lost its relevance, I wanted to work for pleasure and corresponded to my main motivators. I founded consulting company with trainings.
Here all the familiar and comfortable mechanisms that were well-established in work collapsed, the hierarchy of subordination developed over many years disappeared, where each employee of the company is responsible for the segment of work assigned to him, and the difficult times. I had to learn a lot again, learn and process huge terabytes of new information, delve into the process of building a business down to the smallest detail. At first, the work did not generate income, but I was prepared for this in advance, confident that over time my dream business would become profitable.
Thanks to my extensive and invaluable experience in consulting, I am able to provide clients with new, useful knowledge, train them, share successful methods and techniques. Today my profession brings maximum satisfaction, allows me to fully realize the best professional quality, and also, importantly, brings good income.
If I can do it, you can do it too, you just need to believe in yourself and look forward to the coming day with confidence!
Instructions
Make a list of what you do every day and start consciously changing it. You can get up and go to bed at different times. Make your menu differently than usual - instead of coffee in the morning, try drinking tea, or drink fermented baked milk instead of tea at night. Try your route from home and back. Go to an exhibition, meet friends in or sit in a cafe.
Be sure to kiss your lover more often in the mornings and evenings. This way you will demonstrate your tender emotions and thereby strengthen your union.
Get rid of the habit of “savoring” the acquired irritation by remembering the trouble that happened to you. See problems and crises as challenges and opportunities to make a difference. Problems are created by the person himself, clinging to what he must part with, experiencing fear of change. Life offers only new and new chances to return to yourself. After all, everything you need for happiness is within you. Each person is as happy as he considers himself to be.
Live in the present, living each moment as fully as possible. In pursuit of the illusory desired, you may miss something interesting, important that will make you think about yourself and the world around you. If you happen to find yourself in an interesting place (on an excursion, on vacation, or simply in an autumn park through which your daily route from work to home lies), plunge into this moment headlong, try to dissolve in it. This is the only way to start living life to the fullest.
Try to consciously change your attitude towards situations that happen to you along the path of life. Alan Cohen in his book Deep breathing"an experiment conducted by child psychologists. They brought a child who was behaving negatively into a room filled with new toys. Quickly moving from one toy to another, he returned, saying that he was bored. The teachers characterized the second child as positive and positive-minded. Taking him into a room with a large pile of horse manure on the floor, the psychologists were amazed to watch his reaction: the child smiled happily. When asked what he was so happy about, he explained: “There’s a pony somewhere nearby!” Getting into difficult situation, try to convince yourself that good is always somewhere very close, you just need to see and feel it.
To have a beautiful and slim figure, you need to work on yourself. A magnificent body is daily work, it is worthy goal, to which we should strive. It is possible to make this dream come true, but it will take some time.
Instructions
If you want to change your figure in a year, it does you great honor. After all, they often try to reset excess weight all or in general - . They starve, ruin their health, and then quickly gain weight again due to relapses. It's better to lose weight slowly but correctly.
So you have a goal. To stay motivated, keep yourself a notebook. Write down the date - the day when you look at yourself in the mirror and see a real beauty with a thin waist, slender legs and flat hair. Write down your current weight and measurements in this notebook every week. This way you will see positive changes and will not deviate from your plan.
Sign up for a gym or fitness class. You can choose any sport, as long as you enjoy doing it and don’t give up training. Sports are necessary to speed up your metabolism and make your body perfect. If you have very little time, you can just run in the mornings or evenings after work. Be sure to pump up your abs to make your stomach not only flat, but also to become the owner of small cubes.
Review your diet. From now on and forever you should eat only right. You don't need to go on a diet, because proper nutrition will make you a real princess in a year. Avoid fatty, smoked and too salty foods. Do not eat fast food, sweets and flour products. Don't eat carbohydrates in the evening. Have a protein dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime.
Drink 2 liters of water per day. More is possible, but not less. Water speeds up metabolism, makes the skin beautiful and youthful. Water is a source of energy, and it also fills the stomach well, thereby reducing appetite.
Give up bad habits, especially drinking alcohol. Alcoholic drinks are very high in calories; in addition, they retain water in the body for a long time. Under the influence of alcohol, you can relax and allow yourself to eat prohibited foods, and this is unacceptable. If you really want, sometimes you can allow yourself to drink 100-150 g of dry red wine.
Keep yourself in control at holiday tables. There are many recipes for delicious dishes made from the right ingredients without adding mayonnaise. Don't pay attention to all those who don't take care of their appearance, always remember your goal. Motivate yourself every day and in just a year you will amaze everyone around you with your slim figure and great willpower.
One week will not make a person a millionaire, but new thinking, relevant goals and the right priorities will allow you to gain satisfaction with life even in such a short period. And these are the prerequisites for building your fortune.
Instructions
Start your day with cleaning. Don't just wipe the dust, but clear out all the cabinets, pantries and shelves. We need to put things in order, throw away everything that is not used. If there are things in the house that you haven't touched in over a year, take them to the dump. Of course, you can donate books to the library, donate things to a homeless shelter, but you don’t need to keep them anymore. Make room for something new.
Start watching your words. We need to eliminate the phrases: I can’t do it, I don’t know how, I can’t afford it, I can’t handle it, everything is as usual. They reflect helplessness and complaints about the world. We need to replace them with new ones: I’ll learn how to do it better, I’ll definitely buy it, everything works out for me. By changing expressions, you transform your worldview. By constantly monitoring the conversation, you can become more successful.
In 7 days, learn not to become a thing of the past. A person spends a lot of time thinking about what was wrong in a past moment. You cannot change anything about what has already happened, which means you shouldn’t even think about it. Every time you catch yourself thinking about the departed, switch your attention. Think about plans, desires, visualize a happy life. Don't give away your energy, don't waste it valuable watch to what does not help you create the future.
Write down all your goals. Collect everything: both big and small. Then think about what is more important to you today? Goals should be numbered in order of importance. Setting priorities will allow you to correctly calculate your time. You should devote more time to the most important desire, less time to the second, and the last ones on the list can be crossed off altogether. Only with a list of goals can you move somewhere. To move forward, you need a vector of movement, you need to understand where the road leads.
When you have goals, you need to decide how to go towards them. What do you need to realize yourself? important desire? Usually money, knowledge and experience. Write down what exactly will help you get what you wished for. And then think about what you need to do to get all this into your hands. Make a list of what needs to be done, break it into parts. Each month there will be a certain number of things that need to be done, received or learned. The more detailed the list, the better. Usually it takes a whole week to compile it, but then you can live by it for a whole year or more.
Give up everything that is not on your to-do list. Eliminate activities from your life that do not make you a better person. Of course, you shouldn’t exclude rest, but there shouldn’t be too much of it, and it shouldn’t interfere with the implementation of your plan. Eliminate people from your life who interfere with your development, stop constantly helping someone if you don’t get anything in return. Take care of your life, build your well-being, and then you will have the opportunity to teach this to your loved ones.
Video on the topic
A person's life depends only on himself. Everyone builds their own destiny. Some people don't want to admit to themselves that they are to blame for being unhappy. But this is true even if this fact is not easy to accept. To become a successful and happy person, you need to make efforts and radically change your life.
Instructions
Don't focus on failures. Think more about the positive. Positive thinking really helps you become happier. The more you think about your problems, the more negative energy you will attract to yourself. Believe in your success and you will become more confident. And self-confidence is the strength to move forward.
Stop being afraid. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes. Take the first step towards success without fear of losing what you have. Almost every person has bad experience, but it is he who makes him smarter.
Start working. Fight your laziness, because the power of thought alone is not enough to find happiness. Don't sit idly by, dreaming of a beautiful life. Every day, make decisions, make plans, set new goals and achieve them. It's not easy, but this is the only way you can change your life, decorate gray everyday life and ultimately get everything you want.
Help other people without asking for anything in return. Sooner or later, you will also need their help, and you will find faithful companions in them. The more friends you have, the more support you will receive in all your endeavors.
Strive to become better. You should be satisfied with yourself, and therefore every day of your life try to become more beautiful, stronger, kinder. Exercise, eat right. A healthy person is an energetic person capable of achieving all his goals.
Expand your knowledge base. Even if you have already received a higher education, refresh your knowledge. Read books to be more sociable. Learn foreign languages, sooner or later they will come in handy. Watch the news to stay informed latest events. All this will help you become successful in business.
Find your soulmate. If you don't have someone close to you, money won't bring you true happiness. If you have already met your chosen one, take care of him and do not forget about him on the path to success. Many people are trying to find financial independence, stop paying attention to their soul mate and lose her. Don't repeat their mistakes.
Don't put off until tomorrow things that you can do today. But don’t try to achieve all your goals in one day; choose the most important ones. Leave yourself some free time to relax and think about a wonderful future.
Video on the topic
Helpful advice
Always keep your home and work place tidy. Cleanliness around you will help you organize your thoughts and focus on the main thing.
You can change your life even in one day, and if you decide to spend a hundred, then you will definitely succeed. You just need to slightly improve your habits in different areas, and the world will become completely different in less than four months.
Instructions
The best place to start making changes is in your own home. Make it a habit to clean your home every day. Don’t leave things out of place, wipe away dust, and fold everything neatly. This will require minimal effort, but will save time on spring cleaning. Try not only to keep it clean, but also to decorate your home with something unique. Once every 40 days, change something in the interior, this will help change your everyday life and remove the feeling of repetition.
Pay attention to your loved ones. Spend 10 minutes more time every day with your children, parents, or loved ones. Don’t forget to call them and visit them. Call those friends you haven't seen for a long time, find out what's new with them. Just create conditions for pleasant communication, be smiling with your employees and household members every day. Don't ignore your neighbors, say hello, ask how they are doing.
Start keeping track of your finances. Write down what you bought every day. Take notes, even about small things, and summarize at the end of each week. You will realize that you are spending a lot on unnecessary things, and this will allow you to save money. Keep a piggy bank and put it in it for all your trips to the store. After 30 days, open it and count, you will find out the amount that you can save without any effort. And at the end of the year it may be enough even for a short trip.
Start studying. There is no need to go to university, it will be enough to just learn something new every day. Information can be taken from books, newspapers or the Internet, but not from TV. This knowledge will help develop your memory and make you more attentive. Also, read a difficult book. 100 days is enough to do it without special effort. It's better to choose a classic that will allow you to discover something new, interesting and exciting. Perhaps this will encourage you to read further.
Start planning your time. In the evening, write what you want to do the next day. It is important not only to make a plan, but also to set priorities: what must be done first, and what can be left for later. And every morning follow what is written, try not to forget to leave time for rest and entertainment, but remember that it is important to strive for something.
Start looking for additional ways to earn money. Just take a notepad with you and look around carefully. When an idea comes to you on how you can make money, write it down. As a result, you will have records that will allow you to start making several times more money than at the beginning of the experiment. You just need to choose the best idea and start implementing it.
Play sports. Do exercises for at least 15 minutes a day. Or replace it with a short run. You can join a gym. In 100 days you will notice that your figure will become more attractive, but do not forget that training should be regular.
Video on the topic
Surely, the desire to change their lives has repeatedly occurred to many people. Usually it torments middle-aged people, when they already have a certain life experience and a lot of unfulfilled ambitions. Everything can still be changed. It's not too late to take a decisive step towards your dream.
Getting rid of everything unnecessary
Some people think that the best things happen in a person’s life between 20 and 30 years old. But time flies quickly. As Oscar Wilde said: “No one is rich enough to buy back his own past.” And now you are already 35, the first wrinkles appear on your face, and while looking through advertisements for interesting vacancies, you come across an age limit of up to 35 years. It seems that the opportunity to take a good position and build a family, if this has not already been done, has already been missed. No!
And it’s worth starting the transformation by getting rid of everything unnecessary. Throw away, give away, donate all the things that you haven’t used for a long time and don’t know if you will use them. Show composure. Do you feel sorry for throwing away an old card given as a gift? New Year your ex who cheated on you and then you broke up. Why keep such memories? Feel free to throw these items in the trash. Once you clear your home of clutter, you will find that you can literally breathe easier.
You should do the same with your contact list. Are there among your friends those who make you sad, plunge you into a state of depression, or take advantage of your good location? Try to minimize communication with them.
Changing habits
Try to develop the habit of waking up early. This way you will be able to carve out at least half an hour in silence and do your favorite things. This is the ideal time for spiritual practices, for the mood to live this day with 100% dedication. In addition, it is one thing to get up for work, then laziness immediately arises, a reluctance to get out from under the blanket, and another thing is to wake up in order to implement your plans with the thought “a new day has finally come.” You will be surprised, but thanks to such a little thing, life will sparkle with new colors.
You should also reconsider your diet. Start eating right. There is no need to become a vegan or switch to a raw food diet, but it is recommended to avoid soda, chips, fast food, and alcohol in excessive quantities. These products only cause harm, leaving nothing in return, and it will take a lot of energy to change your life.
Getting things in order
Remember what you wanted to do many years ago. Make a list of such things. If you wanted to learn English, start learning it right now. If you wanted to visit an old aunt in another city, pay her a visit this coming weekend. Don't put off your plans for later. If you feel that something has already lost its relevance for you, just refuse it and forget it forever.
Next, the list needs to be replenished with plans and dreams. What are you dreaming about? Bring in all your thoughts. And then think through the steps to achieve them and try every day to do a certain action that one way or another brings you closer to your cherished goal. You will soon notice how much your life has changed.
Changes in destiny must begin with yourself. A person himself is able to influence his worldview, transform his thoughts, feelings, and learn to be positive and kind. These processes are very long, but real. Usually in this work a person changes everything that was laid down in childhood; he displaces old principles, accepting new ones. He learns to live using: what you emit is what comes back.
Big changes are possible by changing habits. A person very often acts the same way, all his actions are predictable. He learns something and then just constantly uses the skill. There is nothing unexpected in it, but as soon as it appears, life becomes different. First you need to notice what habits you have. Watch everything: how you brush your teeth, how you eat, how you speak. And then start doing things differently. But it will take at least 21 days to form a new habit.
Faith in fate characteristic of people who do not know how to achieve goals. They are not ready to work on themselves and do not strive to achieve any goals. Take a closer look, don't you think the same? You can take control of your whole life if you learn to plan your time, set priorities, and achieve what you set out to do. It is these skills that allow you to earn a lot and live happily. Find out about them, start following these rules.
Don't trust fortune tellers and psychics. They may tell the truth, but in most cases they see only one scenario, and there may be millions of them. Forecasters talk about one possible course of events, and this option will come true if you don’t change anything, but you just have to behave differently, and life will also go in a new direction. The forecast should be taken as a warning that allows you to adjust the circumstances exactly as you need.
Many psychologists understand fate as limiting attitudes that are laid down in childhood. If the mother said that the son would never be rich, then he would never succeed with money. Sometimes, in order to understand fate, you need to look into the subconscious, look for what interferes with success, and replacing old principles, move forward without doubt.
Sometimes an established way of life becomes a real trap. Habits that are old and deeply ingrained into your life prevent you from looking at it from a new perspective. When your lifestyle is addictive, but you understand that this state of affairs will not lead to good, you should not be afraid to change everything.
Instructions
Before you start making drastic changes, think carefully about what exactly you are not happy with current situation. What features of your usual way of life can lead to the most unpleasant consequences for you in the future? The best thing to do is take a piece of paper and write it all down. First, write down everything you are unhappy with. Then write down everything that is typical for your current lifestyle. It happens that some parts Everyday life Activities that completely satisfy you are closely associated with unpleasant moments, and sometimes seemingly ordinary activities, if you look at them in perspective, can lead you to very unpleasant consequences.
Now, next to each problem, write its solution. But not everything may be obvious here. For example, if you think that your home is constantly cluttered and something needs to be done about it, then the first solution that comes to mind is the idea of cleaning more often. But why didn't you do it more often before? Sometimes one problem hides another. You may have too much back pain to clean the floor frequently. Then you need to buy a comfortable mop that won’t require you to bend over. Or even hire a housekeeper: her services are not that expensive.
If some problems still seem insoluble, it is useful to try to break them down into their components. Here it may turn out that one big problem, if divided into many small ones, is completely controllable. Or you will find the root of the problem, which may not be easy to fix, but is still possible. At least you will know in which direction to act. Solutions to some problems may not come to mind right away: in life, things are not always simple.
Don't rush to change your entire lifestyle in one day. It's best to introduce one new habit no more than once a week. And remember that it takes a lot of time for a person to form a habit, usually from 21 to 40 days. The right image life should consist of habits that together make your life happy and comfortable, and everyday life - unnoticeable.
Video on the topic
An engineer who became a Cossack, a lawyer who became a diver, a manager who became a toastmaster, a meat seller who became a drag queen dancer, an illustrator who became a fisherman, a man who became a woman, and many others - Afisha found more than two dozen people who managed to radically change profession, environment, gender - and life in general. And I wrote down their stories.
Journalist turned sailor
Ksenia Prilepskaya about Greenpeace, Esperanto and sails weighing two tons
Age: 32 years
Who was: journalist
Who became: sailor
I change my life every spring, well, every couple of years. It is generally accepted that you need to choose one thing, at the age of seventeen - and immediately for the rest of your life. But practice shows that you can achieve some success in different areas without having a specialized education in all of them, but simply by investing fully. Why not? Many of my classmates still live in the village where I was born and raised. The most active and disruptive moved to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and one girl, having achieved incredible success, moved to Primorye with her family last year.
In the 90s, while still at school, I saw a Greenpeace advertisement on TV: brave people on inflatable boats stop whaling ships, and they are brutally sprayed with water cannons. When I arrived in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, at the university, in September 1998, there was a Greenpeace ship in the port of Korsakovo, and they had a day open doors. There I also met local ecologists, then worked for them in an environmental organization on their staff. Greenpeace came, we organized protests against oil production, were chained to the Sakhalin parliament, and saved gray whales. Philology didn’t really interest me, I still had a year and a half to study, plus I worked on television (and everything was pretty good), but I already had friends in Moscow, and I understood that I wanted change. Mom still can’t forgive me for not graduating from university. But I simply confronted her with the fact: “I’m moving.” I needed a job, at that moment I was trying to transfer to the Moscow journalism department, asking for the difference, and one friend, an ecology teacher, introduced me to a Moscow City Duma deputy who needed a press secretary. There was tiny money there, surprisingly shameful - I went and worked there for 8 months until I realized that it was terribly crippling me. But I did well - my deputy was in second place in terms of citations after the chairman. Then he was elected to the State Duma, and then I didn’t follow him. At that time, NATO was still bombing Yugoslavia, people were protesting all over the world, and several people came out in Moscow - that was also so shameful. March came, and everything somehow worked out - I wanted change again.
“We organized protests against oil production, chained to the Sakhalin parliament, and saved gray whales”
That year Grishkovets shot, he was everywhere, I read a review of “Planet”, which very much coincided with my experiences, I look at the signature - “Yuri Saprykin”, click on the name, and under the link there is an email. And I write him a big, heartfelt letter. To my surprise, he answers quite quickly. We met for coffee, and Yura offered me a job as an executive secretary at Afisha. The salary was four times more than in the Moscow City Duma. I worked at Afisha for a year, but in my position in the editorial office I needed to spend too much time, and I began to think about leaving. I have always been interested in traveling, and I traveled mainly through the Esperanto language, which I know perfectly and sometimes teach. In the summer after leaving Afisha, I simply hitchhiked around Russia and Ukraine. I live very frugally - as much money as I have is enough for me. That summer, the Esperanto youth summer conference was in the Moscow region, I was one of the organizers, I met some guys from Sweden, one of them was leaving home by train through Finland. I entered the carriage and thought: “There’s nothing keeping me here now.” I didn’t have any documents with me except a copy of my Russian passport. We locked ourselves in the compartment and found ourselves in Helsinki in the morning. I traveled around Sweden with Thomas, teaching Esperanto, but then it became clear: either stay illegally, work as a dishwasher, or return to Russia. I wanted to learn how to write in English, so I called all the English-language editorial offices in Moscow, but there was only a place in Russia Today. The channel had a strict schedule: morning, evening, night, so many people’s health deteriorated sharply after a year. At some point I felt so bad that I called an ambulance, lay at home for a week, called the ambulance again and realized that I would never go to work again. She quit, went to New York, met a man there and after some time married him.
Last summer my friend invited me on a sailboat. This is the historic two-masted schooner Pioneer, built in 1885. It goes out to sea with tourists, with schoolchildren, or is rented out for private events. There are no bars, no saloons, no sofas, everything is old school: the sails are hoisted by hand; the largest weighs two tons. It turned out that they have a volunteer program: the team has four paid employees, the rest are volunteers. After six hours of training, you can already work on a schooner. Then the season ended, in the winter I was working on a film about Pussy Riot, which received a special jury prize at Sundance, and in February a position suddenly opened up on the ship. Now I work there every day and will soon receive a sailor's certificate if everything goes well. Next season I’m already thinking about another ship - at this point everything is already clear enough, but I want to have different aspects this experience. Not necessarily on a sailboat, but on a ship that goes on international voyages, or even on a small tugboat - they are so cute. The Pioneer volunteer program is generally legendary; many women have gone through it. And some became captains.
Psychologist turned carpenter
Fedor Smekhov about Moscow State University, vocational school and severed fingers
Age: 29 years
Who was: psychologist
Who became: carpenter
I successfully graduated from the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University with honors and graduate school in psychology from the Higher School of Economics, honestly wrote a dissertation and developed business training for one company. But at some point I got stuck - I started thinking about what I really wanted from life. I was 24 years old at the time. All my life I got high from two things. The first is games, be they board games, computer games, or role-playing games. And secondly, beautiful furniture. And I started looking in these directions: I found the guys who were doing computer games, and, having no experience, got a job as a game designer for them. -At the same time, I decided to go to a vocational school of artistic crafts. When I came to submit documents, they asked me: “Did you finish 9th grade or 11th?” I say: “Actually, I have a higher education, and I completed graduate school.” This gained me a keen interest in my person on the part of the entire admissions committee, and all summer my friends joyfully teased me and called me a petty bastard. At the same time, I found the contacts of one restorer and came to him for advice on where and how best to learn the craft. At the end of the conversation, he asked me: “When can you start?” I answered: “Tomorrow.” So I never went to vocational school.
“Friends made fun of me and called me a faggot”
When you come to work and don’t have the slightest idea of what you have to do, it’s terribly exciting! The first thing I noticed at the new job was that half of the people there had no fingers (a common occupational injury), and at first it was hard to breathe in the chemicals - varnishes, removers, solvents, but this quickly passed. Of course, my colleagues in the workshop laughed at me - they didn’t understand what a man with “two higher education“, they confidently considered graduate school to be the second-highest. But seeing that I was really interested, they treated me with sympathy. And when I swore at one of the main workers, I completely earned everyone’s respect. So for a year, I worked in restoration for the first half of the day, and worked as a game designer for the second until 11 pm. This schedule, I must say, was very energizing. I noticed that when you live a relaxed life, you don’t get anything done, but when you have an endless rush, you suddenly start to get everything done. In the end, I realized that my soul lies more with furniture. You know, it happens when you start working and suddenly you don’t notice how much time has passed. This is a good criterion. I left restoration work for a carpentry shop where they made custom-made furniture. I worked there for two and a half years and realized: in order to develop further, you need to get professional education designer. Now I am entering the British Higher School of Design - straight into the second year; I quit my job, earn extra money on private orders and make test curator.
Probably, if I were still working in my specialty, I would be more stable and financially independent. And of course, it’s inconvenient that my parents still support me. But I reasoned this way: since you’ve found your way, put your pride far away and accept the help with gratitude. Learn and finally become a specialist. In addition, now I have a favorite excuse - as soon as they tell me that I am ignorant or behaving unreasonably, I immediately answer: “I don’t know anything, I’m a carpenter.”
Lawyer turned diver
Oksana Chevalier about “losses”, trauma and work in the Ministry of Emergency Situations
Age: 39 years
Who was: lawyer
Who became: rescue diver of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation
In Kazakhstan, I played sports professionally and competed for the acrobatics team. There she graduated from pedagogy and worked at a school. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union, she moved to Moscow, studied law and became a lawyer. I worked for three years, and then my uncle, who owned a shipping company, lured me to join him, gave me three ships, and I became a logistician. For ten years she wandered around the world, providing ships with cargo, fuel, crew, and maintaining all the documentation. And then I dropped everything and went to the rescue team.
It all started with the fact that, in parallel with the shipping company, I went to the stunt school “Trick” - from my sporting childhood, the need for constant activity remained. There I did parachuting, mountaineering, shooting, horse riding, and motocross. The boys from the Ministry of Emergency Situations taught us mountaineering there. I began to communicate with them, and at their encouragement I volunteered at Spasrezerv and Lisa Alert to look for “lost people”—people lost in the forest. And soon this became my meaning in life. At any moment in the middle of the night, from guests and from the dacha, a call rings, and you break down and rush to help. "Where are you?" - relatives call and ask. "In Ryazan." - "Where are you?" - “In Kursk”... That’s how I lived. And all this time I wanted to completely devote myself to saving people, but I didn’t have the determination to take it all and cross it all out. The turning point came when, after an unsuccessful parachute jump, I was seriously injured and was banned from playing sports for a year and a half. But I had plenty of time to think about my life. Honestly, as I promised the doctors, I didn’t do anything, but after a year and a half, exactly to the day, I went and jumped with a parachute. -Anyone can be a logistician, but I want to help people.
“We decipher the Ministry of Emergency Situations among ourselves this way: courage, honor, compassion”
I was trained at a rescue school, passed the exams, received a badge and began to look for ways to get into the Ministry of Emergency Situations. At first, management was hostile to my candidacy: “A rescue girl? No!" Then they hired me, but only to work with documents. They categorically did not want to take me on as a rescuer - “this is not a woman’s business.” For three years I sat in the office and constantly reminded that I wanted to be a rescuer. They answered me: “Train yourself to become a navigator.” I've graduated. “Train to be a diver” - I learned that too. As a result, I passed strict sports standards - they are the same for men and women, because when you need to save someone, you cannot say to a dying person: “Sorry, I’m a woman, my standards are different.” Finally a year ago I was hired. Now I am the only woman in Moscow who is a water rescuer.
Of course, in financially I took a demotion, but how much more moral satisfaction I began to receive from work cannot be compared. Colleagues were afraid that the girl would weaken the team. But, oddly enough, the boys, on the contrary, unite and, naturally, still try to take care of me. The profession itself presupposes the presence of compassion in a person. This is what we and the Ministry of Emergency Situations decipher among ourselves: courage, honor, compassion.
Pensioner turned student
Lyubov Praslova about Tashkent in the 90s, sewing and computer science
Age: 62 years old
Who was: designer at the factory
Who became: student
I'm from Tashkent. In the 90s, I was unemployed for six years. I thought that I would always be in demand. But the Soviet Union collapsed - and no one needed me. We weren't paid at the factory. I was studying different jobs, even once I went to clean someone’s house, but they didn’t pay me. During the holidays, we had an empty refrigerator—one bell pepper and a crust of bread. And the hardest thing was that I could not keep the child in this world. My daughter was already an adult - she studied, worked, got sick and died. There was no point in staying.
My mother also had a hard life. She said: “Life will teach a snotty one to love - wipe it off and kiss it.” My parents gave everything for me to be successful, but life decreed otherwise - everything I put my energy into went to the next world. And then I went to Moscow - to nowhere, with nothing, to no one. I've never seen frost before. I arrived on October 2, and on the 28th the first snow fell. I waited for it to melt, and then - bam! - a second layer on it, a third. I think - when will it melt? It melted on April 28, 2003.
At first, I moved from apartment to apartment every three months. And when I met a man, he invited me to live with him. But there was one problem that we had to live with. Eleven old cats. Eight are still living. We cannot put them to sleep. But living with them is very difficult. And most importantly, I thought that the person would be glad that I live with him, but he treats me like a servant.
“Sometimes I open Odnoklassniki, and there’s the inscription “Do you want to laugh?” And I watch some videos with kittens and animals and laugh.”
All my life I have had two hobbies - I sang from the age of 5 and sewed from the age of 13. My mother also sewed. She came to Tashkent in the 1930s; during the war, sewing saved her from starvation - she made clothes for the military. And at the same time, I always worked as a designer at a machine-building plant. And I never learned to sew. Nevertheless, “Burda” always helped me; I sewed for women with non-standard figures, even when I lived in Tashkent. When I arrived in Russia, I didn’t sew at all for four years - everything was ready. But then a hormonal imbalance occurred, and I began to have a non-standard figure. I started redoing my clothes, I suffered because I wasn’t always happy with the result. And I began to think about getting a specialty.
Last year I read in a magazine that they were recruiting people to the Polytechnic College. Moscow City Council for the profession “Constructor, fashion designer, technologist.” I called three times and asked: “Are you sure you don’t have an age limit?” In the USSR, admission to education was until the age of 47. And when they said that they would take everyone, I decided to take a risk and passed the exams - mathematics, Russian and drawing.
We have classes six days a week. On Saturday the first pair was done at 8.30. Physical training. I say: “I’ll come, but you call an ambulance right away.” We also have computer science, but it is clearly set against me. She doesn't give in to me. Although I have mastered Skype, email and Odnoklassniki. Sometimes I open Odnoklassniki, there is the inscription “Do you want to laugh?” And I watch some videos with kittens and animals and laugh. I don't need anything else.
Sometimes my friends ask me why I need this. I say: “Do you have a house? Eat. There is a work? Eat. Do you have a pension? Eat. Do you have children? Eat. Are there any grandchildren? Eat. Now imagine that I have none of this except a pension and a job.”
An engineer who became a Cossack
Andrey Sviridov about a homemade truck, bandits and happiness
Age: 52 years old
Who was: engineer
Who became: Cossack
I was probably not a very good engineer. Otherwise, I would have made a career and lived somehow differently. The dashing 90s have arrived, and from the Institute of Physics high energies I left. I wandered for a long time. I had such a childhood dream - to make a truck. And I found a clumsy pile of iron by the fence, sat with him, suffered, he went and began to bring money. They transported furniture, potatoes, everything. There was no food, people grew it in their gardens and transported it. Then I bought a house in the village, I wanted to create an ideal settlement. If I’m not an engineer, then I must have some inclinations, I was born into this world for some reason, I must be somehow useful.
There I encountered a horse for the first time. It was necessary to plow the garden, but it was difficult with tractors - there was no fuel or diesel. And the shepherds gave a horse for a bottle of moonshine. And I felt so sorry for her!.. I don’t know how to plow, and apparently I ran the plow too deep. But she was weak, she couldn’t see oats in her eyes, and she was sweating like foam. I practically carried this plow myself to help her. If I loosen it a little, she immediately moans. So, with a lot of grief, we plowed the garden. I planted potatoes and they grew. How did I know how to do this? Out of nowhere. My favorite book as a child was Robinson Crusoe. A man found himself on a desert island and despaired - that’s it, his life was over. And then he began to get to his feet. I found a grain, and the grain made 12 grains. The spikelet has grown and has 12 grains. He planted them, out of 12 it turned out to be 24, and off and on. No one taught him either. So I am - such a Robinson Crusoe.
“I sat down for the first time, and I was completely turned over. And this flight, and the warmth of this animal, and these eyes"
My company in Moscow transporting goods and repairing cars, which grew out of a truck, worked properly. If necessary, I got behind the wheel myself, drivers are like that - today sober, tomorrow drunk. I did the accounting myself, and I failed it successfully. The inspection came, and they liked it so much that they caught me like a mangy kitten. And they closed it. I was still trying to find money somehow, I came to my mother, she received her pension, and said: “Now, mom, the final touch, I’ll buy the last hydraulic booster for KamAZ, and everything will go.” And then everything went wrong. Then more bandits came at me. When I was buying cars, I contacted one entrepreneur, I needed to buy the car urgently, there was no money, and he told me: “I’ll give you money, and you come to me and you’ll work it out.” So I went. And when he’s finished working, he suddenly says to me: “I won’t give you the car. I won’t give it up - that’s all.” He offended me. Well, I did, perhaps stupidly, but it’s like in battle. If you start thinking, drooling, hiring diplomats, nothing will work out. Here it was necessary to act harshly, in the style of the times, and that’s what I did. I took this car and took it away from his enterprise. And in response, he hired bandits. Only by that time I had already transferred money to his account. The bandits come and say: “Where is the money?” I told them: “Guys, here are the payments, on such and such a date through such and such a bank, such and such an amount.” Such bulls stand: “You give us this, don’t worry about your brain, where are the money?”
And so at some point I felt disgusted and ashamed because I had started this mess in the first place... I got out of these things, gave the bus to this entrepreneur, and something else. And everyone gradually got rid of me - the state, the bandits, and the entrepreneur. And all the horses were sitting in my subconscious. And when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I took a friend of mine and we went for a ride. I sat down for the first time, and I was completely turned over. And this flight, and the warmth of this animal, and these eyes. You know, sometimes it’s good, but you don’t know why. And I went to practice twice a week: at first I sat wrong, and I rode, and the horse unseated me more than once. Well, nothing - alive. Then one day I saw a guy doing horseback riding, I liked it - and little by little I began to learn this skill. Then I met the Cossacks, and they invited me to join them.
What is the most important thing for a Cossack? Family, home, he grows bread, raises children, raises animals. I'm a city dweller, I've never had anything like this. To solve an equation, mathematicians simplify it and bring it to its canonical form. That's how it is here. Simple philistine happiness. This may be petty to listen to when you want to conquer the whole world, but I just want to be a man and mind my own business, plow the land, fish. I just want someone to be waiting for me at home, because I spent the whole day trying to make the house feel comfortable. I don’t want to make a career in the Cossacks, I just live like this, work with the children. The Cossacks put a child on a horse from the age of three. And the child was not afraid of a moving animal. So they bring very tiny children to me, they sit, look at the horse, and there is fear in their eyes. And I don’t just teach them how to ride and ride a horse, but I help them get rid of this fear. You can't be afraid.
I have one dream. Complex. I traveled from Siberia for four days, crossing all the great rivers. And then I had an idea - to assemble a team, prepare horses and try to repeat Ermak’s route when he conquered Siberia. Only he didn't get to Pacific Ocean, and we will get there. We will go into cities, show the beauty of horse riding, and glorify the Cossacks. And there, maybe young people will follow us. If you believe, you can get there. Can.
Journalist turned volunteer
Natalya Kiseleva about red nails, dead goats and adrenaline
Age: 30 years
Who was: journalist
Who became: volunteer
My topics in journalism were culture and show business. Red carpets, Cannes, Renata Litvinova's new dress. And I didn’t go to Krymsk to report. They just showed on TV the roofs of houses sticking out in an endless puddle, and a stream that rushed through the city. I didn’t have a second of doubt whether to go or not to go. I was subscribed to fashion blogs of various celebrities, including Natalia Vodianova, on whose Facebook page I saw a message that a bus carrying humanitarian aid to Krymsk could be hijacked by a dozen volunteers. I remember thinking that, of course, there are a million volunteers - Vodianova! - and that I probably won’t fit on the bus. In the end, only eight people gathered. Natasha told us that we were going to Krymsk for a couple of days and that there was an hour left before departure, so we could have time to go home to get our things. I left my running shoes, pants, and T-shirt in my bag; I was wearing jeans, a Karl Lagerfeld T-shirt with the words “Life is a joke” on it, and my nails were bright red. I didn’t even understand where and why I was going.
There was no fear at all. There was shame. It turned out that the remaining seven volunteers who responded to Vodianova’s call were professional psychologists. As soon as the bus started moving, they started talking about gestalt. And I thought: “God, where have I gone!” And if someone had told me then that in a day I would become the coordinator of the entire humanitarian mission and would yell at the men, supervise the unloading of KamAZ trucks, I would have answered: “Who? I? No". We entered Krymsk at night. We all tensed up internally and began to prepare for the apocalypse. And so we got off the bus, ready for super hell, and we saw: a field, tents, bonfires, people playing guitars, someone doing yoga - the camp was outside the flood zone. And I thought: “Damn, they’ve blown it up again!” In the morning they ask me: “Can you deliver humanitarian aid?” And so the driver and I stuff everything into the Sable. We stop at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, where they give us some masks, respirators, rubber boots, and gloves. Why is it unclear? We are approaching the village of Nizhnebakanskaya, and I remember all the films about the end of the world that I have seen.
“I immediately understood how to use a respirator - as soon as I entered the yard in which forty chickens died”
Everything is destroyed, everything is dirty, screams, people, dogs barking. I remember that it was as if some kind of shutter clicked inside me, an animal instinct turned on. I jumped out of the car and entered house No. 44 on Mira Street, because some kind of howling was coming from there. Inside there is dirt and an incredible stench that hurts the eyes, and a grandmother who has been lying under the boards for two days. In such situations, you somehow immediately understand what needs to be done. You pull your grandmother out, give her a drink, wrap her in a dry robe and run to the next house. You see, no one ever taught me how to use a respirator, but I immediately understood everything - as soon as I entered the yard in which forty chickens died. The stench is overwhelming, but the adrenaline rush is so strong that this thick, sweet stench penetrating everywhere does not make you sick. In general, I only felt sick in Krymsk once. When we approached a tree on which goats were hanging, washed away by the wave, and were moving because they were being eaten by worms. But even at that moment the brain did not work the same way as in ordinary life. I didn’t think, “Oh my God, poor goats,” but only: “It’s a source of infection, I’m calling the Ministry of Emergency Situations.” In short, by the evening of the first day I became the camp coordinator. And three days later a bus came to take us back to Moscow. I didn't go. By that time it seemed to me that I had been in Krymsk for a month already. Psychologists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations later explained that in war one day goes by five.
Naturally, there were people who could not stand all this. For example, one girl on our bus, a graduate of the psychology department of Moscow State University, became hysterical after two conversations with her grandmothers, and she was sent back home on the first bus. At some point it dawned on me that being active on Facebook is no less important than working in the field. You publish a post about your grandfather, a former military pilot, whose wheelchair was flattened by a wave, and five minutes later people call back and say: “We want to buy a wheelchair for the pilot. Where to transfer money? Or you post news that there are no flip phones, and then someone calls you back oil company: “How do you transfer five million?” When I returned to Moscow in September, I had 100% Afghan syndrome. This is when a person does not recognize reality and, sitting in a cafe, thinks: “My guys are there, and I’m here.” It seemed to me that everything around was artificial. The thought of me standing on the red carpet again in a Valentino dress and broadcasting for Kommersant FM what Renata Litvinova was wearing today was simply unbearable. But there was a job from which there was no escape. A friend was making a film about the “Buranovsky grandmothers” and wanted me to interview them, and he waited for me all summer while I was in Krymsk. I must say that the film helped me come to my senses. It was like a symbiosis of my past and my present life. And the interviews with the grandmothers turned out great - more subtle, more intense than if I had interviewed them without ever having been to Krymsk. Krymsk became the main filter for me: everything unnecessary fell away. I remember how on the first day in Krymsk a man in shorts and with an ax in his hand came out to me from a flooded house. “Give me pants, boots and a shovel,” he told me, “I’ll rake the house.” After this you understand: are your family alive and well? Do you have a roof over your head? The rest is all nonsense.
Manager turned toastmaster
Mikhail Trokhin about fighting fears, meeting people on the subway and getting married by the pool
Age: 31 year
Who was: manager
Who became: toastmaster
I was studying at MISiS when my sister was hit by a car. A very complex operation was needed, and we began to look for different treatment methods - even alternative medicine. And then, through friends, we found a person who, at the very first meeting, told us that people often live automatically, act according to parental and social guidelines, not seeing their potential. Hearing this, I went to him and began to learn to observe myself from the outside. I went to shaman concerts, learned various practices, and even went to Mount Kailash in Tibet. I used to think that what my mind dictates to me is who I am. Now I can turn off my fears. By the way, this doctor cured my sister and did not require surgery.
My family was the most ordinary: my father was a policeman, my mother worked at the post office. I was scared from school bad rating bring it, cried if I got a bad mark. In general he was very shy child. And there were difficulties with the girls. And then I started doing things that were scary on purpose. For example, I met my wife on the subway. I threw her a note in which it was written: “I am speechless from your beauty.” She read, hi-bye, back and forth. Then it turned out that she lives across the entrance from me.
“Sometimes friends invite me to another city, and I think that if I go, I’ll lose two weddings, and that’s 100 thousand rubles.”
I've always liked alpine skiing. And after college, I opened the magazine “Skiing” and saw heart rate monitors. I think it’s cool, why not do them? I called the company and got a job as a sales manager for heart rate monitors. I did this for 5 years. At the same time, I tried to fight my fears: I took acting classes, oratory courses, and pickup truck courses, there were fun tasks - to walk along a subway car and sing a song or wish everyone Have a good mood. At first my arms and legs were shaking, but in the end I did it five times. One day one of my friends called me to help officiate a wedding. I succeeded, and I registered on the wedding forum, made myself a profile and portfolio. Clients immediately called. I had such a conversation with them that they didn’t even ask how many weddings I had officiated. I had about four meetings with clients in two weeks, and everyone took me on. I figured that I would earn more than in the office. And he immediately quit.
When you host weddings, sometimes you want to do something unusual, not just a banquet with riddles. Requests, of course, are very different. Once we had a party, without parents, going to a country club and started having fun by the pool, throwing capitoshkas at each other. I try to make sure that there are things that no one else has. I have officiated about 200 weddings and haven’t been on vacation for 2 years. And now I am increasingly thinking about some other matter in life. Sometimes friends invite me to a wedding in another city as a guest, and I think that if I go, I’ll lose two of my weddings, and that’s 100 thousand rubles. It's hard. I have now fallen a little out of reality, my spiritual growth has also slowed down. Now everything is in the family, my family is my spiritual growth. I want to develop my business. I don’t really want to be spiritually developed and financially poor. Those who do this are disingenuous.
Housewife turned civic activist
Maria Baronova about the “Bolotnaya Affair”, loneliness and the dream of the sea
Age: 29 years
Who was: housewife
Who became: civil activist
My family is from the natural science intelligentsia, my grandparents are engineers, my mother is a theoretical physicist. After studying at an English special school, I entered the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University. In parallel with her studies, she worked as a sales manager for chemical equipment, then got married and gave birth to a child. And in fact she was an ordinary housewife with a child. I was always interested in politics at the news level, but I had absolutely no plans to become a criminal.
Everything changed when I found myself in a situation where all my friends had left: this is the fate of the majority of Russian chemists who continue to engage in science. And I realized that I could no longer engage in any sales, and in general I didn’t want to live in Russia. But ex-husband He didn’t let me and my son leave the country. It was 2010. I found myself in complete isolation, my only social circle were housewives - acquaintances from kindergarten and clubs. I literally had nothing to talk about and no one to talk to. Then I decided that if I was imprisoned in this country, I should at least try to change the life around me.
As a volunteer, I posted leaflets, helped organize pickets, and at December rallies I offered my help in organizing a press center. There she met Ilya Ponomarev and became his press secretary. But I soon realized that a press secretary is someone who expresses someone else’s opinion, and I didn’t come to earn money, but to express my opinion. He and I parted ways as partners, and I was still responsible for working with the press at rallies. I met a lot of wonderful people and no longer felt like the smartest person in the area - there were a lot of people around me smarter than me. That wonderful feeling that I had at the chemistry department returned, when everyone around me was an Olympiad student, and I was just a girl from a humanities school.
“Because of my participation in the Bolotnaya Case, I can only talk about the loneliness that I feel”
But, honestly, if this conversation took place in 2012, I would say: “Oh yes, this is so cool, I changed my life and I see real prospects for our country!” Then I even thought about going into politics. But now, because of my participation in the “Bolotnaya Case,” I can only talk about the loneliness that I feel. After all, people generally don’t understand what it means to sit all day long in the Investigative Committee for fifteen months. You don’t have time to be with your child, no one hires you. And Bolotnaya Square actually turned its back on us and pretended that there was no “Bolotnaya case.” And the further I go, the more clearly I understand that there are no “two Russias - chanson and iPhone,” but there is one Russia, and its ideas about freedom are the same, and this will never change.
So I’m not thinking far ahead, I’m studying at the HSE master’s program in political science, writing columns and reports - I like it. In addition, no one else needs an employee who spends five days a week in the UK. The only thing I can imagine in the future is how another two years will pass, the trial and probation will pass, and then I will go to Turkey and just lie on the seashore for two weeks - this is the only thing I sincerely dream about now.
Meat seller turned drag queen dancer
Azamat Khaidukov about a family scandal, meat rows and men dressed in women's clothes
Age: 30 years
Who was: meat seller
Who became: drag queen dancer
At the age of 14, I drank homemade wine for the first time with a friend, came home not very sober, and told my mother that I was gay. The next day the whole family gathered to discuss what to do with me. And my family is Kabardino-Balkarian, Muslim, so the option “to leave alone” is on the list possible solutions did not have. I packed all my things and left for Krasnodar. When I returned home, my relatives were so happy that they stopped telling me anything.
They got me a very brutal job - selling meat right at home, in Maykop. At the age of 15-17, I could earn myself 3-4 thousand rubles a day in pocket money. Every day I got up at 5 am, came to the market, weighed my meat, the choppers chopped it for me, and I laid it out beautifully on the counter. Cool job. I once weighed a woman, and she burned me while doing this and actually went to my work every single day for two months and shouted: “Don’t buy meat from him! He's a swindler." I didn’t deny myself anything - I could get ready in the evening, take two girlfriends and go 400 kilometers to Rostov, go to a club, leave around 30 thousand there and go back.
“As I remember now, Miss Zsuzsa came out, and it was just terrible.”
Once I went to Sochi and at some point found myself in a gay club. It was called "Gourmet". During the day there was a children's ice cream parlor, and in the evening it turned into a gay club with a drag show. As I remember now, Miss Zhuzha came out, and it was just terrible! I was outraged by everything: that he was dressed as a woman, that he was wearing heels, that he was wearing makeup like a prostitute. “Ugh, how disgusting!” - it seemed to me.
But I liked Sochi so much that I decided to move there. In the summer he braided his hair, in the winter he got a job as a waiter, of course, through an acquaintance, so - in a gay club. It's called "Lighthouse". There was also a travesty show there. A year later, I reached the rank of hostess; men who dressed as women stopped annoying me. And then, a few years later, I suddenly decided to try performing. My boyfriend, who still sews all my costumes, and I came up with the idea of getting a women’s dress in the national Ossetian style. We carefully planned our makeup, I spent probably two hours doing my makeup. And they put on a dance number to the Chechen famous song. And at Mayak, 60-70 percent of our visitors are Caucasians. They just howled with pleasure! This was 8 years ago. Since then I have staged a lot of numbers. And my most popular one is the Lezginka in which I dance women's party. When I came out for the first time to do this number, I felt like Alla Borisovna Pugacheva. There are only 300 people in the room clapping, but when they start dancing with you, screaming, screaming and tipping you hysterically, you can earn 40 thousand in 3 minutes. You think, damn, how cool this is! That time my mother was at the club. She liked my act so much that she seems to have become my biggest fan.
But you know what? It's been eight years now, and men dressing in women's clothing don't disgust me. But I only wear this costume at the club and never walk down the street like this. And when I’m in character, they love me because I’m a boy, that I can fight, that I talk about myself in the masculine gender, and even on stage I don’t call myself Azik, Azamatik.
Financier turned documentarian
Vera Loginova on how to earn millions and spend them on films about Russia
Age: 33 years
Who was: financier
Who became: documentary director
In the late 90s, legal and economic education seemed to me to have no alternative, especially from the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. At the age of 21, I became the executive director of a large insurance company, I really understood the topic, we had a great team, our portfolio included insurance contracts for shipyards, oil pipelines and even the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. But I was not interested in money as such - I gave my best for 100 dollars and 10 thousand euros.
Then my friend Anton Nosik invited me to work with him: I reviewed Internet startups, built models, calculated profits, and conducted audits. You see, I'm a master of finance. I can turn any business into any money and vice versa, using any jurisdiction and any technology. I really know and love laws. In short, everything was fine with me. I became popular as a financier, lived in a beautiful apartment with a luxurious guy, everything was great with us. But it's pretty boring. I stopped eating meat and drinking and started doing yoga. But it was still boring. And I realized that it’s not about the guys, and not about the work, and not about the place where you are. The fact is that I personally have no idea what I really want to do in life.
And then they call me in Perm economic forum, and I suddenly find myself, so to speak, in Russia. Then I decided to visit cities around the world where the road was built after 2000. I ended up in the Himalayas, where I was setting up a holy village - painting roofs, cleaning up trash, all that kind of stuff. At some point I go down to buy the latest newspaper and call my parents and friends. And suddenly, on the phone, in the market, among mangoes and cows, I conclude a large contract. The agent's remuneration there was decent. And I, with my golden card, travel through the real jungle to Nepal, trudge to the base camp on Everest in June, when everything there is generally closed, the glaciers melt and everything melts. But I still reached almost 6 thousand. One.
“Raid array, Thunderbolt, chromakey - there was no way to guess what the guys were discussing.”
What I didn’t do later was practice on a boat as a sailor in Greece, pick figs in Croatia, and work in vineyards in Tuscany. I was even going on an expedition to North Pole, but couldn’t fit in. Last spring I flew to Russia, was walking from Aeroexpress with a giant backpack, and there were traffic cops standing at our intersection. And suddenly their brick faces, covered with snow, somehow lit up - and I heard: “Well, welcome back, or what?” I say, “Well, yes.” And they told me: “Well, welcome.” And I began to encounter this topic everywhere on the streets. It’s like everyone has been replaced! It’s clear that I’ve changed, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Then I really, really liked the Russia of spring 2012. I even went as an observer at the elections. And she came up with a movie - a documentary series about a country where cool people live. I had some savings then - I bought a minibus, assembled a team and traveled around the country.
I decided that the easiest way to find out something about people in Russia is to find out what issues interest them. That’s how the concept was born: we asked each character what their three main questions were for the Universe. And the next hero answered us. That’s why my project is called “Land of Answers”.
I didn’t know anything about documentary films a year and a half ago. At first I couldn’t even talk to my team - I didn’t understand a single word. Raid array, Thunderbolt, chromakey - there was no way to guess what the guys were discussing. The most difficult thing for me was to prove to people who have been in the profession for a long time that any business can be done differently. Many problems are solved using some standard ineffective flowcharts. And since I don’t know anything at all, I do everything in my own intuitive way. And everything always works out.
My ambitions are not Sundance, Locarno or Channel One. Although this too. My ambition is to give every person through this film simple knowledge of how to be happy right now. Say what you feel and do what you say. I haven’t lost my business acumen with this movie - I just feel happiness every day, even when I’m very tired, even when others behave dumb or idiotic. I feel inner strength, I feel a wonderful powerful wave, rightness and truth. And I am in love with all the people I work with, they are the most beautiful and brave people on earth. Do what you want with the ones you love, that's what.
Boxer turned actor
Alexander Savin about the fable “The Hare in Hop,” adrenaline and lost biography
Age: 34 years
Who was: boxer
Who became: actor
I was born in Stavropol on January 1 - a gift to my dad. I studied and played sports. He trained as a physical education teacher and immediately went to Germany to box in the heavyweight division. Then I returned to Moscow to renew my visa, and I unexpectedly received a refusal from the German embassy. I was very upset, but I didn’t want to leave my boxing career: I thought that I would train in Moscow and go there for fights. As a result, he got a job as a trainer at a 24-hour fitness club. The selection was serious - about 50 people per place.
Back in Stavropol, in my 2nd year, I met a director, then still a beginner, Edward Parry. And when I ended up in Moscow, I started filming with him. The first role was this: I go out, take money from the authority, give him a slap on the head and leave. “Yellow Dragon” was a movie, a 4-part film. It’s such a youth movie, Epifantsev also played there. I asked my friend to involve me wherever possible. He played in the TV series “Moscow. Central District". Gradually, roles with words began to appear, and then I realized that if I wanted to act further, I had to master the acting profession. I say: “Edik, I understand that you are casting me, as a comrade, in such roles so that I don’t ruin the film for you. What if I completed some acting courses?” He says: “No question, choose - GITIS, VGIK or “Pike.” But just acting classes are nonsense. And I began to apply, choosing “Pike” - the second higher education, evening. For the first year, I was selected from 200 people, but did not enter. It didn’t work out the second year either. I applied for the third time, if it didn’t work out, I would have given up trying. Although there was one girl who applied four times, she never did.
“My favorite fable is “The Drunk Hare,” I read it everywhere with great pleasure.”
By the third year I was already liberated. I went to give them what they demanded, and what they demanded was to light it up. In three years of preparation, I learned a lot. My favorite fable is “The Drunk Hare,” I read it everywhere with great pleasure. While I’m studying, I’m not filming—I’m not wasting my time on trifles. I'm still doing business. In the spring they invited me to Gelendzhik for filming, but I refused. As soon as the business can develop without me, I can concentrate on cinema. I don’t think that I have become an actor, but the education that I receive is very good and worthy. And I don’t see it as a hobby, although I understand that I’m taking a risk. My wife supports and helps. Of course, I would like to try myself in the theater. Theater is everything.
Even on a training task, I have a huge adrenaline rush before a performance. And this is actually one on one - like entering the ring. The acting profession requires enormous psychological preparation.
If someone at 22 years old had told me that everything would turn out this way, I wouldn’t have believed it. Although back in 1996 I mentioned to my mother that I wanted to go to theater. She then reacted with irony, but this is how it all turned out. At some point I started writing my biography, wrote on my phone for about a year, and then lost it. But I wasn’t very upset - it’s not that I have some kind of phenomenal memory, but some events cannot be forgotten. And I had a lot of them.
Peteushnik turned designer
Sergei Pakhotin about Belozersk punks, traps and stolen books
Age: 28 years
Who was: vocational school student
Who became: clothes designer
I was born in 1985 in Mogilev, then Chernobyl happened - and we moved to a farm in western Belarus. This is in Belozersk - in general it is considered a city, but you can walk through it entirely in three minutes. There in Belozersk I graduated from a vocational school to become an electrician welder.
At first I listened to rap, The Prodigy. And then there was graduation after the 9th grade, and my friends and I went to the lake. Already in the night, in the alcoholic chaos, we met hairy people, rockers. And they beat them. One of the hairy guys dropped a cassette tape, I picked it up. It had no cover, only two letters were scratched with a nail: GO. I listened to it that same night and it felt cool. I thought - this is a crazy man, howling in a goat’s voice, but his soul is so light and at the same time scary. Then I asked my friends what kind of music this was, and they explained to me.
Once I found an advertisement in our Belarusian “Musical Newspaper”: a man wrote that he was associated with the “Radioactive Waste” group and was making a zine. I thought: “What is a zine? Interesting, I should write to him!” The zine was called by a foreign name, which I couldn’t even pronounce, so I simply redrew it and attached the money, asking them to send it to me when it was ready. A month and a half later, he actually sent me a zine and a bunch of small pieces of paper with pictures and addresses (as I later found out, they were called flyers). And then I began to correspond with other punks - I went to the post office almost every day, and a little later to the computer club. Everything was unclear then. For example, it is written about some group that it is “melodic hardcore”, but I don’t even know what hardcore is. And there’s really no one to ask in Belozersk.
“All this toilet punk leads to nothing, you just drink and that’s it”
Then I started going to punk concerts in other cities. I corresponded with Petya Kosovo (a well-known Moscow anti-fascist, currently a political emigrant. - Ed.), with members of the “Test Line” group, which greatly influenced me. We once organized a concert for them in a potato field near Brest, it took place after heavy rain, when everything miraculously did not short out - and this concert also changed me a lot. I realized that all this toilet punk leads to nothing, it’s all destructive, you just drink and that’s it. And “PL” was a new step: people with a sense of humor, aggressive, interesting and poor got down to business. And soon I decided to move to Moscow. I thought about going to Warsaw or Kyiv, but there was nothing interesting in this regard: everyone there copied Euroactivism, there was little of our own. And in Moscow, I felt, changes should begin.
At first I lived very poorly in Moscow. There have always been difficulties with work. When I went for interviews, I had to wear shirts and jeans in the summer so that the tattoo would not be visible, even if I went to get a job as a loader or courier. Once I got a job as a courier and delivered traps for animals, ten kilograms each. This was very depressing for me - after all, I don’t eat meat and am against killing. I decided that after you gave such a trap to someone, you definitely need to do something good, for example, repaint or repair something in the city. But I still ran away from this job later. For some time I was a face control officer at Rodna. And I was surprised at how bored the girls and boys were that went there. 90% simply die of boredom.
For some time I was alone in the apartment; my only duty was to open the door for the realtor who came to show this apartment to potential buyers. I spent my days reading, listening to Radio Orpheus, and leaving the house to shoplift books. And then I came up with this idea with T-shirts: print interesting pictures on them, something unusual. Everyone told me that it was impossible to do this at home, but I decided to try. Out of a passion for literature, the idea of the first series of prints was born: with Selin, Bukowski, Erofeev and others. Now I no longer have the feeling of the futility of my work. I can live and not depend on anyone.
What I still like about punk is the solidarity, the feeling that if you get into trouble, they won’t let you fall into ruin. I like self-organization, the fact that people don’t expect someone from above to help them. It seems to me that in Russia the majority have already realized that there will be no help, but they are still waiting for something. And the punks stopped waiting.
Male officer turned businesswoman
Alina B. about gender reassignment and military affairs
Age: 38 years
Who was: Officer
Who became: Business lady
I do business, hold meetings, visit factories, drive a car, but at the same time I am not there. In the bureaucratic-legal sense, of course. After me, only secondary, fragmentary traces remain - almost like the Higgs boson or neutrino. I created myself today from emptiness, photoshop and knowledge from past life. Most people who interact with me are not aware that I am transsexual. I don’t want to have a baring session or talk about legal difficulties and juicy details. It's not for me to get something hot. I just feel more comfortable living the way I am now. I should clarify: I am a specialist in high-risk logistics operations. I can bring anything, anywhere and bypass any barrier. And since officials have not been able to approve the form of a medical certificate for gender reassignment for 18 years, I chose to put the state machine into a personal stalemate: I live with one name on my documents and a completely different name on my business card.
In my youth, I was faced with a complete lack of information about people like me, and therefore I decided that I was a freak and a monster. She pulled herself together and did everything possible so as not to let her family down, talentedly playing the role of an exemplary boy. She studied well, mastered languages, and read a lot. I did a little tinkering, even a working mock-up of a mine with ballistic missile I did it with a friend - my grandfather built these mines in his time, and he told me how they worked. And in the 10th grade we built a working example of a recoilless rifle from water pipes. Very effective, by the way, at medium distances. Why was I interested in the army and military affairs? I studied what was interesting and where dynamics and life were felt. In the USSR, the only such industry was military affairs and related defense production. Scraps of ideas and technologies from there were already shared with the rest of the economy. In general, gunpowder fumes are a very effective means of clearing the mind of propaganda nonsense. And any war (and I was in a war) is a huge separator of people from non-humans. Moreover, both the first and the second are always on both sides of the front. It happens when your enemy deserves more respect than your neighbor.
“I did a little tinkering and made a working mock-up of a silo with a ballistic missile”
In the 90s, I did everything I could do to make money. I calculated coursework and tests on a calculator, then I bought a computer and started this business. She sold everything that could be sold (even “Uncle Scrooge’s lucky 10 cents” coins from Sheremetyevo duty-free), transported marble from the quarry, drove taxis, and drove cars. At the age of 20, I already had my own car - a Moskvich, but it was new.
I work from dawn to dusk. Wake up at 5.30, lights out at 0.00. I've been at work since 8 a.m. and can't get home before 9 p.m. And there - have dinner, swim and sleep. I answer work emails right up until bedtime; I strive to be as customer-oriented as possible. If I hadn’t changed myself, I would have lived exactly the same. I simply changed the shell to something more comfortable for me personally, but didn’t do anything with the content. I couldn't have children anyway.
The easiest way would be to assume that I do not respect our state because it does not protect LGBT rights. But that's not true. Our state takes an anti-humanistic position in principle. Show us which social, professional or national group's rights are fully protected? Maybe entrepreneurs? Or the now so hated creative class? Or scientists? You can keep silent about pensioners altogether. In the current situation, it is natural that any decent person does not accept the methods and goals of such public education. There is a very narrow circle of beneficiaries of Rossiya CJSC who make profit from the country and indulge their personal ambitions. We have an absolute priority of loyalty over competence, and responsibility comes last. Therefore, I prefer to evaluate the effectiveness of our officials exclusively in TNT equivalent.
How does someone like me live? As paradoxical as it sounds, the most loyal and tolerant (towards me personally) are employees law enforcement. True, I show them a genuine, albeit dissonant appearance package of documents. And - not a single case of aggression. Perhaps because on a subconscious level they understand that if someone lives and looks like this, it means they have the right. I call this the “Moska effect”.
I know many stories of people who changed themselves in this way. Stories with both happy endings and very tragic ones. All positive things can be united by one thing: the winners were accomplished individuals and masters in their field (absolutely different professions). Then we managed to get support from outside and provide ourselves with funds for at least a couple of years of uncertainty. It's necessary. Otherwise, you simply won’t reach the finish line. And, I repeat, this is not a road for the weak. Don’t think that when you put on a skirt or heels, earthly blessings will rain down on you from the sky and they will see you off with exclusively admiring glances. My experience was akin to trying to ride a balloon covered in ice. If you don’t feel like you have talent as a tightrope walker or, at worst, a clown, it’s better not to start.
Unemployed man turned businessman
Andrey Knyazev about cigarettes, beer and geodesic domes
Age: 34 years
Who was: unemployed
Who became: businessman
I was not struck by lightning, I was not a millionaire who rushed off to Goa. I just quit smoking. For the first three days I nervously gnawed on the seeds, and two weeks later I went to a birthday party, drank and either grabbed cigarettes or threw them away. The next morning I made a promise to myself that until I feel like I’ve quit smoking forever, I won’t drink. I remember going out on Kashirka, sun, hot September. I approach the tent and immediately catch myself thinking that I’m looking at the beer. It was a blow to my pride! I took water and went to Brateevo, not yet knowing that this decision would change a lot.
I began to communicate with people of a completely different level. Before this, I had never seen a single living vegetarian, but then I stopped eating those with eyes. Somehow I email spam came in: “What do you know about geodesic domes?” I didn’t know anything about them, but I became interested, and for five years now I have been building them in Russia. And I think that if at that moment I was sitting in front of the computer with a can of beer, I would simply throw away this letter. My wife Natalya smokes and eats meat. Of course, I make fun of her, but I understand that I will ruin her appetite if I say that the cutlet is the corpse of a killed animal. I haven’t chosen a religion for myself yet; I rarely do yoga (I would like to do it more often). And in general, my whole vegetarianism is all about ecology and energy saving, nothing more. As for the beard, I need it, because I really like the way the hair on my chin moves in the wind.
Dancers who became rural teachers
Alexey and Irina Basmanov about a house in a field, a goat and a calling in life
Age: 30 years old, 32 years old
Who were: professional dancers
What they became: rural teachers
Irina: I had a dream to become a world champion or Russian champion in sports ballroom dancing. When we first started dancing together, Alexey had his own dance club, I had my own, and I had an amateur dance career behind me. In Russia, we quickly became silver medalists in the “10 dances among professionals” program, went to world championships - constantly and performed well there. Then we went to Italy to work, they offered us to stay there, they invited us to America. In general, we could go on and on, but Alexey already had a clear guideline.
Alexei: At the age of 16, I began to be interested in various philosophical trends, and somehow I came across a book by Vladimir Megre. I was very inspired by what was written there about the family, about the Motherland, and I was imbued with a sense of patriotism. I organically cannot stand the city, and then I very clearly understood that I wanted to leave. But I understood that if we take any serious steps, they must be prepared. Preparation took almost 10 years. The most difficult thing was to find a person who greenhouse conditions will be ready to go to God knows where.
Irina: At first I took a wait-and-see attitude and thought to myself: “Well, the land won’t be found right away.” And she was found almost immediately. Then I thought: “Well, don’t move right away.” We moved, but not right away. First, we spent the winter with the Leshin parents at their dacha to understand what village life was like. Of course, at first we had thoughts of going completely into the wilderness, but then we abandoned them and now we don’t regret it - you listen to how people who live in the taiga tell how they fight for the harvest in order to survive, how to approach them wild animals When they come to the station, it becomes really scary.
Alexei: At first we just came here and lived in a tent in a field. Then I built a small house. Before this, I didn’t really know how to hammer a nail, but in the end it was okay—I managed to do it with just one person. The first year we actually lived together in the field. It was cool: the lights of the village in the distance, romance. And we decided to do everything for real: we got horses and prepared hay for them by hand. But it’s not easy - just mow it and put it down, it needs to be dried, turned over, and collected. We went to the locals and asked what and how. It didn't work out once, it didn't work out again. Then again.
Irina: We planned to have children and wanted to switch to a different diet. We asked around - no one had anything. So we decided to get our own goat and chickens. And not just any goat, but a purebred one. It seems like they found a suitable option, called, the man says: “Yes, okay, I’ll bring you a milk goat from Lipetsk.” He brings it, takes it out of the trunk, and she’s just nothing - she was shaking there for five hours, she lost her milk, of course, but we only realized this later. I ask: “How to milk her?” And he: “How do I know! This is what my grandmother does.” I had to go to the locals again. But you also need to understand that the goat doesn’t just stand and wait for it to be milked, it kicks and dodges. When we realized that there was no milk, we had to cover this goat and give birth, and then only milk appeared. In general, problems were everywhere - just getting water from the well.
Alexei: In the first year, I went to work for two days, and Irina was left alone. Actually alone. Pregnant woman in the field. There was some electricity in the house solar panels, but there is darkness outside the window, clouds are flying across the sky, the moon is flickering, there is a field all around, you can’t see anything. She was scared. In the first year there was no road yet - a field and a broken dirt road, it rained - and that’s all. But we somehow managed to cope with everything. We wanted to completely switch to Agriculture. But after some time we realized that by growing potatoes and raising chickens here, we still bring less benefit than if we raised students.
We didn’t want to go to Moscow, so we looked at what clubs there were in the area, what kind of teachers they were. Of course, when I first came to get settled, they looked at me askance: I had long hair and a beard. Still, when you work as a dance teacher for children, you should look like a dance teacher. But here, if it rains, leaving the house, walking to the car and staying clean is already a problem. Shaving is also a whole story. Now the conditions have improved and it has become easier. But we like working here; rich parents came to Moscow, gave us money, and then forgot about it. And here we see the result of the work, the children are very motivated. For them, this is not two stomps, three slams, but a real sport.
At first we thought that our daughter would not go to kindergarten or school. But now we have abandoned these views. You can go into the forest, isolate yourself from everyone, and in the end it will happen that children will grow up cut off from the world. If we ourselves grew up in the forest, then maybe. Otherwise, it can turn out to be a mess. Why did we even leave here? Not because of fresh air, Certainly. I clearly understood that I wanted to live with my loved one in the village. There is more unity and more feeling here. But in the city this feeling is much more difficult to maintain. Attention goes - back and forth, back and forth. When I think, what are the advantages? Expensive nice apartment? Expensive nice car? Good job? No, thank you, I don’t need anything, I’d rather carry water from the well, light the stove, go to the forest for firewood, and I won’t drag myself to the city for any reason.
Businessman turned yogi
Sergei Korolev about fasting, walking on coals and the dangers of positive thinking
Age: 35 years
Who was: businessman
Who became: yogi
Since childhood, I have essentially been an entrepreneur - my friends ordered me some drawings and then bought them. Since then I have always worked for myself. In the late 90s, when I was about 20 years old, I had about 30 retail outlets - no one believed that it was all mine, they thought that I was just an administrator. Then he started making furniture. There was a lot. I worked all the time, I didn’t have days off, I didn’t go anywhere much, I dreamed of having a day off - this lasted for years from the age of 16.
Fate changed dramatically and immediately. When my mother died in front of my eyes from cancer, it was at that second that everything in my life changed. I decided to change my life, I began to think about what I was doing, about my health. Using the example of my mother, I realized that I shouldn’t rely on doctors, although I had problems with my health and I felt worse and worse. I began to look for various information on the Internet and check it on myself. I started with vegetarianism, then a raw food diet, then I began to fast and was guided only by my feelings. I went on a long-term fast fifteen times - on water for 20 days, and without water and food for up to 11 days, although the textbooks say that a person can survive without water for only 72 hours. The body adapts to any challenge. For the first time, on the fifth day, my voice disappeared, I walked very slowly, constant fatigue. But after I came out of hunger, I felt great: younger, stronger. Sports results from ten years ago automatically returned. At first I was a little fanatical and tried to tell everyone how great it was, but then I decided to share my experience with those who were interested and created my own VKontakte group. He briefly described the method of how you can quickly lose weight and improve your health, and the emphasis was placed specifically on losing weight, because people, as a rule, do not actually strive to be healthy. Such an entrepreneurial pitch.
“Lying on nails promotes relaxation—I can do this twenty-four hours a day.”
I partially sold my share in the business to my partner, and most I just gave it to him because I wasn’t interested in doing it. I started organizing events, renting halls, and I had my own club. Gradually the range of interests expanded. When you begin to open up to something new, you gradually learn that walking on coals and glass is not the prerogative of some yogis and enlightened people. So I put different techniques together and 3 years ago I made a project “ Free people”, which promotes a healthy lifestyle.
We completely lack esotericism. I am against this talk about universal love and about the fact that the main thing is to think positively. There was such a case in Altai, we lost two people, and some girl said: “The main thing for us all is to think positively!” I answer: “It’s time for us to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and not think positively.” Many esotericists do not work because they believe that money is evil, but I believe that it is a resource. I can use this money to get drunk, or I can organize an event where people can meet, talk, walk on glass, and learn something new and important for themselves. Our courses are available to absolutely anyone, from a five-year-old child to a pensioner. Everyone can lie on nails, walk on glass, on coals, and so on. And we never had any incidents - no one was injured or burned. No shamanism: we give techniques and explain that they work. It’s just that if a person walks on glass and coals, it means that he believes in his strength, it means that he can change something in his life, he removes some of his internal barriers. Lying on nails promotes relaxation - a person understands that pain is illusory. And you don’t have to go to Tibet for this. 10 minutes of instruction and off you go. I can do this twenty-four hours a day, and I like it. And I'm glad my girlfriend is doing this with me. By the way, she eats meat, and I have nothing against it.
Editor-in-chief turned social worker
Marina Gatzemeyer-Khakimova about Malakhov, shame and German veterans
Age: 41 years old
Who was: chief editor
Who became: Social worker
I worked in television for many years as a chief editor. She worked in Malakhov’s “Big Wash”, simultaneously did “Let Them Talk” and “Malakhov+”, Lolita’s show, night projects, special projects. In general, at some point I quit “Let Them Talk.” For me this was a decisive step. People often don’t understand why they suddenly felt uncomfortable at their old job; in fact, they just hit the ceiling. There is also such a term - burnout syndrome. In Germany, where I now live, professionals who work with people, such as doctors, sometimes see a psychotherapist and go on vacation relatively often. And why? Because when you work with people for a long time, communicate a lot, you simply begin to hate them. This can happen in any profession related to communication - nurses, taxi drivers, conductors. This also happens to journalists, and this means that you need to look for a new direction or take a break. I was well aware of this then, that’s why I left. Then I met a man from Germany, fell madly in love and went to visit him every week. A year later, I moved with my two children to him and we got married.
If in Moscow I was a lonely, independent woman, then here I decided to really try to change everything: I became a housewife, cooked soups, and cleaned. We had a huge house and two large gardens to cultivate. I seriously went to flower markets, discussed with friends how to make an alpine slide and which trees would be best to plant around. She was constantly cleaning, washing the windows every week, wiping something every day, cleaning it until it was shiny. And, having lived like this for about a month, I decided to go to work. At first I worked for free - there is a large charity organization where wealthy Germans come simply for the opportunity to do good in their free time. You need to communicate with the sick and old people, sing songs to them, talk, drink coffee with them.
“I did the Let Them Talk program and I wasn’t sure that what I was doing was right”
After some time, I realized that I needed to get a driver’s license, and this is very expensive in Germany, I need to learn the language, and there were still a lot of expenses. I told the head of this organization about this, and she agreed to pay me for more hard work money. So I became a nurse and cleaner. Then my relationship with my husband didn’t work out, and I left him, but I didn’t think about moving to Moscow. Because I lived in Moscow and did the “Let Them Talk” program and I was not sure that what I was doing was right. I was very tormented by the question - why am I doing this? Who benefits from this? Working with patients or working as a cleaner is a completely different matter. You immediately see the result of your work - the person’s joyful face. And most importantly, I am absolutely sure that I am not using this person. I can sleep peacefully at night without thinking: did I spoil someone? I often talk to old people, and these are people who went through the war. Some fought on the side of the SS, others were still children, but in any case, their stories are a most interesting experience. They tell me a lot, I think in the future these conversations could even become material for a book.
Illustrator turned fisherman
Maxim Kurbatov about parasitism, used cars and Tuvan fishing
Age: 50 years
Who was: book illustrator
Who became: fisherman
I am a half-educated printer. And I still have one sin, which, fortunately, is in the past; I am a chronic alcoholic. I had a tumultuous youth, and regular studies did not fit into it. In general, I was a fool at the institute. And then my parents decided to hand me over to the army out of sin. After the army, it was necessary to somehow accommodate me: Andropov then came to power, and they fought with all their might for labor discipline. I was assigned to various printing houses, but I walked around in the dark. I was regularly brought to labor commissions for parasitism, my work book was all blue - I didn’t stay in one place for more than a month and a half. In 1984, if my memory serves me correctly, I was hired as a stage worker at the Central Children's Theater, bearing in mind that I once wanted to go to theater. But there the KGB caught up with me: an Argentinean ensemble of some kind of song and dance arrived, and there were KGB officers everywhere, they were running up the stairs, watching everyone, and as a result they caught me with a bottle and fired me. Then my mother told me that I would stop doing nonsense and suggested that I work at home as a graphic artist. My mother is a printer, my father was the chief artist at the Decorative Arts magazine, and all my friends are artists. Through an acquaintance, I was assigned to the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house. I made a small book there. They praised me, and somehow things went well. Then I went down the chain to Moscow publishing houses, and continued to drink. But it became a little easier, because if I, say, took a job and failed it, at least one of my relatives could finish it for me. By the way, he made very good money.
“I bought a computer, mastered the programs, and began publishing books on car repairs.”
This all lasted until the 1991 revolution, when very hard times. Everyone survived as best they could. And since everything was accompanied by my alcoholic illness, it was difficult and difficult. Basically, the road was one way for me - I probably would have ended up under the fence. But my wife said - either the family is breaking up, or something needs to be done. I went to the Lavra to visit the monks and eventually quit in 1995; I haven’t drunk since then. Just then foreign cars poured into Russia. There were more and more of them every year, and they were mostly old, used. At the same time, there were no specialized services as such, no one knew anything about them. On this wave - a holy place is never empty - people began to organize automobile publishing houses, which were engaged in the translation and publication of technical literature on the repair of foreign cars. It was just boom! Books were bought up at such a speed that people did not know what to do with the money. And at first I worked as a photographer in one such publishing house, retaking illustrations from Western publications. And then he bought himself his first computer, a scanner, mastered specialized programs and went further into this jungle - he began to publish books on car repairs himself. This continued until 2008, when the so-called banking crisis occurred. Since almost all of these publishing houses lived on loans, they were greatly affected by the crisis. In addition, a ban was introduced on the import of old foreign cars, and accordingly, the entire market began to collapse.
I must say that somewhere in the mid-90s, when money appeared, I began to travel and take photographs a lot. Through my photography hobbies I met a very interesting person, Alexander Basov. He was a foreman at the Tupolev plant, and I ordered him objective boards for my camera. He is a passionate fisherman, just crazy, you might say. He goes fishing to Tuva and got me hooked. You fly to Kyzyl, from there you drive another 240 kilometers to a remote village, there you board a boat and ride along the river for another 240 km. These are wild places, there is no one there at all! And when our book story collapsed, I took up fishing.
Here is how it was. We actually lived on our mother-in-law’s pension - from “Auchan” to “Auchan” - we bought food and sat as if in a submarine. And then the older brother of Bori Akimov, the founder of the farm store “LavkaLavka” (I’ve been friends with them since childhood, their mother is my godmother and my mother’s godmother) calls me and asks how I’m doing. I say: “How are you? No way, we’re sitting here, we’ll start eating quinoa soon.” He says: “How’s your fishing? Borka made “LavkaLavka”, they just have a problem with fish, they need real, fresh ones. You should have called him." This was in September of the year before last. Now I do this all the time - I go to Rybinka, take fish from the guys, and take it to Moscow. I actually only sleep at home at night, and the rest of the time I go somewhere, resolve some issues. Previously, I was kind of a parasite and dropped out of all jobs, but as a result I turned out to be a workaholic - I’m ready to work all day long until I drop.
Programmer turned photographer
Yuri Morozov about children's drawings, Slava Zaitsev and photography
Age: 32 years
Who was: programmer
Who became: photographer
Growing up, I was a classic nerd. My parents are engineers, a kind of technical intelligentsia. At the age of ten, I had already assembled my first radio, but somehow my creativity didn’t work out. All my works turned out to be ugly, but technologically advanced. They asked me to draw a hut in the snow - the hut turned out so-so, but the snow sparkled quite realistically due to the added table salt. The cars assembled during labor lessons looked like the devil's chariots, but they were able to drive independently and do all sorts of things. useful actions. In general, since childhood, my soul was drawn to technology, and after the ninth grade I entered the physics and mathematics lyceum, and two years later - the physics department of Moscow State University. He studied radio and biophysics.
On elementary courses The scholarship was not enough, and I had to look for a job pretty quickly. Since I have been well acquainted with computers since childhood, I got a job as an Enikey specialist (a generalist computer specialist) in a glossy magazine. In the morning at the university, at night in the editorial office. The stress accumulated instantly.
One day I saw an advertisement: they were recruiting for a ballroom dancing school. It’s beautiful, but the physical load is quite decent. And they were forbidden to me as a child. But I thought and decided: screw it all - and went. For the next few years I studied, worked and danced. I began to live by the principle “we need more hell.” So that I didn’t have enough time for anything, I also went to breakdancing. Unfortunately, after some time the damaged tendon began to show itself, and I had to give up dancing.
“What I liked most was portraying Neo from The Matrix: I easily stood on the bridge and could dodge bullets.”
When I danced, there was an aesthetic component to my life. It became completely sad without her, and I tried to bring her back into my life. I tried to sing, but it didn’t work. I tried to play the piano, but it didn’t work either. Depression began. I don’t know how it would have ended if one day my friends hadn’t invited me to act as a dancer for an advertising photo shoot. I liked it: you stand, depicting what you have always done, only without dynamic load. Yes, and mom has something to show. Then other orders came: dancers are generally in demand in the photography business. My favorite part was portraying Neo from The Matrix: I easily stood on the bridge and could dodge bullets, just like in the movie.
One day I was invited to the program “Fashionable Sentence,” which was then hosted by Vyacheslav Zaitsev. During the break, I approached him for an autograph, and he suddenly took it and called me to work as a model. It was like I was on top of the world. Then, of course, I realized that this was far from true. Once after one of the photo shoots, when I saw the final result, I thought: “Guys, where do your hands grow from?” If you want to do it right, do it yourself. I bought a camera. I realized that my hands weren’t working very well either, and I went to photography school. But for me personally, this is more of a creative activity, so that I have something to remember in my old age: “Here, grandson, we once drank with Barack Obama at the dacha in Uryupinsk, and he tells me...” Every time - new interesting people, every time - new memories. This is, in principle, worth a lot. Well, otherwise, what else is the point in all this?
Analyst who went to the sea
Denis Romanov about fasting people, diving and life without money
age: 42 years
who was: analyst
who became: travel agency owner
IN Lately I worked as the head of the analytical department in a large news agency. Our department collected data on retail sales electronic household appliances. An Austrian company is collecting this data worldwide. And Russia is the only country where data was taken not from them, but from us, because Western technologies did not work here. In general, there was a lot of free time - and the salary was decent.
Windsurfing changed everything - I was already drawn to sails since childhood, and then time and opportunities appeared, but the impetus for a change of situation was, perhaps, a divorce from my wife: when I got divorced, I began to go to the sea even more actively. And then, quite by accident, I read about Dahab on the Internet - they say, it’s a good place, guys, come. We were the first Russians to explore Dahab. He came to Moscow once every two months, signed invoices and went back. When I came to the office again and saw these dull, dead faces of people who were most concerned about selling televisions, it became unbearable. Mentally, I was ready to give up everything, but I continued to wander like this for another year.
And then one day in Dahab I climbed out of the sea in a wetsuit, sat down on the shore and smoked a hookah with my Arab friend. Before our eyes we see some kind of dive center. And purely by chance this Vahid tells me: “Listen, this dive center is now for rent. Take it and stay, do you want?” And I immediately thought: of course I want to. Although at that time I did not speak English and had little idea what diving was. Nevertheless, I immediately gave the thousand dollars that I had with me as a deposit, and I flew to Moscow to look for money to buy several sets of equipment, a laptop, and a camera. I found a friend who invested in the business as a partner, quit his job and moved with me. I didn’t want to make money from my hobby - this risks making you hate it later. Windsurfing is like a drug: it doesn’t let you go, it requires a lot of time, effort and money. It’s easier to stay at sea and do something. I didn’t have any business plans, this is Egypt - an adventure in its purest form. But I made my money back in the first year. There, in Dahab, I met my current wife.
“I would never have thought before that it was possible to live without money on a distant island”
When we got tired of Dahab, I started looking on the Internet for good places with waves. Discovered Socotra. The Internet promised a surfing paradise, giant waves, wind. I went there, liked it very much, and decided to move with my wife. Now we are actively engaged in tourism, this year we will open the first normal restaurant in Socotra. At some point, no tourists came at all - and we lived practically without money. And nothing, somehow we managed. We caught fish and ate rice. They didn’t pay for the house, the owner said: “Okay, then you’ll pay.” The wife, of course, was shocked at first. Yes, and I would never have thought before that it was possible to live like this, without money, on a distant island.
Now we want to eventually move to Madagascar, there are more opportunities there: you can go yachting, diving, windsurfing, kiting, rock climbing, and spearfishing. Now I am looking for like-minded people, those who are also ready to untie themselves from the matrix, settle on the ocean shore and see the world in its natural beauty, and not as they show us on TV.
We visit Moscow on short visits, once every two years, to get our teeth fixed and to see our relatives. Dad, by the way, is trying to dissuade me from moving, but he understands that he cannot stop me. Yes, I had a car here for 25 thousand dollars, but every year I was sick and sat at the computer all day. And since I left for the sea, I have not been sick even once. Pension? I forgot about retirement a long time ago. No one knows when we will die. And while I’m alive, I’d rather go to the sea and catch a fish.
Manager and editor turned farmers
Nika Petrova and Gleb Butorlin about routine, love of horses and escaping the city
Age: 35 years old, 34 years old
Who were: editor, manager
What they became: farmers
Nika: Someone rightly said: “Most people have a dream that can be achieved before the end of the week, and they make it a lifelong dream.” There is no need to wait: time is a non-renewable resource. My life flowed, and I flowed with it: I lived in the city, worked in an office - like everyone else. In the morning I woke up with difficulty, went to work, came back and buried myself in the TV or computer. And so on day after day. I also lived in the city center all my life, it was very difficult: you leave the entrance and immediately run into a crowd or traffic jam. Each time is an emotional blow. All these city values are not for me. I have loved nature and animals since childhood. Especially horses. My whole life is connected with them, even my last job - I was deputy editor-in-chief of a hippological magazine.
“The first winter was difficult. In the morning it happened that it was zero degrees inside, the water froze.”
The first thing I changed in my usual rhythm of life was buying a horse. It is clear that it is impossible to support her in a city apartment. There are private stables that provide stable services, but the conditions for keeping horses in most of these stables are poor, to put it mildly. And you could get away from work once twice a week maximum. For several years I suffered like this, moving from stable to stable. And then we met Gleb and decided that we needed to move out of town. There was no money at all, but despite this, we went to look at plots for sale. We needed a large plot of land, at least half a hectare for a horse, plus more space for our own buildings. And we found such a site, we were lucky, we agreed on an installment plan. It took six months to pay the cost, and a year to process it. Of course, we wanted to move right away, but during this year we had already managed to somehow mentally prepare and agree on a loan - back then, in 2007, it was difficult. There was only enough for a garden house: no foundation, the walls were 13 cm thick, but we were initially prepared for difficulties. We moved in one day. I quit my job, we were leaving our camping kit in the car - sleeping bags, dishes, clothes, flashlights - there was no electricity here. The first winter was difficult. In the morning it happened that it was zero degrees inside, the water froze. At the same time, for the first year we didn’t have our own well - we went to the village to the well. There was no electricity for five years - we used the generator for five to six hours in the evenings. But there is still no road, so periodically we have to overcome off-road conditions. But we didn’t regret it even once—everything was perceived as an adventure. It was as if we were going on a long hike.
Gleb’s parents were born and raised in the village, but then they lived and continue to live in the city all their lives, dreaming of returning back. Gleb still goes to work in the city, but I prefer physical work to be outside, in the sun. Today I painted the fence. There's enough to do. Mostly all work with animals. There is a lot of care for a horse, and we also have a lot of other animals. A donkey, three dogs, four cats, a rabbit and a rook. And everyone needs to pay attention. Another small vegetable garden. In addition, I blog about our life and photograph animals. All of our animals are my favorite models.
Bartender turned copywriter
Pavel Greshnov about bad jokes and hell behind the bar
Age: 26 years
Who was: bartender
Who became: copywriter
Actually, I'm from Saratov. Never graduated from university. Honestly, I took two courses to become a psychologist-educator, and then I got tired of it. This is my problem: if it gets boring, I can’t. He became a bartender in Saratov, then moved to Moscow. I got a job in a bar on Taganka - a former casino, but essentially a coffee shop, where the only alcohol available is bottled beer. At the same time, I signed up for the TNT casting, they were recruiting participants for the first “Comedy battle”. I came there wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Secret Resident of the Comedy Club” and started reading frankly bad jokes. The thought that nothing would work out was severely frightening. I had been standing behind the counter for five years now and knew what kind of hell this was. One day I just didn't go to work. It was scary, but I didn’t stay in the forest! Even at the battle I became friends with Oleg Yesenin. And he kept repeating: “You need to write.” In short, Oleg called and told me to go with him to a meeting with Nikolai Borisovich (Kartozia. - Note ed.). And a week later they told me that I was now working as a copywriter. Confidence in tomorrow Not yet. But I won't go back to the counter. And if he really wants it, I’ll collect three hundred rubles from each friend on Facebook and VKontakte and go to Goa.
Cafe owner turned novice
Sergei Yakovlev about drugs, obedience and prayer
Age: 39 years
Who was: cafe owner
Who became: novice in the monastery
My friends were leaving for Africa and decided to sell their business, a cafe in Novaya Ladoga, at a cheap price. They told me and my common-law wife everything, taught us everything, and we started to spin around. So everything went well, money appeared, we opened a second cafe in the city of Volkhov, then a third. Then there was extra money. And then drugs appeared - and the whole business went down the drain. In almost six months I destroyed myself. As a result, the entire cafe had to be sold. Then I decided to quit drugs myself. I came out without any medications, but I was shaking very badly for three days. My wife saw that I was depressed and started taking me to my grandmothers. One of them said that I should live in a monastery.
It was hard at first. The Anthony-Siysky Monastery near Arkhangelsk is strict, where people are subjected to tests. He came to work, and they threw him into various small matters, they didn’t trust him with anything serious. But I endured it and eventually began working at a construction site. True, I have always had more work than obedience. After all, it’s like this: you have to choose, work or pray. If you get up, like the monks, at five in the morning, go to prayer yourself, and read the rules, then you have no strength left for physical labor. Although prayer is also important, of course.
At some point, I left the monastery for St. Petersburg, worked there on the railway until I was called back to the monastery. It was not easy in St. Petersburg: drug addiction was all over the place and there was always the opportunity to return to it. But I remembered the words of Father Barsanuphius: “You try once and consider that you have lived these years in vain.” In the monastery you calm down and come to the conclusion that you don’t need it. You understand that all this is worldly, fussy, nonsense. And it’s calm and good there. Every time I come, it takes my breath away.
The story of a financial director who became a rescuer and will soon fly into space
