Living On: The Only Way to Escape the Black Hole of Despair

Source: Author’s Facebook page

Sometimes you hold on and hold on — and then suddenly, you fall into a black hole. Sometimes the blow comes for no reason at all.

Just a photo. A person released from captivity kisses the ground after crossing the border. Or another, hearing on the phone: “Dear, you have a granddaughter. She’s already three months old!” — and the expression on his face at that moment.

Or a post from an intellectual and wealthy person: “I have no people — either join my unit or help!” He also writes: “We urgently need six eco flows now. You won’t be able to buy anything else. I’m begging the Ministry of Defense for everything else, with tears. I’m exhausted. Not only that, but I left in 2014, and I left again in 2022.”

Or a message about yet another roundtable, a conference on recovery, another ambitious plan for a decisive victory. The country could certainly survive without 90 percent of these events, especially now.

Then a DeepState report: minus 31.3 km² per day. About 556 square kilometers were occupied in June 2025 — the highest monthly figure this year.

And then you read, you see — and you realize: there are people all around you who are holding on, holding on, holding on. Every morning, despite insomnia and night terrors, they still get up and go to work.

There’s the girl with red eyes, a little dazed, making your coffee and asking, “No sugar, not too strong? Still the same?”

There’s the tax office employee, to whom you give a broad, encouraging smile — and she suddenly says, “I have no strength left. I didn’t sleep at all last night. I was sitting in the basement with my child.”

At the Nova Poshta branch, the girl pauses for a second, looks up, and apologizes to the line: “I have a big shipment, but I’ll be quick. I’m alone here today.”

A combine harvester is working the fields just ten kilometers from the front line. His partner films him and laughs off-camera: “Where else do you see people this crazy?”

“As soon as it quiets down, I’ll start working in the garden. The potatoes won’t wait, and the tomatoes need watering,” says a woman in a TikTok video. Sumy region. Under heavy shelling. The tomatoes need watering…

And your black abyss grows smaller. It stretches out like a narrow path instead of a free fall. You’re not falling anymore. Because you have to keep living. Because we’re all still human. Still sane.

And at that moment, you just want to hug everyone who’s here. Nearby. Who understands exactly what you’re writing about?

When it feels like everything is going wrong — look for the person nearby.

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