The author of a popular YouTube channel about Italy talks about how her life abroad has changed and how she sees blogging in the new conditions.
In the first days after the news background changed, it seemed that the attitude of Italians towards me as a Russian who never hides this has also changed.
It is difficult to explain this — no one said a word to me, but I felt it, as they say, with my skin: by the silence that arises and the tension that appears in the air.
At first, I perceived any awkwardness of Italian acquaintances in my presence as deliberate hostility. And only a week later I felt that everything was completely different. Probably, an analogy with a person experiencing grief is appropriate here: others simply do not know how to express words of sympathy to him.
People did not understand what they could ask me and how I would react to it.
Gradually, I began to meet more and more support, which was expressed in the most ordinary, everyday, but important things for me. When I realized that Russian bank cards would no longer work, I decided to immediately pay for dental braces for my eldest son. It was possible to withdraw only a part of the total amount. They met me halfway and offered to reserve the current price so that I could then receive a discount relying on a child. “You will pay the rest when you can,” they immediately offered me.
Other Italians, whose services I used before, help me in the same way. At the playground, local mothers ask me with sympathy and concern about what is happening, about my relatives in Russia, and they learn with sadness that we most likely will not be able to see each other due to closed flights.
Admittedly, many Italians are in an information vacuum. They learned from me that due to the disconnection with leasing companies, not only my parents, but also Russian tourists, who were so expected here after the removal of covid restrictions, would not be able to come. This was shocking news for many. A familiar owner of a pizzeria and a neighbor hugged me several times, although after the pandemic, tactile contact is not accepted here. People, communicating with me, see the other side of the conflict and understand more and more how it painfully affects everyone.
Despite all the changes that have affected my interests as a Russian-speaking blogger (for example, the loss of channel monetization, which means a significant decrease in income), I am not going to quit my job
My viewers write that the channel helps them. He saves me too — by what we used to consider a routine
In part, this is similar to what happened in 2020, when Italy was one of the first to enter a protracted lockdown. Many of my viewers from Russia admitted that at that time my channel inspired them. Then I thought: people looked at our large family — a husband and three children — and knew what to prepare for. It seemed to me that practical advice was important to them.
Later I realized that this was due to the very saving routine that I continued to demonstrate no matter what. I couldn’t shoot street fashion, but I sorted out wardrobes at home and showed new combinations of familiar clothes. And it helped to cope with the stress of the first weeks of the pandemic.
I don’t update my news feed
No, I’m not hiding my head in the sand, I just understand that the news, which I can spend a lot of time on, will not give me accurate information. And even if they do, I cannot influence what happens. My husband tells me the news. I dose information and it helps me to keep my daily working mood.
A couple of days ago, I was wondering: should I continue to keep my blog dedicated to fashion? Is it appropriate? And I answered him, allowing myself to live my usual life at all costs: to shoot, to go on live broadcasts, to be combed and made up.
When you have no control over the situation, one way to deal with the wave of anxiety is to keep things as normal as possible. We always have a choice: to be strong and become someone’s support, or to rely on someone ourselves.
How to be strong? My way is to start helping others. I advise my viewers to continue their usual activities: play sports, read books to children at night. If you have a favorite hobby, return to it. The guidelines of life that support us lie in the simplest things. That is why right now it is important not to neglect them.