Adults and crisis situations

"In normal life we build resilience. In demanding situations we draw on it."

In ordinary conditions resilience is often not conspicuous. A person goes to work, manages a household, deals with everyday problems, plans ahead. The individual dimensions of resilience – health, relationships, material resources, skills, values – seem like separate areas of life. We can attend to them gradually, calmly, piece by piece.

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But when conditions change fundamentally, everything merges together. A pandemic, war, flood, blackout, large-scale service failure, rapid economic destabilisation or other threat does not simply mean "more stress". It means that some of the conditions on which our normal routine rested have stopped functioning. What was taken for granted yesterday may not be available, reliable or safe today.

Only then does it become clear what resilience system we truly have at our disposal. Not the one in a text, but the one we can actually use – in our body, mind, family, wallet, relationship to institutions and the values by which we make decisions.

"How our functioning changes when a crisis arrives."

"It was a June night, heavy and sultry, and rain that had barely stopped for several days. On television they were showing footage from other parts of the country where rivers were overflowing their banks. At our place it was 'only' raining. With one eye I followed the news ticker: rising water levels, warnings for villages along the river, advice to monitor the situation. I started to get a bit anxious and found a website with information on river levels in specific localities.

Around eleven the phone rang. It was a friend from the next village: 'Look, I don't want to cause a panic, but there's already water on the road. If you have anything in your cellar you'd better go and check.' I looked out of the window. It was raining harder, but nothing dramatic was visible. Part of me wanted to carry on and pretend nothing was happening. The other part was already getting up and going for a torch.

When I opened the cellar door I felt a thin stream of cold air and a strange, heavy smell. On the first step there were a few centimetres of water, on the second already more. In an instant it was clear that this was not just 'damp' and that it was high time to act."

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A crisis does not just bring more stress or more problems. It brings a change of mode. A pandemic, war, flood, blackout or other threat means that some of the conditions on which normal functioning rested cease to apply.

Change of relationship to information: In a crisis, managing information is part of functioning. A poorly assessed piece of information can lead to a bad decision. It is not enough to "have information" – it is necessary to distinguish what is important, what is verified and what merely increases chaos.

"What an individual can do when there is a crisis or war."

Each of us is part of the overall resilience of society. Not only through what we have at home, but also through how we behave. Each of us has several concrete roles: to look after ourselves and our loved ones at a basic level, not to burden the system unnecessarily, not to be carried away by panic and disinformation, and if possible, to be a support to those who are weaker.

How to act in an immediate attack or violent incident The Swedish approach to preparing the population uses a simple tool: RUN – HIDE – TELL. Run, if that is possible. Really get away from the place of danger. Hide, if running is not possible. Lock yourself in, barricade yourself, turn off the lights, be as invisible and inaudible as possible. Tell. As soon as it is safe, call the emergency line and pass on brief and specific information.

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How to behave in the event of a military threat or war Follow instructions and do not improvise against them. Do not try to negotiate exceptions. Be prepared for the state to need your work too – not necessarily in uniform.

How to work with information when the aim is confusion Verify sources. Distinguish news, commentary and emotions. Do not spread unverified reports just because they are dramatic. Develop your own "information hygiene" – monitoring information regularly, but not constantly.

How to help without becoming another victim Help in the immediate vicinity. Volunteer with organisations that already exist. Offer your expertise. And guard your own boundaries – the sustainability of help is just as important as its intensity.

"How to decide and act when home stops being safe."

There are situations where the true test of resilience is the opposite of endurance: letting go of a place, possessions and a settled routine in time, and going elsewhere. A flood, fire, chemical accident, landslide, as well as certain security situations or military threats – in these scenarios a moment comes when a decision is necessary: do we stay or do we go?

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The decision to leave is not a defeat. Home is for most people the most important symbol of safety. That is why in practice it is often much harder to leave than it might seem. Deciding to leave when home is under threat is an expression of responsibility towards oneself and those close to us. It helps to think about it in advance: under what circumstances would we leave home?

What to have ready before something happens: Documents and papers in one place. Medication and health essentials for at least a week. Basic clothing and warmth – sturdy shoes, a jacket, spare underwear. Food and water for the first 24 hours. Electronics and contacts – phone, charger, power bank, list of numbers on paper.

The crises discussed in this section take different forms. Sometimes it is "only" a power or water outage, other times a flood, accident, epidemic, war or their combination. In one case it is safer to stay at home, in another to leave. But they share one thing in common: the world as we knew it is temporarily disrupted and we must quickly reset the way we live.

It also becomes clear that in crises it is not just about water, food or supplies. Other questions come to the fore: How do we make decisions when we have little time and little information? Who do we lean on and who leans on us? How do we manage fear, conflict, helplessness and uncertainty? How do we work with information and institutions? Are we capable of being part of the solution, or do we simply burden the system further?

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It is precisely in these situations that what personal and family resilience truly means becomes clear. In crisis light, it is visible which dimensions hold: health, psychology, relationships, material resources, skills, the capacity to function with the system, and the values by which we make difficult decisions.

"When the world changes, it is tempting to wait for someone who will 'sort it out' – the state, emergency services, experts, technology. This part of the guide took a different path. It looked for an answer to the question of what we ourselves can influence: in our body, mind, family, home, work, community. Not to be perfect, but to not be entirely helpless."