According to the author, how does catastrophizing differ from real preparation?

Catastrophizing is repeatedly replaying a negative scenario without action ("we'll all freeze"), whereas real preparation means concrete steps: checking the charging station, stocking water and firewood, and having an evacuation plan. The first option transfers control to anxiety; the second returns it to the person.

Does the author deny the threat of winter blackouts?

No. Grytsyk openly acknowledges that the threat is real, the energy grid is under attack, and some forecasts may come true. She merely emphasizes that "maybe" is not the same as "will," and that panic is often fueled by dubious content rather than facts.

What practical preparation list does the column offer?

Check your charging station, buy firewood or flashlights, plan for a water reserve, warm clothing, and an alternative internet connection, and also decide in advance on a place and the conditions for leaving in the event of a prolonged blackout.

Don't Live Winter in August: Why Catastrophizing Blackouts Does More Harm Than Real Preparation

It's +25°C outside, the calendar says August, but it takes only a few scrolls through social media to feel like you're already in December — without light, heat, water, or food. It is from this paradox that coach Olga Grytsyk's column for the lifestyle project Wave RBC.UA begins (original article). The author makes no promises that "everything will be fine" and openly acknowledges that the threat is real: Russia continues to destroy Ukraine's energy sector and infrastructure, and air-defense missiles are in short supply. But her main point is different — there is a huge difference between preparation and catastrophizing, and anxiety, no matter how intense the experience, does not help you control the future.

Anxiety That Doesn't Prepare

Grytsyk unpacks a familiar trap of the mind: we tend to believe that if we think about a danger a lot and often, then we are preparing for it. In reality, that is not the case. Constantly replaying a negative scenario — "the lights will be off for 20 hours, we'll all freeze, I don't know how to get through this" — does not create a plan; it only entrenches a sense of helplessness. Anxiety is not a tool for managing the future; it merely drains the resource that could have been spent on concrete actions. The author emphasizes that fear makes sense only up to the point where it helps you act, not where it paralyzes you.

Summer as an Argument Against Catastrophizing

As a counterargument to the "December" mindset in August, the coach points to the current summer. Last winter, Ukrainians lived through constant shelling and abnormal frosts unseen for many years: the lights were cut several times a day, the energy grid faced a huge deficit, and the heat further increased the load. Yet this summer, with comparable heat, passed almost without outages. The author's conclusion is psychological: when everything works, we take it for granted, while a negative scenario is remembered for a long time and begins to dominate perception, even if the objective picture has changed.

Practice Instead of Catastrophizing

Instead of abstract fear, Grytsyk offers a short but concrete preparation checklist: check your charging station, buy what you need (firewood for some, flashlights for others), think about a water reserve, warm clothing, and an alternative internet connection. Separately, she advises deciding in advance on a place you could go to in the event of a prolonged blackout, and clearly defining for yourself the conditions under which that decision would be made. This approach restores a person's sense of agency: you are not passively waiting for disaster, but building response scenarios while there is still time and resources.

Control and Its Transfer

The key distinction on which the entire column is built is who holds the control. The phrase "I'll check my charging station" means a person is taking back at least partial control of the situation. The phrase "we'll all freeze, I don't know how to get through this" means a complete transfer of control to anxiety. Grytsyk reminds us that the war has already taken a significant part of normal life from Ukrainians, and we should not voluntarily hand over to it the months that are still left. That is why her position is stated concisely: she is preparing for winter, but plans to actually live it in winter, and while it's +25°C outside — she is catching up on summer.

The Reality of the Threat and the Psychology of Anticipation

It is important to honestly acknowledge the dual nature of the author's position so as not to turn the column into a comforting narrative. On the one hand, Grytsyk does not deny the threat or promise a favorable outcome: "no one knows this," and some of today's apocalyptic forecasts may well turn out to be prophetic — you could again find yourself without light, sleeping in hats, and the whole street rejoicing at the switched-on electricity. On the other hand, she insists that "maybe" is not the same as "will," and that a significant share of the panic is fueled not by facts but by content from "YouTube and Telegram channels of dubious origin." Thus, the column does not deny the risk; it proposes to separate two processes: real preparation for likely outages and the emotional living-through of a catastrophe that has not yet happened. In the author's view, this is the healthy boundary between awareness and catastrophizing.

Don't Live Winter in August: Why Catastrophizing Blackouts Does More Harm Than Real Preparation