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California still has a mask mandate in place.
And people here are very law-abiding—so much so that when one person is driving alone in their car, their mask is pulled up almost to their eyes;
so much so that when a couple, he and she, are sitting on an almost deserted beach in the evening, they sit there wearing masks;
so much so that some children sit in masks during Zoom classes (online learning is still in place here);
so much so that when I go for walks around our town (a residential area, not the shopping-center district), if I encounter a lone pedestrian coming toward me, then, upon seeing me without a mask, they frantically start putting one on and walk around me on the roadway.
A typical situation: we need to buy an electric stove with two burners. We drive to a store. A shopping center.
A shopping center in Russia (I don't know about Moscow and St. Petersburg) is a huge building containing lots of stores from different brands—for example, Magnit, Gloria Jeans, O'Stin, and so on.
A shopping center here is exactly the same, except that each brand has its own huge building.
We arrive. I take a mask, get out of the car, and head for the entrance. I was in such a good mood, the weather was wonderful, and then a thought occurred to me: what if I went into the store without a mask?
It simply seemed impossible, because even when I lowered the mask below my nose, a security guard would immediately spring up in front of me as if from underground and tearfully ask me to pull it back over my nose—there were cameras everywhere, after all, and I would be getting him in trouble.
As for me, I am not a confrontational person. In a situation like that, I would obediently pull up my mask (even if I took it off again later) so that everything would remain peaceful and go smoothly. My husband, on the other hand, would protest, defend his rights, and tell them about the theory of a global conspiracy.
So this shy person suddenly had such a wild thought.
And I thought: why not? I would hold the mask in my hand, and if someone said, “Put it on,” I would pretend, “Oh, sorry, I got distracted and forgot to put it on.”
And what did I do? I gathered myself internally and said to myself: I (!!!) am allowed (!!!) to be without a mask. I felt a wave move through me: my shoulders straightened, my stomach pulled in, my chin rose, and with such a confident stride I walked into the store. The store was enormous; it had everything from screws to drywall, all kinds of equipment, and even a huge garden section with flowers, trees, and seedlings.
We walked through the entire store. No one (!!!) said a word to me—not even once. I even had the feeling that they couldn't see me.
But they didn't have the stove we needed, so we went to the next store.
I thought I should continue, although everything inside me immediately started squirming: it wouldn't work a second time. But I decided to carry on.
We entered the store. It was smaller, but it had more appliances and people were walking around more densely. I again walked without a mask, radiating: I am allowed to!!!!! We passed the security guard; I looked him straight in the eye. His system had clearly crashed, because he froze, didn't move, and said nothing.
But they didn't have the right stove there either, so we went to a third store.
In this store, employees always stand right at the entrance and always say, “Pull your mask over your nose.” But this time I was walking in with no mask at all, and, miraculously, the security guard turned away and was talking to someone.
We walked around this huge store—it had groceries, clothes, and different departments. Employees (very responsible ones) were scurrying around everywhere, but they couldn't see me.
All this time my husband had been walking beside me wearing a mask (he is fiercely opposed to them), and then it apparently dawned on him that I was without a mask and getting away with it. He took off his mask, and at that very moment a security guard appeared, waving his arms and urgently asking him to put his mask back on.
I obediently put mine on, while my husband started trying to prove something to him....
The conclusion: if you do something with complete (!!!) confidence that you will succeed, then you will definitely succeed.
The failure at the third store was because my husband didn't have the same mindset I did; he merely copied the outward action without backing it up internally.
And people here are very law-abiding—so much so that when one person is driving alone in their car, their mask is pulled up almost to their eyes;
so much so that when a couple, he and she, are sitting on an almost deserted beach in the evening, they sit there wearing masks;
so much so that some children sit in masks during Zoom classes (online learning is still in place here);
so much so that when I go for walks around our town (a residential area, not the shopping-center district), if I encounter a lone pedestrian coming toward me, then, upon seeing me without a mask, they frantically start putting one on and walk around me on the roadway.
A typical situation: we need to buy an electric stove with two burners. We drive to a store. A shopping center.
A shopping center in Russia (I don't know about Moscow and St. Petersburg) is a huge building containing lots of stores from different brands—for example, Magnit, Gloria Jeans, O'Stin, and so on.
A shopping center here is exactly the same, except that each brand has its own huge building.
We arrive. I take a mask, get out of the car, and head for the entrance. I was in such a good mood, the weather was wonderful, and then a thought occurred to me: what if I went into the store without a mask?
It simply seemed impossible, because even when I lowered the mask below my nose, a security guard would immediately spring up in front of me as if from underground and tearfully ask me to pull it back over my nose—there were cameras everywhere, after all, and I would be getting him in trouble.
As for me, I am not a confrontational person. In a situation like that, I would obediently pull up my mask (even if I took it off again later) so that everything would remain peaceful and go smoothly. My husband, on the other hand, would protest, defend his rights, and tell them about the theory of a global conspiracy.
So this shy person suddenly had such a wild thought.
And I thought: why not? I would hold the mask in my hand, and if someone said, “Put it on,” I would pretend, “Oh, sorry, I got distracted and forgot to put it on.”
And what did I do? I gathered myself internally and said to myself: I (!!!) am allowed (!!!) to be without a mask. I felt a wave move through me: my shoulders straightened, my stomach pulled in, my chin rose, and with such a confident stride I walked into the store. The store was enormous; it had everything from screws to drywall, all kinds of equipment, and even a huge garden section with flowers, trees, and seedlings.
We walked through the entire store. No one (!!!) said a word to me—not even once. I even had the feeling that they couldn't see me.
But they didn't have the stove we needed, so we went to the next store.
I thought I should continue, although everything inside me immediately started squirming: it wouldn't work a second time. But I decided to carry on.
We entered the store. It was smaller, but it had more appliances and people were walking around more densely. I again walked without a mask, radiating: I am allowed to!!!!! We passed the security guard; I looked him straight in the eye. His system had clearly crashed, because he froze, didn't move, and said nothing.
But they didn't have the right stove there either, so we went to a third store.
In this store, employees always stand right at the entrance and always say, “Pull your mask over your nose.” But this time I was walking in with no mask at all, and, miraculously, the security guard turned away and was talking to someone.
We walked around this huge store—it had groceries, clothes, and different departments. Employees (very responsible ones) were scurrying around everywhere, but they couldn't see me.
All this time my husband had been walking beside me wearing a mask (he is fiercely opposed to them), and then it apparently dawned on him that I was without a mask and getting away with it. He took off his mask, and at that very moment a security guard appeared, waving his arms and urgently asking him to put his mask back on.
I obediently put mine on, while my husband started trying to prove something to him....
The conclusion: if you do something with complete (!!!) confidence that you will succeed, then you will definitely succeed.
The failure at the third store was because my husband didn't have the same mindset I did; he merely copied the outward action without backing it up internally.