Ekaterina A. (IEI) - Emotions

In my memories, there are more experiences and emotions—whether we were happy or crying, shouting or laughing. The first time I experienced very strong emotions was when I was two and a half years old. We were in St. Petersburg, and I was holding on to my mother’s pocket. There were so many people that I got lost. I grabbed the pocket of another woman wearing a jacket just like my mother’s. I remember feeling terrible fear; I can still relive that feeling even now.

<...> If someone says something with a calm tone, then everything somehow feels fine—you feel that they are treating you calmly. But if it’s said with some kind of neglect or dismissiveness, then I don’t feel like doing anything at all. My reaction is more like: “If you’re going to talk to me like that, then you can do it yourself!”

The way people address you from the outside means a lot.