🕯️ Decalogue of the Man in the Tunnel

A guide through pain and loneliness during a relationship crisis

1. 1. PREPARE YOURSELF: THERE COMES A POINT WHEN NOTHING CAN BE FIXED.
   Before that point, you can still change the course. After that, it’s a free fall into a bottomless pit. Act before.
2. 2. DO NOT REACT. THEY ARE PROVOKING YOU ON PURPOSE.
   Every reaction will be used against you. A glance, a word, a message. They’re just waiting for an excuse.
3. 3. DEFEND YOURSELF NOW. LATER WILL BE TOO LATE.
   Assert your rights before they vanish. Seek information, support, document everything. No one will save you afterwards.
4. 4. A SINGLE WORD – AND YOU'LL BE BRANDED FOREVER.
   The label will precede you. It won’t matter what you say after. Truth won’t matter. You’ll be judged in silence. And it’ll be too late.
5. 5. A REPORT CAN ERASE YOU. NO JUDGE WILL LISTEN.
   Don’t think truth is enough. Don’t fool yourself: there’s no room for reason. A badly written report weighs more than your voice.
6. 6. FORGET JUSTICE. IT’S JUST A WORD IN A BOOK.
   There are rules. But not for you. They won’t be applied to protect you. The system is not neutral. And it is not blind.
7. 7. DON’T SEEK JUSTICE. SURVIVE.
   Don’t waste your strength on lost causes. Save your energy to keep yourself from falling apart. Because no one will catch you. You’ll have to rise alone.
8. 8. IN THE TUNNEL, YOU ARE ALONE.
   Helping hands vanish. Friends go silent. Family retreats. Institutions don’t respond. Accept the emptiness — and keep walking.
9. 9. DON’T GIVE THEM THE CONFIRMATION THEY’RE WAITING FOR.
   If you break, they win. If you fall, they’ll say: “See? He was unstable.” Breathe. Endure. Even when everything pulls you down.
10. 10. TELL YOUR STORY. DON’T LET THEM BURY YOU.
    No one will do it for you. But every word you write is an act of resistance. Every sentence a crack in the stone. Don’t let silence be your end.