No matter how chaotic things get, things can and will get better.
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I was 25 years old and had just become CFO of CBS Group when I discovered what I’d actually signed up for.
The holding company owned assets across multiple sectors that had been operating in the region’s chaotic, post-Soviet business environment for years. I started meeting with the people managing these companies, ready to implement the proper systems and international standards I was hired to put in place.
They had other plans.
Some managers tried sweet-talking me. Others offered bribes. A few made threats. They’d been profiting from the lack of oversight, and transparency would end that. I was young, female, new to the role, facing down people who had a lot to lose.
Most people would call this an unexpected hardship. But honestly? I was ready.
Not because I’d faced this exact situation before, but because growing up in the shadow of my government’s collapse taught me that hardship is never really unexpected, it’s just life. Between the power outages, food shortages, and civil war, chaos was basically my life’s default setting. To get me through, I relied on six things that still keep me steady in any crisis and may help you weather life’s unexpected storms.
When everything else is falling apart, control what you can control. For me, that was my career. Work was the one place I had power. I couldn’t control my husband or the political situation or whether or not we had heat, but I could control how I showed up. Even now, when challenges arise, I focus on what’s within my power: the quality of my work, my integrity, my decisions. Everything else is just noise.
When I held my newborn daughter while my husband was in jail, I made a commitment: to build a better future for her and for my country. That purpose carried me through every threat, every sleepless night, every moment I wanted to give up. Whatever hardship you’re facing, connect it to something larger than your immediate pain. When your “why” is bigger than your fear, you find strength you didn’t know you had.
This habit saved me multiple times—from proving my ex-husband’s harassment to protecting myself in complicated business situations. Screenshots, emails, records, witnesses—keep records of everything, even when it seems insignificant. You might not need it. But if you do, you’ll be glad you have it. I know I was.
Throughout my life, I’ve invested in genuine relationships—not transactional networking, but real, human connections based on trust and shared values. And it paid off. When my ex-husband tried to destroy my reputation, colleagues who’d known me for years stood up for me. When I needed allies in difficult business situations, they were right there by my side. You can’t build that kind of support network in a crisis. You have to create it before you need it.
Money isn’t everything, but it can be the difference between having options and being trapped. I kept working during my marriage (despite my husband’s insistence that I quit), not just because I couldn’t afford not to work, but because financial independence meant I could eventually leave. I hid money from my husband when I had to. When you have your own money, you have power over what happens to you. Never give that up.
Growing up in a country where the government could collapse overnight, where war could break out during a business meeting, where new associates feel free to threaten you without consequence, you learn that stability is temporary and chaos is always waiting.
That might sound depressing, but it’s actually liberating. When you expect the unexpected, you’re never caught completely off guard. You’re always ready to adapt, pivot, and survive.
Chances are you weren’t raised the way I was, with the threat of chaos forever lurking around the corner. But everyone can learn to be ready for the unexpected, and that preparation might be the most important thing of all.
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