How To Start Over… Again And Again

BusinessHow To Start Over… Again And AgainByTamar Gakharia,Forbes Books Author.for Forbes BooksAUTHOR POSTExpertise and opinions of authors published by ForbesBooks. Imprint operated under license. | Paid ProgramMay 28, 2026, 02:25pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Master the art of new beginnings. gettyI had a secret plan to start my life over.While my ex-husband was terrorizing me and my country was recovering from another war, I was researching MBA programs overseas. I’d take my daughter and disappear—start fresh somewhere clean, somewhere safe, somewhere else. It felt like the only way to truly start over.Then a friend told me about the opportunity that turned into my position with CBS Group.It wasn’t the escape I’d been fantasizing about. It meant staying in Georgia, staying in the chaos, building something from scratch in the same place where everything kept falling apart. The practical choice instead of the dream. It was starting over in a different way.And it opened the door to a completely different life—one I couldn’t have imagined back when I fantasized about running away.I come from people who know how to start over. My entire country had to do it when the Soviet Union collapsed. My father lost his position as head of a psychiatry department and had to move to Russia to take odd jobs. I gave up my dream of studying abroad when I fell in love with the wrong man and had to find a different path.But the hardest restart was still ahead: leaving that marriage.I tried again and again. Each time, I thought I was finally going to escape. I’d make a plan, gather my courage, and take the first steps toward freedom. Once, I even managed to get a divorce! But every time, something pulled me back—his threats, his apologies, my fear, my hope that things would change. I failed at starting over more times than I can count.Until finally, I didn’t. With friends helping us, my daughte...