By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Editor (Canada-Ukraine), Times Asian
Khrystyna Kurhanska is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, aromatherapist, and mental-health advocate. Chair of the board of DoLadu, she leads work supporting the mental health, rehabilitation, and reintegration of Ukraine’s defenders, veterans, families, and civilians affected by war. She holds a finance degree, has business experience in perfumery and aroma marketing since 2010, and is advancing clinical-psychology studies, with certifications in project management, neuromarketing, and psychology. Her profile bridges business, sensory science, trauma recovery, and psychosocial support.
In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Khrystyna Kurhanska how people under wartime pressure can move from avoidance into action. Kurhanska links procrastination to motivation, competence, depleted resources, fear, avoidance, and false hope that problems will solve themselves. She offers practical tools: honest self-assessment, rest, planning, realistic deadlines, emotionally meaningful goals, small first actions, external accountability, and chosen consequences that make commitment concrete and durable without searching for a magic cure, easy excuse, or shortcut.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When someone goes to war, there are no universally right or wrong answers about how much information to share with family. Each person decides what is safe, useful, and humane to say. A soldier might call home and say, “Everything is fine. I am with my comrades. I am working.” They may avoid discussing operational details, injuries, or risk because they know how that information will affect their family.
Khrystyna Kurhanska: Yes. Some details cannot be shared in real time, especially when they relate to operations. A soldier may say, “I am at work,” rather than explain where they are or what is happening. If a mother hears that something has happened, the anxiety becomes immediate. Even radio communication can be shaped by the need to protect others from fear.
Jacobsen: What about psychological help for veterans and their families from society, professionals, communities, and families? Another issue is reintegration. I would not frame it only as the reintegration of veterans into society. Society also needs to learn how to receive veterans properly.
Khrystyna Kurhanska: I prefer questions that bring the issue back to action: What can I change? What can I do? How do I behave in a way that helps calm and stabilize people? When the level of my personal calm drops, my reactions expand. I may become aggressive, withdrawn, or avoidant. The important thing is to notice that reaction. It is not helpful to fight the person. When someone is not okay, that is precisely the moment to help create calm. People do not always need advice. Often, they need co-regulation: someone calm enough to help them settle.
Jacobsen: Would that mainly be communication?
Kurhanska: Communication matters, but so do actions, routines, and simple tools. We can write things down, record messages, use Telegram, and create reminders. That connects to another topic: procrastination.
I have many tasks and try to do everything. Sometimes I realize I am procrastinating. I find reasons not to do the work, even when I know it is necessary. I do not want a magic pill, but are there algorithms or practical steps? Sometimes the resistance lasts one minute; sometimes ten minutes. Sometimes a task is due in 12 days, and then I complete it in the last day and a half.
The first question is: why is there no motivation? There are several possibilities. One is that there is no sincere motivation. People may tell you that you should do something, go somewhere, or choose a particular path, but inside it may not be yours. If there is no real internal motivation, you need either to choose a different goal or find a different source of motivation. Another possibility is that there is motivation, but you have created a beautiful explanation for avoiding action. You tell yourself a story about why you cannot do it. In that case, the obstacle is not the absence of motivation; it is self-deception.
A second issue is skills and competence. Many people say, “I am not ready yet. I need to learn more. I need another course. I need another year.” Sometimes that is true. Often, however, a person hides behind the idea of insufficient competence because it feels safer than acting.
A third issue is resources. A person under emotional stress may not have the energy to begin. If you are depleted, the probability of procrastination increases. Before demanding more productivity from yourself, ask whether you have slept, eaten, rested, moved your body, and recovered emotionally. Without resources, even simple tasks become difficult.
Fear is another major reason. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of judgment, fear of leaving the comfort zone, fear of not being competent enough, fear of contact with unpleasant people—all of these can stop movement. Fear itself is normal. The question is whether fear stops you or whether you continue while feeling it.
There is also the belief that the problem will solve itself. Some people do not act because they imagine that time, other people, or circumstances will resolve the situation. Sometimes that happens, but often it only postpones the problem.
Another reason is avoidance of a person, place, or trigger. You may say, “I want to do this project,” but the project requires contacting someone unpleasant or entering a difficult situation. Then the avoidance is not about the task itself; it is about the emotional association attached to it.
Jacobsen: What can a person do to overcome procrastination?
Kurhanska: The first technique is very simple: take it and do it. The phrasing may sound crude, but the principle is useful. Start physically. Open the file. Put your shoes on. Write the first sentence. Make the call. At the beginning, the discomfort often rises. If I drew a graph, I would show comfort dropping at first. You start the task, and for a short period it feels unpleasant. Then, after you remain with the task, the discomfort decreases. That first period is the zone of discomfort. You need to stay in it long enough for the task to become easier.
Another version of the same idea is: get up and move. We create beautiful stories about why we cannot act, but the body has not moved. Action often begins before motivation appears.
Jacobsen: What else helps?
Kurhanska: Deadlines help, but they must be realistic and binding. If time is too loose, a person stretches the task endlessly. If time is too tight, the pressure may become paralyzing. A useful deadline creates movement without destroying the person.
Planning is one of the most productive tools. You define goals, write a plan, and make the plan visible. Paper can work well because it disciplines attention. You write what you will do each day, create reminders, and track completion. A plan reduces the number of decisions you need to make in the moment.
Positive motivation can also help. Do not simply scold yourself by saying, “Do not be lazy.” That usually fails. Create an emotional image of the result. If you want to walk or exercise, imagine how your body will feel, how your health will change, and what kind of person you are becoming. Motivation works better when it is emotionally connected to a meaningful result.
External control is another method. Many people need accountability. This can be a friend, colleague, supervisor, coach, or someone close enough to ask directly whether you did what you promised to do.
One radical technique is sometimes called “burning bridges.” The historical phrase refers broadly to stories in which commanders removed the possibility of retreat by destroying boats or escape routes. I would not attach this to a specific historical figure here because the source is not precise. The psychological point is commitment: you make the cost of avoidance clear enough that action becomes more likely.
For example, a person who wants to stop smoking can choose a controller and set a financial consequence: 50 hryvnias for every cigarette, or 100 or 1,000 hryvnias for failing to complete a promised action. The amount must matter to the person, and the controller must be someone close enough to check honestly. Many people say they lack willpower, but they dislike losing money. Sometimes the desire not to lose money defeats procrastination when discipline does not.
Jacobsen: So the practical tools are motivation, competence, resources, fear management, planning, deadlines, emotional visualization, external accountability, and commitment.
Kurhanska: Yes. The main idea is not to search for a magic pill. First, identify the real reason for avoidance. Then use the tool that fits that reason. If you lack energy, rest. If you lack skill, learn the specific missing skill. If you are afraid, take small action while fear is present. If you are inventing excuses, stop negotiating with the excuse and begin. The solution depends on the cause.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Khrystyna.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a Canadian journalist and publisher who serves as Times Asian’s Editor for Canada and Ukraine Affairs and writes on international affairs.
