What was it like building wealth during the Dotcom bubble and world financial crises?

Market crashes look clean on charts but feel brutal in real-time. During the 2000 and 2008 crises, capital froze and market trust evaporated. I guess nobody felt this more than people who were on their way of building wealth or already had made it.
Yet, those who focused on multi-year data and kept allocating capital built generational wealth.
So two questions from the 22 year old me who wants to know from you wise and elder ones how to act in case of a similar situation in the future:
How did that frozen capital impact your business or career back then?
How did you maintain trust to keep going or find opportunity?