Entrepreneurs are some of the bravest people I know but also suffer the most with mental health issues. Anxiety, depression, burnout, and even PTSD are unfortunately something we struggle with more than the general population. Your business thrives when YOU thrive. As an entrepreneur, your habits are your business habits. Since you make most of the decisions, do most of the work, and lead most of the direction, it's your mental wellness that will decide how far you let yourself go. How is your mental wellness affecting your business? Mental Wellness
There is a difference between the social context
of "mental health" and "mental wellness" but people still use them interchangeably. The socially adopted context of mental health focuses on the struggles & need for healing whereas mental wellness focuses on symptom prevention and maintenance of a healthy state of mind. It's all mental health.
Health doesn't stop at the absence of illness and disease, it is also about the nurturing of mind, body, and spirit for a holistic (whole) approach to wellness.
Let's get into each condition.
Anxiety
Anxiety is linked to your stress response. Entrepreneurs are, as a whole, a stressed out bunch. When you become unable to manage your stress response in the moment, this is when anxiety sneaks in. Here are a few ways anxiety affects you & some helpful ways to manage it.
Anxiety affects your work by:
preventing us from taking action or aiming for perfection
looking for ways to immediately self-soothe vs long term
taking on too many tasks, multitasking
difficulty prioritizing what's important
Ways to manage anxiety:
mindfulness, breathing, being present
identification, information, & familiarity
planning, only trying to control what we can
honouring values, & setting boundaries
Depression
No matter what the cause of your depression (chemical imbalance, inflammation, gut health, etc), it's exacerbated by avoiding unwanted feelings. Emotion is a form of energy that needs to be in motion. When you deny motion, you store the energy physically and it surfaces as physical symptoms like tension.
Depression can affect your work by:
feeling disconnected, unfocused, and even uncaring
thinking we're a burden, in-the-way, and not wanting to intrude
feeling tired & sore, or experiencing foggy thinking & change in hunger
procrastinating and looking for distractions
Ways to manage depression:
proper sleep, gut friendly nutrition, exercise
emotional management, personal growth, mindfulness
keep doing the happy & healthy things you did before
explore who you are, self-expression
Burnout
You don't have to work long hours or have a manual labour job to feel burnt out. Most entrepreneurs who suffer, do so from mental burnout. You're just depleted. Taking too many huge steps out of your comfort zone too close together, having to be hyper-focused for long periods without a break, chronic stressful conditions, etc can all cause burnout. It's too much mental load that eventually has us unable to maintain "normalcy."
Burnout can affect your work by:
racing thoughts, inability to focus, trouble finding simple words
information/sensory overload, and the need to get away
drastically reducing our energy & increasing our resentment
feeling like there's no point, no hope, and no sense of self anymore
Ways to manage burnout:
sustainable, healthy lifestyle management - BEDMAS of Wellnessâ„¢ formula
rest & refocus on doing things with intention not expectations
get to know, & honour your desires, values, & priorities
set & practice new boundaries that put yourself first
PTSD
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is what happens when the extreme stress of a chronic or acute situation is beyond our ability to manage. It has similarities with all 3 of the above mentioned conditions because it affects your core needs, especially safety. Your stress response goes crazy like it's stuck on, you want to avoid all emotions & memories attached to the situation, and the rest of you feels overwhelmed because you're completely depleted.
PTSD can affect our work by:
inability to sleep or rest because of nightmares & reliving the event(s)
information/sensory overload, triggers, racing thoughts
self-blame, guilt & shame, fear of the unknown & risk taking
irritability, mood swings, avoiding things, foggy mind, inability to focus, chronic pain
Ways to manage PTSD...(all of the above, plus):
situation & emotion healing - to be done with various trained professional
mindfulness, CBT, NLP, EFT, etc (I cured my PTSD chronic pain with mindfulness)
mind & body connection movement, TRE, tension release
calming the stress response (vagus nerve, theta healing, gut health, etc)
Business Speaking from personal experience on all of these mental health conditions, they all affect your self-value, productivity, decision making, and SO much more! If you look at your patterns, and identify as someone who struggles with your mental health I urge you to work with a professional. If it's me, GREAT! If it's not me, find someone who will support you. I don't think I've said it enough, YOU are your greatest asset in your business and YOU are the one holding yourself back. I love you, but you need to realize just how powerful you are in creating your future! Success is earned by building the habits now that open you up to how. By supporting your mental wellness, you could see such side effects as:
What side effects would YOU like to see? Share by using the hashtag #BEDMASlife.
Learn, Love & keep your Momentum,
Laura Lake <3