It is Mental Health Awareness Week and we’re looking at different perspectives on mental health. Over the last few years, mental health and the encouragement of mental health has become more prominent within our society. Apparently, entrepreneurs are more susceptible to poor mental health and here’s the reasons why…
- STRESS
This might seem a little obvious and you may think ‘well everyone has stress don’t they?’, the truth is, the entrepreneur is in a constant state of work.. They are over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived and financially strained plus they have very little care for themselves and often don’t execute coping strategies.
- UNCERTAINTY
The need for control is human nature, when you work for yourself you are constantly striving to create yourself some certainty in your life. This lack of certainty plus an increased responsibility for what is evidently out of your control can create anxiety. Lots of anxiety.
- ISOLATION
In the early stages of starting up a business you’re on your own. Plus, most of your human interactions will be networking. Networking, though an obviously vital part of entrepreneurialism, doesn’t really count as proper socialization as it doesn’t contain the necessary vulnerability humans need to see in each other in order to connect properly.
- IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
Impression Management is a gift and a curse for the entrepreneur. It can potentially help you whilst networking as it’s good to give off a confident and ‘I’ve got it together’ vibe. However, this vibe doesn’t always ring true. There’s evidence to show that some entrepreneurs can even struggle with finding a personal identity because they’ve focused so much on their impression management.
- OBSTACLES TO HELP
Entrepreneurs can often be led to believe that mental health doesn’t matter when you can ‘fake it to make it’ (see #5). But it simply isn’t true! Creating barriers to resources in order to look after your mental health for yourself (ESPECIALLY if you’re an entrepreneur) will not help you or your career in any shape or form.
- YOU ARE NOT YOUR COMPANY
Entrepreneurs will fuse themselves to their company, but this also means that they can measure their self-worth based on how their company is doing.
Whatever your career, entrepreneur or not, everyone has their limits, and everyone must take care of their mental health. Appreciate yourself and make sure you have the down time you deserve.