Mental Health : The Tough Conversation
High stress, fast-paced environment that the entrepreneurs function in is an open invitation for crumbling Mental Health. The added pressure from the ecosystem’s incessant need to be constantly innovating and the competitive air that occupies the space ominously doesn’t necessarily form a conducive environment for your emotional well being.
As a result, there is a significant number of entrepreneurs and the stakeholders within the ecosystem struggling with the peace of their mind.
While this is the root cause of the issue, its expansion lies in the lack of real dialogue around the struggles.
‘It is a part of me now’
‘We have to live with it’
These are few of many conceptions that float around, allowing people to retract from having the difficult conversation of “Maybe I need help”
There is a diagnosis. There is a process in place.
And knowing that there is a way around it, is the key to shattering that facade of invincibility that Mental Health struggles cloak people with.
Identifying your battle
As an entrepreneur, you open your mind and body to multiple emotional, economic, and social triggers.
Whether it is the constant struggle to innovate, or the need to find the next funding, the race of relevance and sustenance or just the pressure of holding an entire team together.
Your body reacts to each of these actions which range from just a racing heart to sweat break or just jagged breathing to mental uncertainty of sleepless nights, pills induced sleeping patterns, or just a constant state of exhaustion.
Assessing your reaction pattern in each situation allows you as an individual to better prepare for the trigger, whenever it comes next. While it is almost impossible to anticipate a trigger, it is imperative to bifurcate and assess the difference.
Panic attacks with the constant fear of the next,
Depression bouts with the lack of motivation or,
Crippling Anxiety which impales your even basic movements.
However big or small, knowing and sensitizing yourself with all forms of Mental Health struggles allows you to bifurcate the reactions. While the struggles and episodes may overlap, identifying them allows you as an individual to map a process, surrounding your reaction. While you might not be able to understand why your mind is reacting a certain way, knowing the moment of reaction allows you to cut down the anticipation, which sometimes is a huge win.
As calculated as it sounds, it is one of the most effective ways to make sense of your Mental Health struggle.
Condition to Failure
The entrepreneurial journey is notoriously famous for the struggles that come with it. For every article that talks about the success story, five other articles are talking about the hardships that are endured throughout the journey. While success stories do make the headlines, the foundation of the ecosystem lies in the failed attempt.
Setting the precedence of hardship might seem harsh at first, allows your brain to cushion the impact that comes with multiple setbacks that are part of an entrepreneur’s life.
Compassion towards the struggle also plays a major role in easing an entrepreneur’s struggle with their emotion. In a tryst to keep up with the “always stride forward” attitude, the sense of empathy diminishes, and managing expectations as a concept becomes alien. It is imperative that entrepreneurs inculcate the mantra of self-compassion, and practice empathy internally.
“Treating yourself with the same type of kind, caring support and understanding that you would show to anyone you cared about.” is the practice of being self-compassionate according to what Dr. Kristin Neff. Peeling yourself away and jumping back in the with a rejuvenated mindset is an underrated concept, but is integral to the sentence of an innovative mind frame of an entrepreneur.
Allowing yourself to make mistakes. Falter.
Failing at pitches and analyzing product-market fit.
Taking a step back and analyzing your actions.
Delegation and decentralization of your responsibilities.
Or maybe even taking a vacation.
These are all ways to put your needs first and allows you to have a more balanced view of your reactions and outcomes.
Professional Support
While there might not be a dearth of people willing to listen to your struggles, only a few might be able to gauge its real impact. Entrepreneurship paints a perception of internalizing conflicts and putting the face of confidence. While in reality, the inner conflicts must be resolved and realized. And more often than not, this realization can only dawn upon you through professional intervention.
While therapy is not a cure, it is a process of understanding your reactions and stimulus. Your struggles will not get eliminated, but the sight of the problems allows you to course-correct to better and sustainable Mental Health
.Unfortunately, not everyone can leverage therapy. However, if you can afford or have access to therapy, there is no debate about its effectiveness when it comes to Mental Health.
2020 has paved the way for a fledgling Mental Health Ecosystem within the startup ecosystem, with products, applications, communities, and investments being tunneled to the cause of safeguarding Mental Health. With applications like Calm, Headspace, Talkspace, Mindstrong, Ginger, Pear Therapeutics, leading the way, there are almost 700+ mental health startups that have been formed dating back to 1987, with just over $4.5 billion invested.
Ecosystem Support
Drawing from the previous point of finding the right audience that gauges your struggles, turning to an ecosystem is one of the many favorable options for better outcomes. With stakeholders within the startup and investment ecosystem being more vocal about their struggles with Mental Health, space right now champions inclusion.
As courageous as it is to work through your issue, it is even more courageous to be open about your struggles with a community that thrives on symbiotic relationships.
Reaching out to a fellow stakeholder not only allows you to sort out the emotional clutter but also see through potential triggers and pain points which are not apparent during the time. Mentor programs come in very handy in such situations where their stories form a roadmap in identifying your struggles. Finally, the most effective yet, least prevalent way to engage with your Mental Health.
There is seemingly endless white space in this market today, and a flood of entrepreneurs looking to enter, not only because of the market size but because the reduction in stigma has made them more comfortable with solving something so personal.
With investors also consciously making efforts to expand this space, the ecosystem today has the potential to support a struggling entrepreneur, even in an emotional capacity.
The dialogue when it comes to Mental Health is a continuous one. Over time, these dialogues are getting translated to actions, which is the real purpose behind starting any conversation. We have reached a space where Mental Health as a struggle is getting its due recognition and the stigma attached to it is diminishing with each passing day.
While the first pillar of the issue has been addressed on a substantial scale, the question of availability and affordability of routes to navigate the struggles of your mind remains a relatively untapped territory.
The struggle with Mental Health is a process.
And so is the conversation around it.
As Mental Health is an ongoing conversation, understand this silent struggle of entrepreneurship a little better by reading the following article
