I want to begin by saying that I am okay.
Lately, I have been struggling with my mental health. I’ll admit that this is probably the worst it has been in a very long time. The depression, anxiety, overwhelm, and lack of motivation have made even basic tasks feel incredibly difficult.
However, there isn’t one single event or problem that brought me here. It has been a gradual accumulation of life, responsibility, grief, and pressure.
I’m not sharing this because I want sympathy. I’m sharing it because we need to talk more honestly about mental health and entrepreneurship. We often celebrate the freedom of working for ourselves without discussing what happens when life becomes heavy and there is nowhere to hide from our responsibilities.
My Work Isn’t the Problem, but It Is Suffering
When I speak with people about how I have been feeling, they often assume my workload must be the problem.
They tell me I need to slow down, make a change, or take on less. Some have even suggested that entrepreneurship may not be right for me and that returning to a traditional nine-to-five job would be easier.
The truth is that my work is not the cause of what I’m experiencing. It is simply one of the places where the effects have become the most noticeable.
My business requires me to make decisions, communicate with clients, meet deadlines, stay creative, plan ahead, and remain visible online. When my mental health suffers, those responsibilities can suddenly feel much heavier.
I also hold myself to incredibly high standards. I care about the details, the experience I provide, and delivering work when I say I will. When I struggle to meet my usual expectations, I know it isn’t like me. That realization creates another layer of guilt and frustration.
I don’t want to walk away from entrepreneurship. I love with all of my heart what I do, and I still want to build this business. Struggling to work does not mean I no longer care about my work. Sometimes, it means I care deeply but don’t have the mental capacity to show it in the ways I normally would.
When Everyday Life Becomes Too Heavy
Lately, the pressures of life have knocked me down.
I have been processing death and grief while navigating the reality of being an only child with aging family members. At the same time, I’m a wife, a cat mom, a business owner, and a person trying to keep up with everyday life.
None of these responsibilities exist separately. They slowly pile on top of one another until something eventually gives.
For me, that happened while I was away on vacation.
I crashed — HARD.
For a little while, I was away from being needed. I didn’t have to make every decision, respond to every message, or think about what needed to happen next. I was removed from many of my usual responsibilities, and it felt really, really nice.
My family was never the type to take vacations, so travelling is still rare for me as an adult. Over the last few weeks I had taken off a weekend to visit with family and travel to New Brunswick to see the Jonas Brothers with my cousin, then coming back and leaving again to Ontario to see Andy Grammer with my husband. It was also the first real amount of time my husband and I had taken off together since I began working for myself more than two years ago, and if I’m being honest probably since we had gotten married, 5 years ago this month.
I don’t think I fully understood just how exhausted I was until I finally stopped.
Sometimes, you can continue functioning simply because you have to. You answer the emails, meet the deadlines, and move on to the next responsibility. Then, when you finally reach a place where you are allowed to rest, everything you have been carrying catches up with you.
Coming Home Didn’t Mean Feeling Rested
When we returned home, I expected to get back into a routine. Instead, I struggled to find any kind of groove.
Sitting down at my desk felt almost impossible. I knew exactly what needed to be done, but knowing didn’t make starting any easier.
There were galleries to edit, inquiries to answer, and promotions to plan. I needed to prepare for the final quarter of the year, organize fall and Christmas sessions (yes, already!) and create graphics, social media posts, and other online content.
The list kept growing, but I couldn’t make myself begin.
Instead, I shut down. Most of the time, I chose to sleep.
From the outside, that could easily look like procrastination or laziness. From the inside, it felt like my brain had reached its limit. Even small decisions required energy I didn’t seem to have.
That is one of the most difficult parts of struggling with your mental health as an entrepreneur. You are often fully aware of what needs your attention. You may even want to do it, but wanting to work and being able to function are not always the same thing.
The business doesn’t disappear when you are struggling. Your inbox still receives messages. Deadlines continue approaching. Clients still need answers. There isn’t always someone else available to take over while you recover.
When you are the person responsible for everything, taking a mental health day can feel less like rest and more like borrowing time from tomorrow.
Asking for Help
Eventually, my husband suggested that I try therapy to help me understand and manage what I was feeling.
I agreed, and it has been helping me out a lot.
Therapy hasn’t removed every difficult feeling, but what it has done is give me a place to understand what is happening in my head. I’m learning coping mechanisms and beginning to recognize my patterns before I reach the point of completely shutting down.
This week, I have slowly started wanting to check things off my mental list again.
I want to emphasize the word “slowly.”
Recovery does not always arrive as a dramatic burst of motivation. Sometimes, it looks like answering one email, editing a few photographs, or finally completing a task you have been avoiding. Those things may appear small to someone else, but they can be meaningful signs that you are beginning to find your way forward.
I’m learning that asking for help is not an admission that I am incapable, it’s supporting my mental health as part of protecting my ability to continue doing the work I love.
Entrepreneurship Can Be Lonely
Those who know me know that I love working around other people. I love talking, bouncing ideas off others, and learning from people who understand what it is like to build something of their own.
However, entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely.
You can spend an entire day working without speaking to another person. You make countless decisions alone and carry worries that the people around you may not fully understand. Social media may make self-employment look social and exciting, but much of the work happens quietly behind a desk.
That isolation can become even more difficult when your mental health is already suffering.
This is why I am so grateful to have found an amazing group of people to connect with. I think of them as my coworkers and colleagues, never as competition. They are people I can talk to, share ideas with, ask questions, and occasionally admit that I’m having a difficult time.
Having a community doesn’t remove every challenge, but it reminds me that I don’t have to navigate all of them alone.
Supporting Your Mental Health Supports Your Business
Entrepreneurs often treat themselves as if they are separate from their businesses. We prioritize the clients, deadlines, finances, marketing, and never-ending task lists. Our mental health gets whatever attention remains.
But we are not separate from the businesses we run.
When we are depleted, the work becomes harder. Creativity feels further away, decisions become exhausting, and responsibilities begin to feel impossible. Pushing through may work temporarily, but it is not a permanent solution.
Rest is not something we should have to earn by reaching complete exhaustion. Therapy is not only for moments of absolute crisis. Community is not a weakness, and asking for help does not make someone less capable.
Taking care of your mental health is not abandoning your business. It is part of building one that you can continue running.
I’m not writing this because I have everything figured out. I’m still working through it, and some days are easier than others.
I’m also not sharing this as an apology or an invitation for sympathy. I’m sharing it because these conversations matter. Behind many businesses is a person carrying responsibilities, relationships, grief, fear, and circumstances that customers may never see.
You can love your work and still struggle to do it.
You can be grateful for your business and still feel overwhelmed by it.
You can need help without being a failure.
Most importantly, a difficult period does not erase your talent, your progress, or everything you have already built.
I am okay. I am getting support, learning how to take better care of myself, and slowly finding my way back to my work.
For right now, that is enough.
The Resource I’ve Been Using has been BetterHelp
I personally chose to begin therapy through BetterHelp, and having access to online support has been helpful for me. If traditional in-person therapy feels difficult to fit into your life, you may wish to explore whether online therapy is right for you.
You can use my referral link to receive a free weeks when you sign up. This is not a sponsored post, I just think its amazing resourse that should be used. Click Here
This is a referral link, which means I may also receive a benefit if you use it. I’m sharing it because it is the service I have personally been using, not because there is one form of therapy that will work for everyone. BetterHelp is not a crisis service. If you need immediate assistance, please use one of the crisis resources listed above.
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