“I’m Still Standing, Looking Like a True Survivor”

For as long as I have been a business owner, I have never made the correlation that National Small Business Month and Mental Health Awareness Month occur in May.  I don’t know how or even why I put it together this year, but I did. Being a business owner has placed so much stress on my mental health that at times I thought, “Denise, you may not make it out of this one.” The constant worries about staffing, payroll, business development, our reputation, competition – the list goes on and on. Yet through it all, like Elton John said, “I’m still standing – looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid.”

I have often wondered how I’m still standing, but it dawned on me as I wrote these words. I think I’m still standing because years ago I decided to calm down. When we feel anxious, we tend to speak faster, louder, and with a tone that can intimidate or animate the listener. For the sake of my mental health, and to ensure I can keep conversations on track, remaining calm has proven to have its benefits. Also, I try to consistently carve out “me time,” even on the darkest of days. I recall years as a business owner when I didn’t do this. I was so focused on that next contract or the needs of our clients that I would turn down invitations, ignore telephone calls from friends, and rarely engage with people outside of the company. I was work, work, work, all the time. Eventually, the invitations dried up and I found myself very lonely and jealous of my friends as I scrolled through their pictures on Instagram. They were living life and having fun. I had to change because life was passing me by, and my memories of fun times were few and far between.

Over the next several weeks we will highlight several small business owners and share pearls of wisdom about mental health for business owners. We hope you will follow us and engage in the conversation. Being a business owner is hard, and protecting our mental health is even harder. Still, through honest conversations and transparency, we can tackle both and achieve more success than we ever dreamed.