3 Things No One Told Me About Being A Depressed Entrepreneur
As some of you may have gathered from a few posts in social media, I suffer from depression. Of course, I still have dreams and can set goals, but no one told me how much harder it would be to work hard at something while you’re depressed and unmotivated. You have to work twice.
1. How Easy it is to Give Up
When you’re dealing with depression, even at varying severities, the easiest thing in the world to do is give up. On your business, on yourself, sometimes even on your life. However, giving up doesn’t get you anywhere. If you give up, you won’t be able to see yourself succeed, to know that it was something you could have been great at. The motivation levels already being low mean that it’s twice as hard to find a reason to drag yourself out of bed and get orders out and do the things you say you will because your followers, your friends, your family, are watching you. If you have pride enough in your business to muddle through the unmotivated stages of life, then others will surely stick by you in your endeavors. Setting alarms and adhering to routines can often help with this sort of issue when it comes to motivation. You may not have it, but you’ve gotten everything done, and sometimes, that in itself can be motivating.
2. Consistency is Everything
Posting to social media every once in a while or updating months later when you remember (or feel up to) doing it can tank a business faster than it takes to make double shot espresso mocha latte at Starbucks (I made that up, please don’t order it). Every day is another chance to get people to pay attention to your efforts. Whether it be posting on your media, or updating your tags and keywords to make it easier to find you, taking just a little time daily to do these things can show a significant increase in things like views, likes, and possibly even sales. Being able to see this progress can lift the spirits enough to want to continue. Enough to find just a little bit of motivation, which makes these things much easier to want to do.
3. Failure is Okay
Contrary to an anxious mind’s belief, failure is not life ending. I’m constantly going through trial and error stages with every new product or thing I decide to try. I gather up the things that work and make them stick, then try again at the things that fail to make them better. Some people can take this, and perhaps constructive criticisms, and use it to grow and thrive, become better. However, when you’re depressed, it just seems like yet another thing in life beating you down. It dampens motivation, which affects consistency in any part of your life, and it can lead to a spiral that’s very difficult to get yourself out of. It’s important not to take the failures too hard if you really want your business to succeed. Of course, this is much easier said than done, and I have not yet mastered such a thing, but one day at a time can do wonders for progress.
For someone as depressed and anxious as I am, these things can seem scary. It can seem like you work for no reward and that things get overwhelming pretty quickly. Use the support of the people who love you and support your business to power through to reach whatever goals you have set for yourself. Sometimes, that support may come in the form of 100 followers, sometimes it might come in the form of one friend that truly believes in you. But whatever you do, please remember that if you want to do it, you absolutely can.