Entrepreneur Stress and Anxiety: Why It’s Hard to Slow Down
GUEST POST
Written by Deanna Kessler, LCSW, LICSW, a mental health therapist who works with high-achieving adults, entrepreneurs, and business owners in New York and Massachusetts.
Starting a business can be exciting, fulfilling, and completely overwhelming. There are endless decisions to make and no clear roadmap for getting everything right.
You may be thinking about getting clients, whether people will actually buy what you’re offering, how much to charge, whether you can afford to hire someone, or whether the business will work. Even small decisions can feel heavy when your income, time, and future are involved.
If you’re a high-achieving person who is used to figuring things out, your instinct may be to respond by doing more. Research more. Plan more. Work a little longer. Check the numbers again. There is always something you could be doing to move the business forward.
Entrepreneurship can bring up a lot more than business questions
Building a business can feel like self-development on steroids. You’re not just learning how to run a company. You’re also confronting your relationship with money, success, failure, visibility, uncertainty, and your own sense of worth.
You might wonder if you’re charging too much, growing too slowly, or making the wrong decision. You can know logically that uncertainty is part of entrepreneurship and still find yourself wanting to figure everything out before you move forward.
The reality is that you can’t always think your way to certainty. You can make a thoughtful decision, do the research, and still not know what happens next. That can be particularly uncomfortable when you’re used to feeling in control.
When work follows you everywhere
One of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur is that work doesn’t always stay at work.
You might be on vacation and suddenly start thinking about next month’s revenue. You might be having dinner with your partner while mentally rewriting your website. You might wake up at 2 a.m. wondering whether you should hire someone or whether you can afford to.
Technically, you’re not working but your brain is still working.
There is always another email, idea, problem, or decision waiting for you. It can be easy to tell yourself that you’ll finally relax once things settle down. The problem is that things may never completely settle down. Your business will grow and change, and the things that keep you up at night will change with it.
Do you actually need to solve this right now?
When you’re feeling uncertain, it can be tempting to respond by doing more. Sometimes you genuinely need to take action. Other times, you’re trying to relieve the discomfort of not knowing what will happen next.
The next time you notice yourself spiraling into problem-solving mode, ask yourself:
Is there actually something I need to solve right now, or am I uncomfortable with not knowing?
That small distinction can give you a little more room to pause. If there is something you need to do, identify the next step. If there isn’t, you can let the question remain unanswered for a while. You don’t have to figure everything out simply because your brain has decided it needs an answer.
Slowing down can be harder than it sounds
If you’re used to being the person who figures things out, keeps going, and gets things done, slowing down can feel surprisingly uncomfortable. Even when you know you need a break, a part of you may still be thinking about what needs to happen next.
Rather than trying to force that part of yourself to stop, it can be helpful to get curious about it. What is it worried might happen if you slow down? What is it trying to protect you from? What does it believe will happen if you aren’t constantly moving the business forward?
The part of you that wants to keep going may have helped you build your business in the first place. It may be driven, resourceful, and really good at anticipating what needs to happen next. You don’t have to get rid of that part. You can learn to support it while also making room for rest, relationships, creativity, and the parts of you that exist outside of work.
You don’t have to go from always “on” to completely unplugged. Sometimes, the first step is simply creating a little more space between you and the constant need to keep going.
You don’t have to figure it all out alone
If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or high-achieving professional, therapy can be a space to slow down enough to notice what’s happening beneath the constant doing. We can make room for the parts of you that want to keep pushing, while also getting curious about what you may need underneath all that effort.
Deanna Kessler, LCSW, LICSW is a mental health therapist in New York and Massachusetts who works with high-achieving adults, entrepreneurs, and business owners navigating anxiety, perfectionism, self-doubt, and the pressure of holding everything together. Her approach is relational and somatic, creating space to better understand yourself, your patterns, and what your mind and body may be asking for.
Interested in working together? Learn more about working with Deanna here: Littlebirdcounseling.net