Entrepreneurial Terror — A Truth Of Entrepreneurship And What To Do About It
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You saw a need in the market and you filled it. You birthed a business. You felt the euphoria of the first sale. The joy of being quoted in publications. The thrill of pushing past financial goals. You have no boss to please, no one looking over your shoulder. You get to call all the shots and ride the intense highs. People admire your grit. You make it look fun.
Entrepreneurs are a breed unto themselves. Entrepreneurs rarely measure time in days or weeks or months. For them, time is measured from win to win, deadline to deadline, failure to failure. Financial success and fame do little or nothing to provide proof of security. In fact, for them, achievement can usher in unimaginable levels of fear and anxiety. For entrepreneurs, victory can mean a farther fall to the bottom.
Entrepreneurship can be a grisly concoction of toxic ingredients that can poison your sleep, your health, your relationships, and your life. While the highs of entrepreneurship are plentiful and addicting, people rarely talk about the loneliness, the fear, and the sheer terror of owning your own business.
They don’t teach you in Business 101 how to prepare yourself for a life that can be wrought with imposter syndrome, self-doubt, second-guessing, sleeplessness, and shame. The best education cannot prepare you for the toll business ownership can take on your emotional and mental health.
Entrepreneurship is all-consuming. Its terror can keep victims in its clutches 24/7 for years on end. The larger the investment or the more people who depend on you for paychecks, the greater the chokehold.
And still, entrepreneur terror is almost never talked about. It is an unspeakable truth so rarely talked about, it is easy to believe you are the only one who suffers from it.
But, if you are a business owner who can feel like you are treading on a beautiful, glistening, bed of broken glass, you are not alone.
Entrepreneurs are:
- 2x more likely to suffer from depression
- 6x more likely to have ADHD
- 3x more likely to struggle with addiction
