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#5 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Are Prey of Mental Health Problems Believe it or not Entrepreneurship is correlated with mental health challenges

By Priyadarshini Patwa

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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We often hear stories of struggle, failure, and entrepreneurs suffering through tons of problems. But have we ever took a pause and wondered why are entrepreneurs so vulnerable to mental health problems?

In our busy lives, we often dismiss the thought of mental health and try to carry on with our lives. Which is our first and the biggest mistake! The fear of what people might say and how we might be judged is the key to all the issues. At times we are too ashamed to admit to the fact that we are a victim of mental health problems.

Believe it or not, somewhere the path that we choose during our entrepreneur venture is directly related to how our mental health suffers. Today, we bring you five major reasons for how entrepreneurs are prey to mental health problems.

Stress

The major reason for much mental health reason is stress and entrepreneurial life is filled with it in every step. We already have made a base that exertion is the key to success, vacation is out of options. Working long hours, depriving ourselves of sleep, an overdose of caffeine, financial issues, this becomes our daily routine. The office becomes our abode and we hardly have any time to head back home.

Concentrating on self-health and care becomes least of our priority and we also give workout, exercising, diet and fun a pass. We become so addicted to the unhealthy life pattern to achieve things business-wise that we numb our brain and body.

Isolation

Entrepreneurship comes with its own set of up and down. When at the initial stage, the common mistake we all make is isolating ourselves. While you might think it is essential, it is also one of the major reasons for depression.

Another way we feel isolated is when experience no one is supporting us because of the choices we are making. This pushes us to further loneliness as we have no one around us.

Correlating Our Identity with Our Company's

The primary mistake we make is losing our identity when building our business. We detach ourselves from our close ones, friends and other relationships. We become too involved in building a company and putting everything past it. This ends up creating a void which soon causes emotional and anxiety issues.

We often misunderstand what the company is supposed to be part of our identity not become our identity. When you feel broken and lonely, just go ahead and take help. Don't be ashamed of seeking what is essential.

Uncertainty

We, humans, tend to hate uncertainty. But that's how life is, like it or not, things happen when you expect them the least. You can control the input factor, however, the external output factors are not in your control.

Entrepreneurs often envision the future and when things don't happen the way they want, the uncertainty factor impacts our mental health. It leads to anxiety despite knowing that things are truly out of our control.

Faking It

One of the essential factors that lead to all the problems is trying hard to maintain an impression. Entrepreneurs often believe that showing a sign of weakness leads to a negative impact. They try to keep it all together and distance themselves from sharing reality.

The persistent shame and disconnection cause stress which eventually leads to anxiety.

Priyadarshini Patwa

Former Features Editor, Entrepreneur India

Priyadarshini Patwa is the Former Features Editors of Entrepreneur India and hosted an Instagram show every Friday named ‘Lighten Up’, about people from different walks of life and talk about their work and beyond. She handled the lifestyle, features, technology, entertainment segments and was also responsible for the Digital Covers. Previously she has worked with MensXP, a Times of India entity and Deccan Chronicle. 

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