PTSD is very often misunderstood. It can conjure up images of wounded soldiers returning home from war after living their life in fear for months on end. The reality is, PTSD can happen from everyday experiences where we feel really out of control. Trauma is very much a subjective thing. You don’t have to have had your life under constant threat to experience it. What one person finds traumatising, another might find a breeze.
PTSD is often confused with anxiety or depression. Although these are some of the symptoms, it runs a bit deeper than that with flashbacks, high alert and avoidance.
When you take those first exciting steps towards finally being your own boss, it’s hard to imagine that the experience might be traumatising in any way. Trauma as a Business Owner can be in the form of months without any income, online abuse, difficult customers or mounting bills.
The bigger picture is, running a business can sometimes be hard work, stressful and overwhelming. If you have mouths to feed, bills to pay and children demanding your attention, you need to have strong psychological roots. And it’s those psychological roots that ensure you are resilient irrespective of the challenges thrown at you.
Naomi Buffery – The Anxiety Healer, Anxiety Specialist, Women’s Emotional Health Coach and TEDx Speaker offers you her tips on how you can address PTSD whilst running a business through self awareness and emotional intelligence.
Take the pressure off
There is a common misconception that working yourself into the ground equates to a successful business. In fact the opposite is true. The more pressure you put on yourself, the more self-imposed stress you feel and the less motivated you will be. It’s like walking through treacle. Loosen those reins and cut yourself some slack.
Keep a check on your expectations
Sometimes we can have really unrealistic expectations of ourselves. Perfection doesn’t exist. When you tell yourself you have to be the very best or you cannot make any mistakes or you have to be earning 7 figures in 3 months – you are setting yourself up for failure. All these unrealistic ideals do is damage your self esteem and confidence.
Focus on what you can control
Our thoughts can spiral into panic and overwhelm very quickly. What you focus on grows. So, if you only focus on unknown quantities, worst case scenarios and what ifs very quickly you feel overwhelmed and helpless. Switch those thoughts around. Focus your thoughts on things that you can control. What are your next steps? Focus on the solution instead.
Look for the learning
When things don’t go to plan our default response can be to beat ourselves up or jump straight into a pity party. That’s not going to do you any favours. Ask yourself, what have I learnt from this experience? What has this made possible for me? How can I use this to my advantage?
Ask for help
If you are struggling in your business and you can’t see the woods for the trees, one of the very best things you can do is ask for help. Find a trusted Coach that has been in your shoes and come out the other side. Sometimes all you need to move you forward is to see things from a completely different perspective and an objective, third party can help you do just that.
