Mental Health Day 2022: A Collection of Best Mental Health Care Tips for Founders

To celebrate World Mental Health Day, we’ve collaborated with Capchase to deep dive into financial anxiety drivers challenging founders’ mental health.

At Wellnite our mission is to make high-quality mental healthcare accessible to everyone regardless of zip code or insurance coverage with the final and most ambitious goal of helping humans in building a more mindful, empathetic and forward thinking society.

Everyone has mental health. Founders and business leaders experience stress, pressures, and anxiety just like everyone else. But with the added pressures of leading a team, building a business, and all the responsibilities that come with it, it is even more important for them to prioritize their mental well-being. We believe founders and business leaders can have a profound impact on millions of people. Their behavior, and how they respond to their mental health can influence and change culture, behaviors and most importantly for us at Wellnite, the perception of mental health for generations to come.

In line with this, we’ve put together a list of actionable tips whether you are a founder or a business leader to better care for your mental health - one for each day of the week. Here are a few mental health care tips for founders.

Coping with Change

Change is inevitable. It is definitely a part of life. We can't prevent things around us from changing. We can't prevent people around us from changing as well.

Change does not have to be bad or scary. Some changes can be good and exciting.

For founders, there are a lot of changes that can happen in their companies and businesses. And, like with everything in life, these changes can either be good or bad.

From personal shifts to a changing business environment, adjusting to a new normal can be challenging. You may feel a mix of emotions. In fact, change is everywhere and it's not necessarily a bad thing.

But there are also things that we wished we could change, but can't. And with nearly every kind of change, stress is part of the equation. So here are 5 ways founders can deal with change-related anxiety and stress.

Write It and Reframe It

Write down everything that's making you anxious. What's the worst thing that could happen? Then, for every fear, write an affirming statement. This doesn't need to be falsely positive. Reframe the situation to one that serves you.

Ex. I'm not going to be able to lead my team effectively because I am new to these changes in the business => There are many changes happening in business today, but I will work with the best of my ability to lead my team well.

How Much Control Do You Actually Have?

We often grab for control in moments when we are least likely to have it. Ask yourself how much control you actually have over the situation. If the answer is "not much" or "none," resolve to let it go and set your mind on things you actually have control over.

Breathing Exercises

During moments where you feel like you can't get away from your own thoughts and fears, try an audible or vibrational breath. Inhale deeply, and exhale on a hum, a lip buzz, or a "haaa" sound. Hearing the rhythm and pulse of your own breath can help bring you back into the present.

Doubt Your Doubts

The anxieties we have in moments of change are often definitive - we are so sure that the worst will happen. Practice catching yourself in these moments. Remind yourself that just because you're feeling that it's true doesn't make it true. Come up with a few empowering statements to question your doubts.

Create Daily Rituals

Create touchstone habits where you can feel in control of your life. In the morning and right before you go to bed are great times for habitual activities, but come up with a couple for the middle of the day, too.

Improving your emotional intelligence

As a founder, it’s so essential to have high emotional intelligence in order to properly lead your team. Emotional intelligence refers to your ability to recognize and regulate emotion and to use social awareness in problem-solving.

Having high EQ fuels your performance both in the workplace and in your personal life, but it starts with you. Fortunately, it is something you can learn and we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of tips to help you explore your own level of emotional intelligence.

Here are a few ways to help strengthen and improve your emotional intelligence.

1. Practice observing how you feel

Often we lead hectic, busy lifestyles and it’s all too easy for us to lose touch with our emotions. To reconnect, try setting a timer for various points during the day.

2. Do a self-evaluation regularly

What are your weaknesses? Are you willing to accept that you're not perfect and that you could work on some areas to make yourself a better person?

3. Take responsibility for your actions

If you hurt someone's feelings, apologize directly – don't ignore what you did or avoid the person.

4. Question your own opinions

This will help you understand other people and be more receptive to new ideas.

5. Communicate assertively

Emotionally intelligent people know how to communicate their opinions and needs in a direct way while still respecting others.

One of the biggest factors that can affect your emotional intelligence is not having strong work-life boundaries.

As a founder, you need to lead your team. You juggle a million different tasks and need to be on top of almost everything in the business. But not setting strong work-life boundaries can cause you to burn out.

Remember, you must first take care of yourself in order to care for others. Here are a few ways to set strong work-life boundaries.

Managing Anger

We all get angry. It's a natural human emotion. Let's discuss why anger isn't always a NEGATIVE emotion. Anger has a negative reputation. People compare it to happiness or enthusiasm and label it as a BAD or NEGATIVE emotion. Here are a few reasons why this isn't true.

1. Anger energizes us. Anger guards us when someone wants to hurt us.

2. Anger motivates us to solve problems. Anger propels us to take action when things aren't going well.

3. Anger makes us aware of injustice. There is a lot of injustice in the world. Anger serves as our internal guidance when we (or others) are being treated unfairly.

4. Anger can lead to self-improvement. Looking at what triggers anger makes us more self-aware.

5. Anger increases cooperation. Anger shows others that there is something you are not agreeing with and that something needs to change. This makes people listen.

“Expressing your angry feelings in an assertive—not aggressive—manner is the healthiest way to express anger.” A healthy expression of anger includes “making clear what your needs are, and how to get them met” (*) while being respectful of others.

Here are some other ways that we can differentiate between healthy and u