BROADCASTS.com

In This Episode:\n\n\n\n* How mindset & resilience consultant Shulamit Ber Levtov became interested in the mental health challenges women face in entrepreneurship* Why she took a month off from work to prevent experiencing a full burnout last year* The methods she uses to identify what she needs and how she\u2019s feeling* Why she always starts with getting her emotional support needs met first* How she crafts clear boundaries and direct communication about what she really needs\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen was the last time you asked for help?\n\n\n\nThe last time you tried to solve a problem by asking for guidance instead of throwing yourself into Google? The last time you told someone about something that was really weighing on you, not looking for answers but just reaching out for empathy and understanding?\n\n\n\nI can\u2019t remember the last time I did. So if you\u2019re having a hard time picturing it, I\u2019m right there with you.\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve been my identity around being the one with the answers, the one who has it all together.\n\n\n\nOf course, much of that has been a mask for how utterly out of place and clueless I feel most of the time.\n\n\n\nThe more I can present myself as a smart, successful, and altogether resourceful leader the less likely I am to consciously worry about being rejected.\n\n\n\nToday, we\u2019re talking about cultivating emotional resilience and accessing support as a small business owner.\n\n\n\nIn their book, Burnout, Drs Emily and Amelia Nagoski term the collection of symptoms we face as the ones who have to have it all together as Human Giver Syndrome.\n\n\n\nThe \u201chuman giver\u201d idea comes from philosopher Kate Manne who uses it to make a distinction between the expectations put on women, along with people of color, queer people, immigrants, and other marginalized groups, and the expectations put on white men. Human givers are the people who human beings rely on for moral support, emotional labor, admiration, attention, and care.\n\n\n\nThe Nagoskis suggest that human givers who give and give without the ability to take time to receive support for their own labor and stress are on a fast track to burning out.\n\n\n\nI think this same dynamic can play out with business owners\u2014no matter their gender.\n\n\n\nUnder-resourced business owners are often relied on for moral support, strategic direction, project management, post mortem analysis, and planning with little ability to receive support on those tasks\u2014or many others.\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s more, our culture valorizes entrepreneurs who do this work day in and day out, for long hours, with no breaks. Of course, none of that valor translates into a better safety net and more abundant collective resources for business-building.\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m in way trying to make entrepreneurs the subject of sympathy. The upside to building a business, even as an under-resourced business owner, can be immense.\n\n\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t lessen the strain of making that upside reality.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s hard. And it\u2019s lonely. And it often goes unrecognized.\n\n\n\nEven though I am one of the many business owners who has a hard time setting aside my I\u2019ve-got-it-all-together identity to ask for & receive support, I have created a container where people to do this on a daily basis.