Mental Health Awareness Week Thoughts (Part 1)
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and I thought I’d share a couple of ways that I have designed my business to help my mental health. One of the advantages, I think, of self employment is that we can do this; we can choose how we work to suit us best. I find pressure on my time and a long list of time critical jobs overwhelming and panic inducing. I can’t remove these things entirely, so I have boundaries around things that would add to this:
I don’t have a business phone and only communicate by email. Answering the phone can be a biggie for people with anxiety. Who will it be, what do they want. Email communication means I can focus on my to do list without getting distracted by phone calls or feeling bad about letting them go to answerphone; I don’t have to keep notes of phone conversations as my emails include everything discussed (impossible in a field anyway!) and I don’t get that phone anxiety.
My services are simplified so that I can manage them confidently. I work to colour schemes and don’t promise specific flowers so that I’m not putting that pressure on myself. It’s purposefully simple.
I don’t open the field to the public. It’s purposefully private. It’s not Instagram perfect but it’s perfect for me. Wild in places. Functional. I don’t want to worry that it’s not neat enough or weed free to meet the expectations of my visitors. Lots of people would like to look around, but for now this boundary protects me from my own perfectionism getting in the way of my busy business!!
I nearly didn’t post this picture because a few of these ranunculus have been nibbled and aren’t perfect. But then I thought that actually it’s the perfect image for Mental Health Awareness Week.
More tomorrow!
-Harriet x