How to manage stress when you’re self-employed
Everyone will feel stressed at times. It’s a normal part of life, and can even be a positive thing in some circumstances. But when it becomes a long-term state of mind, there are serious implications for your mental and physical wellbeing. In this guide, we run through some strategies to manage stress when working for yourself.
When can stress be a big problem for the self-employed?
If you’re feeling particularly intense and overwhelming feelings of acute stress, or it’s lasting for a long time (or constantly coming back) as chronic stress, it can have a big impact on your wellbeing, and your self-employed career.
Even positive events can be stressful. Becoming self-employed, signing a new client or raising your rates can trigger fear and anxiety. Or physical reactions including headaches, nausea, indigestion or heart palpitations.
Stress can cause you to withdraw from interacting with people, become more indecisive or stubborn, feel more emotional, and cause issues with sleep and memory. You can also notice your eating and exercise habits change. All of which can impact your relationship with clients and your ability to deliver work on time.
Both acute and chronic stress are also linked to recognised mental health conditions including anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And some research has also linked long-term stress to physical issues including ulcers or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is more likely if you’re using alcohol or drugs as a way to cope.
Adjust your expectations
It’s easy to become overwhelmed with stress if you expect to become the world’s leading freelancer in the space of a few months, or grow your business into a global company before the end of the year.
There’s nothing wrong with having ambitious targets and goals. But not every self-employed person will become rich and famous for their work. And it might take longer than you think to become an overnight success.
Aim high, but be realistic. And be forgiving to yourself if you’ve put in the hard work and it hasn’t resulted in quite as much success as you hoped. It might be a matter of time, or a sign you’re putting effort into the wrong place. And you can be perfectly happy as a self-employed professional earning a good living, without becoming the youngest millionaire freelancer, or breaking business records.
An exercise which can help you get a different perspective is to imagine someone else in your situation. If they came to you with the same worries, what would you suggest? Would you be as critical of them if they hadn’t reached a six-figure income yet?
Make time for your hobbies and interests
It’s important to make time for yourself and your interests. And while that could be learning a new language or how to bake sourdough, it’s equally valid to relax in front of the TV or a videogame.
Finding what helps you to relax, and reduces your stress, doesn’t have to rely on an arbitrary hierarchy of interests set by other people on Instagram or Twitter. Whether you enjoy mountain climbing, knitting, reading or watching a soap opera, it’s entirely your choice.
Scheduling or setting time limits for your hobbies may feel restrictive at first, but it can help if you have a tendency to use them as a way to procrastinate. Or if getting caught up in a good book or new interest can mean hours go by without you realising.
Social media, games and streaming TV are all designed to encourage everyone to binge and spend more time than intended on their services. If you’re already using a timer for work, then setting a limit on your break time will encourage you to stick to regular rest time without overdoing it. And then being even more stressed, because you’ve slipped further behind than intended.
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