When I started as a solopreneur, my mental health was already broken.
I still had unprocessed trauma from a hotel project.
That project hadn’t just drained my savings.
It wrecked my confidence. It burned me out. It left me hollow.
I had slid into depression.
Depression has been a part of me my whole adult life, but this time had been worse.
Anxiety had showed up too, for the first time.
A new layer of feeling screwed up that I didn’t know how to deal with.
And yet, I told myself I could just push through.
Journal a bit. Meditate. Grind.
Build a business.
I thought the burnout and trauma would just fade on their own.
They didn’t.
The Trap of the Unhealed Brain
Here’s what happens when you don’t protect your mental health:
Every setback cuts deeper than it should.
Every failure confirms the worst story you already believe about yourself.
Every “I’ll do it tomorrow” becomes another data point for “I can’t trust myself.”
And over time, that narrative hardens.
You stop seeing yourself as someone who can create success. You start seeing yourself as someone who almost gets there, but never does.
That was me. For years.
I had the tools. I had the skills. But the story in my head ate me alive.
What I Knew, But Didn’t Do
Looking back, I actually knew some of the answers.
I knew I didn’t want to build a big team again.
I knew I wanted to go down the solopreneur path. I knew I needed to create something for myself.
But because I didn’t take my mental health seriously, I made bad decisions.
I “invested” way too much in coaching programs and courses. And then didn’t follow through to do what they told me.
I latched onto long-term clients who turned into jobs.
I traded my vision for short-term survival.
And then every compromise became another scar on my confidence.
The Hard Truth
Trauma and burnout don’t fix themselves.
They don’t disappear with time.
They don’t go away just because you read another book or write another journal entry.
They don’t heal while you bury yourself in “work harder.”
You have to protect your mind and your mindset like they’re your most valuable business asset.
Because they are.
If your mental health collapses, none of the rest matters.
What I’d Tell My Younger Self
Get the therapy. Don’t wait until you’re desperate.
Treat medication as a tool, not a failure.
Build recovery into your schedule, not just work.
Stop thinking you can out-hustle trauma.
And most of all: don’t let the unhealed version of you write your identity.
Because once that story takes hold, it’s hell to rewrite.
I’m still figuring this out. I’m still doing the work.
But if I could go back to the me five years ago, this is what I’d say:
Fix your mental health now. Protect it fiercely. Everything else you want depends on it.
This is Letter #7 of 'Solopreneur Letters' – a series I’m writing where I share the hard-earned wisdom I wish I’d had when I started on my solopreneur journey. See the full list:
