Your Mask First
Here, and in other venues, I’ve written and shared about how my life has been shaped by mental illness.
Looking back at my high school years, I went through challenging periods that I now realize was depression. In college, I had classwork and relationships impacted by what would later be diagnosed as anxiety. During my early career, I would bury myself in work to avoid addressing similar issues.
Eventually, I accepted that I needed help beyond myself, and therapy and medication helped me in ways that I wish I had realized much earlier. Now, I still have challenges, but they are far smaller and less frequent. I have better perspective, better understanding of my priorities, and better skills to get through tough times.
I share this because if you are in a leadership position, you need to take care of yourself. It is true that our roles mean we need to be considering our staff and helping them, but that only works if you are getting yourself to a point of calm and focus first.
I hope you learn earlier than I did that it is okay to seek help.
If you are struggling with sleep. If you are coping using unhealthy actions. If you are having trouble with work or personal relationships. You need to consider options. And there are lots of them.
Your work likely has an Employee Assistance Program. This can be a great, low cost way of determining the best course of action for you.
Mental health services are more accessible than ever. If in person options are difficult for you, virtual therapy options through BetterHelp and others can be attended from your office.
If necessary, medication can help slow things down in your mind so you can finally use the strategies that you’ve told yourself you would use but couldn’t because things escalated too quickly.
No matter the route you take, know that you deserve to take care of yourself first, and your staff and family will appreciate what it allows you to do for them.