How do you deal with the solopreneur blues?

How do you combat the solopreneur blues?

This is one of the harder challenges to overcome as a business owner.

Being a business owner offers so much upside that we all deal with the bullshit in order to earn that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

That “gold” represents different things to people, but somewhere on everyone’s list is freedom, whether financial or time, or a combination of the two. 

But it comes at a hefty price. 

Anyone who has ever gone out on their own understands this. There’s a lot of lonely days and nights talking to yourself, your laptop, the wall in your living room, or in my case, the one plant in my apartment.

That doesn’t even speak to the enormity of stress and anxiety that’s going on in this current climate throughout the world.

At the end of the day, it can be an emotionally taxing proposition that, ultimately, is worth it, but wears your positive emotional capital down to zero from time-to-time.

I spend more time by myself in my apartment on my couch (which is exactly where I am as I write this) than any other place in the world.

While that thought bums me out a bit, I balance that out by reminding myself that hunkering down and creating relatable content for those I serve is a necessary step in order to grow my business.

When I tailspin and the loneliness overwhelms my conscious mind, my positive psychology education kicks in.

The process of getting out of my own head and becoming grounded back into the present moment begins.

Here’s some of the ways that I’ve fought back against the solopreneur blues and gotten back into the moment:

• Meditate - this is my go-to when the blues manifests itself into a full-blown, freak-out session

• Create a gratitude list - I need to occasionally remind myself that regardless of how alone I feel, there’s a lot to feel awesome about that’s already present in my life

• Help a friend - There’s never a shortage of this opportunity, especially my other business owner friends need me to lend them my ear

• Chat with colleagues on direct messenger/phone calls - this is a wonderful way to get back into the present moment by talking about other topics that promote a healthier outlook

• Manual labor around the house - cleaning and organizing the house always seems to hit the spot when I’m feeling down - I think I learned this one from my grandmother, :)

Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you these are sure fire ways to combat loneliness, but they do work most of the time for me. 

Sometimes, the best remedy is to simply shake up the routine and get your ass out the house/office and take a walk at a safe distance from others.

This is one of the main reasons why I love brainstorming ideas when I’m taking a stroll around the block or go on a coffee run to Starbucks.

Sure, we all have our own lives and schedules and responsibilities, and that’s partly why we all dip into the loneliness basket. But, the one thing to always remember is that those that are close to us have our backs if we were really and truly up against it. 

It’s important that we remind ourselves of that when the solopreneur blues start to wash over our consciousness. 

Now, I ask you…

How do you deal with loneliness in your life? 

Is there a cool intervention that you employ that does the job?

I’d love to hear about it - share you ideas in the comment section here.

And if you know someone - a friend or colleague - that would benefit from this article, please share it by using the icons beneath the article, :)