"The body keeps the score."
This phrase, often used in trauma research, applies equally to the self-employment journey. Every skipped meal, every 3 AM anxiety spiral about client deliverables or income, every canceled therapy appointment to meet a deadline—your mind and body are keeping score. And eventually, they present the bill.
As a strategic storyteller and producer who's appeared on 65-70 podcasts over the past year sharing insights about professional and personal growth, I've had countless conversations about the intersection of wellbeing and independent careers. One particularly meaningful conversation happened on the "Openly Spoken" podcast, where I discussed how ambitious professional goals can exact a toll when wellbeing takes a backseat to hustle.
For Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm sharing key insights from that conversation about why sustainable success requires putting your psychological health first—not as a luxury after you've "made it," but as the very foundation that makes "making it" possible.
Independent professionals face unique pressures—from income fluctuations to isolation, from boundary-less work days to wearing multiple hats. Yet discussions about mental health often remain relegated to post-burnout confessions rather than centered as a core success strategy. It's time to change that narrative.
Mental Wellbeing Starts With Self-Acceptance
During my conversation on Openly Spoken, the host asked what self-acceptance meant to me. My response gets to the heart of mental wellbeing for independent professionals:
"It means that I see myself, that I'm giving myself grace. It means that I'm honoring who I am authentically and allowing an expression of that authentically. It's also so much about acceptance. If I accept myself, I honor myself."
This acceptance is about more than just feeling good—it's fundamental to professional wellbeing and success. When building an independent career, your mental health and professional path become intertwined in ways that traditional employment often shields us from. Every creative decision, pricing strategy, and client interaction becomes influenced by your psychological state.
The Mental Wellbeing Toolkit for Independent Professionals
Building upon what I shared in the podcast conversation, here are four essential mental wellbeing practices for independent professionals:
1. Permission-Giving
"It's part giving yourself permission," I emphasized. "There's this life that I'm holding myself back from, or maybe I thought was impossible before, and I now want to see what it looks like to go after it."
For many, the first step to an independent career isn't a business plan—it's the internal permission to pursue what feels authentic, even when it contradicts conventional wisdom. This permission-giving reduces the cognitive dissonance that can lead to anxiety and burnout.
2. Honoring Your Intuition
"Loving yourself enough to follow the nudgings that you already have within you, the intuition, your guidance... It's not ignoring those things. It's not dismissing that guidance."
Self-employment requires countless decisions without the structure of organizational hierarchy. Your intuition becomes an invaluable asset when navigating these choices—but only if you've cultivated the mental space to hear and trust it.
"If your intuition is guiding you a different way, will you honor yourself enough to go that way and get it?" This question becomes particularly crucial when your inner wisdom contradicts popular advice or trending strategies.
3. Owning Your Non-Linear Story
Professional trajectories rarely follow straight lines—especially for independent professionals. The ability to claim your diverse experiences as assets rather than liabilities is a profound act of mental health preservation.
"I have been a professional dancer, I have been in a number of corporate roles in the workforce development space, and now I'm back on my own as an entrepreneur. I've worn so many different hats. It's not been linear," I shared on the podcast. "How can you own it and then stand in that... without being ashamed of it or making that be another reason why you feel ‘not enough’?"
4. Creating Support Systems
"Honoring yourself enough to get the support that you need and whatever way that looks like for you. It could be a coach. It could be a mentor. It could be a therapist. It could be a spiritual guide."
Independent careers can be isolating without the built-in structure of a workplace community. Prioritizing connection isn't a luxury—it's essential mental health maintenance.
Creating Your Mental Wellbeing Practice
Beyond the conceptual framework I shared on the podcast, sustaining psychological health requires specific daily practices. Among the most powerful tools I've found are:
Journaling: "Journaling is super powerful in terms of helping you to process and make sense of what it is that you're feeling." This practice helps externalize thought patterns that might otherwise create anxiety loops.
Mindful self-talk: "How you're talking to yourself about yourself, about your life. Make sure that it’s affirming what you want because you will have what you say and you will have what you think." Cognitive behavioral approaches confirm the power of reshaping internal dialogue.
Holistic self-care: "Therapy, massages, spiritual practice, my walks in nature, all of that helps me to stay grounded in who I am, my self-view, my self-worth, and how I show up in the world." Physical practices complement my mental wellbeing strategies.
The Path Forward
It’s clear that sustainable success is about more than deliverables and bottom lines—it's also about maintaining your mental health through the process. By placing psychological wellbeing at the center of your professional journey, you create a foundation that can weather the inevitable ups and downs of independent work.
That's the paradox at the heart of successful independent careers: when you truly prioritize your mental wellbeing, you develop the resilience to charge what you're worth, create authentic work, and follow your unique path—even if external validation is scarce.
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