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| Starting a Business: How Women with Bipolar Disorder Thrive as Entrepreneurs |
Building a business is challenging—but for women with Bipolar disorder, it’s a path that’s uniquely transformative. Did you know that many entrepreneurs with Bipolar disorder report moments of creative brilliance, resilience, and innovation? One of the keys to sustaining a thriving business for women with Bipolar disorder is creating a foundation that is centered around your mental health and wellness while realizing you have the confidence, creativity, motivation and drive to succeed at entrepreneurship.
In this article, I will uncover how women with Bipolar disorder can turn their entrepreneurial dreams into reality, face challenges head-on and harness their unique strengths. Through insight into the benefits of entrepreneurship, lived experience stories and actionable strategies, I will show you how to thrive in the world of business while managing your mental health.
Entrepreneurship for Women with Bipolar Disorder: Challenges and Benefits
There is a school of thought that places a negative emphasis on the connection between entrepreneurship and mental health. The entrepreneurial journey is full of stressors that can have negative outcomes for an individual’s mental well-being. Although entrepreneurship can be rewarding in many ways like autonomy and sense of purpose, the intense pressure, heavy workload and potential for failure can lead to increased anxiety, stress and for some depression. Isolation when building a business can also be a challenge. The management of a new business, financial instability in the beginning phase and constant pressure to succeed can have a negative effect on your mental health. Burnout from long hours dedicated to getting your business off the ground is also a possibility as entrepreneurs do not necessarily have a 9am-5pm work schedule. These are some of the pitfalls that can have an impact on your mental health and the management of your Bipolar disorder.
However, there are some unique advantages of starting your own business when living with and managing Bipolar disorder. Research has shown that the same traits needed to be a successful entrepreneur are similar to the traits in a woman with Bipolar disorder, that of creativity, high-energy and motivation. Prioritizing your mental health by maintaining a strong support system, both personally and within your community, as well as having strong structure, routine and good habits around self-care, nutrition and medication management can be a natural transition to using your developmental tools and leveraging your creativity to build a successful and sustainable business. Essentially, when you take the time to build your mental health and manage your Bipolar disorder these same practices can be beneficial in your entrepreneurial journey.
Entrepreneurship can be an empowering journey for women with Bipolar disorder. Oftentimes I’ve found it challenging to fit inside the corporate box of Monday to Friday 9am-5pm attempting to find a work-life balance that doesn’t exist for me in these spaces. Rather, on my journey to entrepreneurship I’ve discovered that I have a level of autonomy to set my own schedule and work at my own pace has been beneficial to my continued mental health stability and career success. With my Bipolar I disorder my baseline is more hypomanic than depressive and I have a lot of creative highs that I use to grow my business and increase my productivity. I’ve found purpose in turning what most would view as a negative into a business model that uses my lived experience to create a positive mental health space where I can have honest conversations that take my readers beyond the stigma.
Embracing Your Bipolar Disorder: Strengths and Traits that Help You Succeed
I’ve always viewed Bipolar disorder as my superpower and regardless of the challenges that I have overcome, in the present day this is proving to be the truth. Women with Bipolar disorder have a unique set of strengths, traits and abilities that can help them advance in the world of entrepreneurship. Creativity, perseverance, confidence, heightened energy, ambition and risk-taking are all qualities that individuals with Bipolar disorder possess. In the world of mental healthcare they can be referred to as “hypomania”, “mania”, “grandiosity”, “persistent and risky behaviours”, “delusions” and "disorganized thinking” all seen through a problematic symptom lens. However, in the world of business, when applied correctly these traits become strengths and abilities that can lead to skyrocketing success on your entrepreneurial journey.
It has been my experience Bipolar disorder and its negative effects can spark the development of resilience and adaptability within the constantly changing landscape of an unpredictable mood disorder. You develop problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills as you view the world in a different way after every episode experienced. Finally, you gain confidence and a higher level of self-awareness that comes from a journey of self-compassion, empathy and understanding that can be used in the challenging process of decision-making when building your business and harnessing your creativity.
Managing Bipolar Disorder: The Entrepreneur’s Structure, Routine and Habits
Now that you are on your journey to becoming an entrepreneur, it's important to make adjustments to your daily structure, routine and habits to ensure that you are maximizing your potential and using the strategies you have developed in Bipolar disorder management to gain a sense of balance while in pursuit of entrepreneurship. Here are some things to consider.
Flexibility: Establish a flexible work schedule to accommodate your mental health needs. Ensure you are practicing good sleep hygiene, going to bed and waking up at the same time daily. Your circadian rhythm is very important to symptom management as once your sleep-wake cycle is disrupted this can cause the surface of negative symptoms or even an episode.
Medication Management: If medication is a part of your daily regime make sure you are taking your prescription fully and on time. If you have any medication concerns consult your mental healthcare team right away to discuss how you can optimize the therapeutic benefits of your medication cocktail.
Self-Care: Remember to practice self-care regularly or daily if possible. Self-care routines are different for every individual and may change with the new demands of building your business but creating good habits around self-care can be the difference between continued productivity and potential burnout.
Nutrition: Ensure you are eating a healthy and balanced meal daily. Avoid processed foods where you can as these will have a negative effect on blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and may lead to unwanted weight gain. Filling your plate and having regular snacks that are made from whole-foods can boost your energy and immunity.
Seek Support: It's important to recognize the warning signs of symptoms, an impending episode or burnout on your entrepreneurial journey, and seek the help of your support circle, your mental healthcare team, therapist or counselors. There are others like you trying to find their way in the business world while managing a mental illness so look for local peer support groups or online forums that can listen and support. Remember, If you are feeling overwhelmed you are not alone.
Fiascos, Flops and Finding My Foundation: A Woman’s Lived Experience Story of Inspiration and Entrepreneurship
When I was first diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder in 2006 I was a year out of university and I felt completely lost, believing I was un-hirable in the corporate world. I had tried to sustain several positions in the workforce, I even went back to school to acquire other designations but it seemed no matter what I did I didn’t feel like I fit anywhere. I was a square peg in a round hole. When Mania would inevitably appear I would develop grandiose business plans for companies that spoke to my creative energies. I have tried my hand at wedding/party planning, home organization, building a mental health non-profit, fundraising galas and even dog walking but none of these business ideas ever got beyond some hurried scribbles in a journal full of dreams and delusions.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t capable or even that I didn’t have the credentials to follow through rather it was that every business idea I ever had was based in Mania and once in recovery/remission I lost my confidence and motivation to make any of them happen. I realized instead of working on building a business I needed to work on building myself and developing a healthier foundation so that when the big idea came again I would be ready for it.
In 2017 with the help of my little cousin (he’s in his 40’s) I started a mental health podcast called The DaintyDysh Podcast. Although I still had work to do on building myself up again I was experiencing a three year period of remission and mental wellness so I took the leap into the podcasting world. Alongside the weekly podcast I worked on a personal blog which wasn’t as successful but the fruits of my labour would pay off when I became a fulltime blogger .
The podcast received international recognition and it was well known in the GTA. I was hired for speaking opportunities and became the Face of Mental Illness for Bell Let’s Talk (2019-2020). I gained national recognition as a mental health ambassador and appeared in TV shows and print media. Overall I was on the road to entrepreneurial success. However in 2020 I could feel myself on the verge of illness. I was tired, overwhelmed and basically burnt out with all the other responsibilities I had taken on including a full-time job as a peer supporter. My passion project, my blogging and most importantly my mental health started taking a backseat so I made the decision to step away from the podcast with hopes of one day returning to it because it brought me so much joy.
With a lot of hard work and support from my family, friends and mental health team I am at present able to focus on the projects that fill my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual cup. I spent the last two years rebuilding a stronger foundation that is at the centre of my entrepreneurial success and I am on a journey to wellness that compliments the passion I have for being a mental health advocate, a lived experience blogger and a public speaker. The greatest lesson I have learned about myself and my past fiascos and flops is that there will always be a next great idea that I can build on, living with Bipolar disorder I have confidence in my creative abilities and I know that building a strong foundation will be the key to realizing my dreams.
Final Thoughts
Women with Bipolar disorder are proof that mental health challenges don’t have to be barriers to entrepreneurial success. By recognizing your strengths, developing a solid foundation, and embracing strategies to manage your mental health, you can build a business that thrives. The entrepreneurial journey is not an easy one but because of your unique circumstance, traits and abilities you can translate the challenges you have experienced on your mental health journey and turn them into the driving force behind your business. Whether you are new to entrepreneurship or a seasoned veteran who has experienced some of the fiascos and flops I have my wish for you to to keep persevering and use the same resilient spirit to achieve your goals and ultimately realize your dreams.
My father used to tell me “A dream is just a thought until you write it down, then it becomes a goal but when you make a solid plan your dreams will turn into reality.” The entrepreneurial and mental wellness journey is different for everyone but with the right strategies for building a strong foundation you can turn your goals into reality. Don’t be afraid to reach out for support, share your story, and keep moving forward. Remember, every day is an opportunity to do something you’ve never done before, so today reach for your journals, write down your dreams, develop a plan and take those first steps down the road to successful entrepreneurship.
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