Craft Your Community

Mental and emotional health equal the health of your business when you run a business of one. To process the emotions is to make room for life. Find a community who has room to hold all that we are. Community is right up there with food and water for survival.

Key Takeaways:

• Emotional Health Equals Business Health

• The Power of Being Seen and Heard

• Community as a Vital Resource

Last week during our group coaching call for HSP entrepreneurs, we did not discuss strategy. No pricing and packages. Not the customer journey. Not messaging. Nor did we cover content writing schedules.

While these are all topics we address, we weren’t up for any of it last week.

For most of the morning before the scheduled call, I was on a heap on the floor. Trauma is a word. Shock is another. Anger. Betrayal. Despair. Dread. Fear.

The image that kept coming to mind was that famous optical illusion that shows both a young and an old woman called, “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law.” It demonstrates cognitive bias, that we only see what we’ve programmed our brain to see. Two different people will see two different images in the same picture. This demonstrates the state of the U.S. and my brain was wrestling with all of it.

I splashed my face with cold water and opened up the online room, but didn’t hit the record button. We took a moment to settle into silence as we typically do and then…we just sat there. Slowly each member of our group shared what they were feeling. Others recognized feelings they hadn’t been aware of until they had the space to do so here. We cried.

Mental and emotional health equal the health of your business when you run a business of one. There’s no point in “pushing through” or “sticking to business”, even though this was a business coaching call. We needed to feel what we were feeling, process the big emotions. Unprocessed, they would impede every area of life, including our business.

Each one of us felt seen and held. To process the emotions is to make room for life.

As we shared intimately, it was apparent that this was a rare space. Most people don’t feel free to express their deep and true feelings, to sit in silence without an expectation to make small talk or to be able to cry without feeling a need to apologize. Many people don’t have this in work spaces, or social circles or even amongst family.

This kind of deep and abiding community is a crucial component to our wellbeing. It’s something that can start to address the trauma many are experiencing and will experience.

There’s a tendency to play nice, to be accommodating. To not offend others who may see the same picture in a very different way. But right now, I feel it’s more important we accommodate ourselves. Make room for our own big feelings, take up more space than we’ve been used to. Find a community who has room to hold all that we are.

Community is right up there with food and water for survival. What’s one step you can take to strengthen a relationship, craft a community or be more honest in a small circle of friends?

If you’re an HSP running your own microbusiness and you're looking for a conscious community, along with practical support for your company of one, "The Collective" - a small group coaching program for HSP entrepreneurs - is now open to new members.

Find out more.

One member of The Collective counted these group coaching calls amongst the most valuable of resources offered. She said, “It was such a fantastic group of women who were so authentic and supportive.”

Find your authentic and supportive group and nurture like a garden of food that will sustain you in the times to come. Or, join The Collective. We’d love to have you.