Your family wonders what is going on in your head. Be honest. Tell them.
Some of us just assume that our family has your back. I am here to tell you that sharing the journey with them is better than hiding your fears and concerns. Here are a few things (taken from an email post to a bunch of my entrepreneur friends) you might share with your family:
- Win or lose, I am counting on your support
- I am scared about failing you.
- I am scared equally about being a failure.
- I have frequent guilt about the time away from them.
- I think about the business just about every minute of the day.
- I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the details.
- I second-guess almost very decision at least once per day.
- I have no idea how to answer, “how was your day today?”
- I am mentally exhausted.
- I know I should exercise more but the pressure to spend more time on the business seems to trump that idea every time.
- When I am on my game I feel like a King.
- Yes, it looks like I’m just reading the newspaper again, but actually I’m semi-consciously shuffling through dozens of challenges (problems, threats, opportunities), many of which can’t even be articulated yet.
- As a startup founder, I do not think about what is next job wise.
- When I am around other startup founders I feel like I am part of a club built just for me.
- When I am talking to people outside of the entrepreneurship space, I feel like I am speaking a different language
- When I am not in the club, I feel awkward, neurotic, or impatient. I may come across negatively in social situations where stable jobs carry more cache.
- It’s not very easy and in fact seems almost impossible some days.
- It takes the same amount of emotional toll as raising the family.
- It drives more self-awareness than anything I have ever been through.
- I get really lonely on all of those airplane trips away from home.