Mental health learnings

I was at my lowest physically (High triglycerides & weight) and mentally after bootstrapping Adaface for 1 yr. 2 years later-

Here's what helped me:

Reflection
Took time to simply sit and internalize what is going wrong. Realized there was a huge gap between

Consistency is key

Started doing what I like to do (Did 124 runs/dance workouts in '20).
Did it until I liked to just be active every day (Did 113 weights/runs/dance so far in '21).
What helped - Nike Run Club, Cult fit

I am what I eat

Less of

More of

I cook quite often now. Cooking helped me realize what all goes into what I put in me. What helped - My mom.

Cut down on news

Realized funding news is everywhere (My Twitter feed was only about funded companies).

Spent time reading about bootstrapped startups and reconnecting with startup friends.

++++++Call friends and family

Having a call every day with parents, friends and girlfriend was and is a huge energy booster.

Can't stress this enough.

Do more of what you love.

I love

Reading fiction. (Started reading 1 book every week)
Playing board games. (Forced my friends to play one game of Catan remotely every day)

Honest conversations.

It's going to take time. Things did not get bad in 1 day. They won't get fixed in 1 day.

Had a chat with my cofounder, friends, and family about my action plan. And told them how they can help.

Over-Communicate.

Deepti (my co-founder) and I set a separate messaging app to freak out and share our anxieties.

And we message when the anxieties happen so that they won't pile up or go undiscussed.

And we reply asap.

Setup a de-stressing process.

Startups will require hard work and smart work.

You have to pull all-nighters sometimes.

And some days simply won't work out.

But having a process in place (about how I will get back my mental energy) makes it 10x sustainable.

To the fellow founders-

Running a bootstrapped startup (in fact any startup at that) is hard and taxing. I can assure you that, as years get by, it does get more fulfilling.

To all the fellow founders, keep at it. Let's change the world. One step at a time. We are in this together.

And remember- it is a marathon. not a sprint.