That will help keep the peace of mind to the founder of a startup

Mental Health - a fairly new topic for society, and for me personally.

Born in the Soviet Union in the '80s - about the same as being born in the United States in the' 60s. Attitude to people affected by mental problems is the same: they are easy to dismiss, not to pay attention to them, called "Psycho" (and the conversation usually ends).

Throughout my, we must recognize the limited experience, I came across a mentally unhealthy people in the circle of friends, in my family and in a professional environment - the disease knows no boundaries and affects people who, as you might think, invulnerable.

Even today, when so much has been written about depression and other problems of mental character as a whole recognized the importance of such people get a polite nod and say, "I understand," - or, even worse, they will try to silence those who have a different opinion on this question.

It is obvious that there is a huge misunderstanding, despite the fact that the problem affects many people. This, of course, also applies to people in the field of technology and startups - perhaps even more than others. For example, we tend to spend a lot of time with our computers and sometimes begin to feel lonely even when you are in a room full of people.

Being an entrepreneur and founder of the company, I do not know firsthand what a depression (unfortunately, I could not just her recognize), isolation and psychological stress, which appear in connection with a stay in a shaky and uncertain world startups.

Several articles and books that I read, talked about the controversial nature of the founders when everything inside breaks apart, they have to demonstrate success and happiness - in short, to act in the style of "imitate until you get."

If we talk about the failures in Silicon Valley, they are not something out of the ordinary, but the founders of start-ups are still crushes stress - "do it." You can talk about the failures of anything, but your mother, your friends and investors still They want you to succeed, and make it clear it is - sometimes unconsciously - in your own words or actions.

This I had never really bothered: one will tell you that everything is okay, if you ask him about it on the street. It is an integral part of Western culture (but in fact is not the norm for a person born in the Soviet Union).

Most of the pressure exerted on my internal struggle. As the founder, I kept asking myself many questions over the years.

1. I'm doing everything I was capable of?
2. Can I grow faster than my company?
3. How can I help my team and the people around to get better?
4. How can I learn to be content with what I have, and to cease to be jealous?
5. I supplement or I brake the growth process of his team?
6. What I do, in fact, lead to positive change?

The list of questions goes on and on. Everything happens in my head, and the answers vary from hard, enthusiastic "yes" to depressive "no" depending on the time of day. This kind of battle is the worst, because you fight with him, not with someone else. Damn hard to win the one who sees through you and knows all of your weaknesses (which is in excess).

But the worst - we have almost no chance of winning this battle. The only way to win, I think - is to learn to live with these issues, to be at peace with this part of his personality, to understand their feelings and emotions and find friends to support each other.

I have found that to achieve inner harmony can help a few things:

• friends;
• meditation or just rhythmic breathing with eyes closed;
• Yoga and exercise;
• competitive games, eg table tennis, squash or bouncer;
• long walks alone or with friends.

But from what you need to get rid of:

• endless swipe at Tinder;
• Check Twitter, Facebook and other social networks every hour;
• read the unimportant news (ie news about something that takes place too far, or celebrity gossip) and view irritant YouTube videos;
• wait likes to Instagram, Facebook and other social networks;
• talk with people who are angry or upset you.