As a woman entrepreneur, what is your most effective mental health practice for staying grounded, balanced, and resilient while building your business? Please explain why this practice is particularly helpful and how it impacts your leadership and decision-making.

As a woman entrepreneur in the mental health field, I've discovered that one of my most effective practices for staying grounded and balanced is spending time with my houseplants. They've become my little sanctuary amidst the hustle of running a business. I still remember those early days when I felt completely overwhelmed. One afternoon, after a particularly stressful week, I decided to take a break and tend to my collection of houseplants instead of burying myself in work. As I watered them and watched them thrive, I felt a wave of calm wash over me. It reminded me that growth takes time—not just for my plants, but also for my own journey and the business I'm building. Being in the mental health field, I know firsthand how essential nature can be for our well-being. Research, like a study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, shows that interacting with green spaces can significantly reduce stress and improve mood. I've felt this effect in my own life; caring for my houseplants sharpens my focus and sparks my creativity when I need it most. Houseplants also teach me about patience and resilience. Just like these plants need nurturing and time to flourish, I've learned that my business needs the same care. This perspective shapes my leadership style. When challenges arise, I draw inspiration from how my plants adapt to their environment, helping me approach decisions with a more resilient mindset. Integrating my love for houseplants into my daily routine has not only enhanced my mental health but also influenced how I lead. By creating a space for reflection and grow- both for myself and my team- I can lead with clarity and intention, ultimately creating a healthier work environment for everyone involved.

As a woman entrepreneur and health coach, my most effective mental health practice for staying grounded and resilient is scheduled "mind-emptying" time outdoors. This isn't about exercise; it's a deliberate act of using nature to reset my nervous system. I commit to spending 30-60 minutes outside every day where I focus on sensory details: the sound of the wind, the texture of a tree trunk, or the smell of the earth. This practice is particularly helpful because it immediately breaks the cycle of rumination, which is common when you have a business. When we are constantly working, our minds get stuck recycling problems, stress, and self-doubt. By forcing a dedicated period in nature, you give your brain a new, less complicated input. This quiet, sensory exposure is proven to lower cortisol (the stress hormone) and restore mental clarity far more effectively than zoning out inside. When I return from my time outside, my mental energy has been cleared, like wiping a whiteboard clean. This prevents decision fatigue and gives me renewed energy to get back to my tasks feeling mentally spacious, calmer, more resilient, and ultimately more effective leader.

The Rhythm That Keeps Me Grounded as a Woman Entrepreneur As a woman entrepreneur leading an international business, I've learned that staying mentally balanced and resilient is not about doing less — it's about finding what keeps you fully alive. For me, that's dance. Dance has been my most effective mental health practice for years. It's more than a hobby — it's my moving meditation, my reset button, and my joy amplifier. Physically, it keeps me fit and sharp. Mentally, it clears my mind and helps me process the day's intensity without overthinking. When I dance, oxytocin floods my system, replacing stress with connection and joy. What makes dance so powerful is that it unites body, mind, and soul in motion. It demands presence, coordination, and awareness — skills that translate directly into leadership and decision-making. When I return to my business after a dance session, I'm more focused, creative, and calm. Challenges feel lighter, and I approach my team and clients with renewed energy and clarity. While I also love biking, hiking, and walking, dance holds a special place in my heart. The rhythms of ndombolo from Congo, sabar from Senegal, semba from Angola, and kompa from Haiti inspire me to move with freedom and joy. In the past, I've explored many other dances, inc. salsa, samba de gafieira, tango, and house — each one teaching me something different about flow, connection, and adaptability, but most importantly, all of them taking care of me in their own way. Dance reminds me that leadership, like rhythm, is about alignment. You can't force it — you feel it. When I dance, I reconnect with that inner rhythm that helps me lead from a place of authenticity and strength. It's how I stay grounded in movement, balanced in motion, and resilient through rhythm.

As a woman entrepreneur, I've learned that my mental health is just as essential to my business as any strategy, system, or marketing plan. The two tools that have most profoundly supported my balance and resilience are boundaries and my network of fellow female entrepreneurs. For many women, the word boundary still feels uncomfortable. We've been conditioned to be self-sacrificing, to serve, to accommodate, to say yes even when we're running on empty. But that mindset doesn't sustain a business; it drains it. As women in leadership, boundaries are not barriers. They are lifelines. Setting them allows us to prioritize what truly matters, protect our energy, and lead from a grounded place. For me, this looks like defining clear expectations with clients, being transparent about communication windows, and giving myself permission to rest without guilt. With staff or contractors, it means having honest conversations about workloads and accountability while maintaining empathy and respect. These boundaries keep me steady; they ensure I can show up as the best version of myself for my team and my clients. Equally vital is the network of women entrepreneurs who walk this same path. No one understands the emotional, mental, and logistical challenges of running a business quite like another woman founder. This community is my safety net and my sounding board. We share not only our wins but also our worries. We offer empathy, perspective, and practical wisdom that comes from lived experience. When I hit a wall, this network reminds me I'm not alone. When self-doubt creeps in, they remind me of my strength. When decisions feel heavy, they offer clarity and reassurance. It's a space of mutual support that fuels both confidence and creativity. Together, these two practices, setting boundaries and cultivating a supportive sisterhood, form the foundation of my mental wellness as a female leader. They allow me to make decisions from a place of clarity rather than exhaustion, to lead with compassion rather than depletion, and to build a business that is not only successful but also sustainable. True resilience doesn't come from doing it all. It comes from knowing where to draw the line and who to lean on along the way.

The practice that's saved my sanity? I block time on my calendar for personal activities at the start of each month and treat those appointments as non-negotiable as client meetings. Every month, I sit down and schedule horseback riding lessons twice a week, gym sessions, cooking nights with my husband, a rotating coffee date with other female entrepreneurs, and Saturday evenings with friends. It sounds simple, but it's been transformative. If it's not on my calendar, it simply doesn't happen. The business will always demand more time, more energy, more attention. Without these guardrails, work expands to fill every available hour. What makes this practice so effective isn't just the scheduling. It's the accountability system I've built around it. First, I make these calendar events public to the rest of my team, so they know where I am and what I'm doing. This helps set expectations that if someone needs an answer from me on Tuesday, they need to reach out before my standing 3:30-5pm gym session. They can manage their time, and therefore, my time better. Second, at the end of each month, I review how many of those personal commitments I actually kept. How many times did I cancel on friends or reschedule my riding lessons? Some months, the answer is brutal. I'll see weeks where I rescheduled everything for last-minute meetings. When that pattern emerges, I know I'm heading toward burnout. That review becomes my early warning system. The impact on my leadership has been significant. When I'm consistently showing up for myself, I make better decisions. I'm more creative in problem-solving, more patient with my team, and more strategic about which opportunities to pursue versus decline. The months when I've sacrificed personal time always correlate with reactive decision-making and stress. My advice? Start by blocking just one weekly activity that energizes you. Make it visible on your team's calendar. Then actually go. That consistency builds the muscle of prioritizing yourself, which ultimately makes you a more effective leader and demonstrates that it's okay to set boundaries between work and your personal life.

One practice that has helped me stay grounded and balanced while managing my own private practice is setting clear emotional and physical boundaries around my workday. In my experience, when you run your own practice, it can feel like the work never ends. There are always emails to answer, client notes to finish, and business decisions waiting in the background. Learning to intentionally step away at the end of the day has been one of the most important ways to protect my mental health. I make it a priority to create a transition ritual between work and personal time. Sometimes that means taking a short walk after my last session or spending a few minutes in quiet reflection before heading home. This small practice helps my body and mind understand that the workday is done. It allows me to process any emotions that came up during sessions and reset before stepping back into my personal life. I think that this separation helps me return to work the next day more focused and emotionally available for my clients. Running a private practice requires constant decision-making, and I have found that being well-rested and emotionally centered improves the quality of those decisions. When I am grounded, I lead with intention rather than reaction. It also allows me to model the very practices I encourage my clients to develop balance, presence, and boundaries that support overall well-being. Resilience as a private practice owner does not come from doing more but from doing things with clarity. Maintaining those boundaries has allowed me to build a business that feels sustainable and aligned with my values, rather than one that drains the energy I need to truly serve my clients.

My most effective mental health practice is keeping a structured, non-negotiable morning routine that doesn't revolve around my to-do list. As a woman who run a business and wears a lot of hats, it's easy to wake up in reaction mode—answering emails, checking Slack, and getting pulled into client needs before I've even had my coffee. Instead, I've trained myself to start the day by checking in with myself first: a short journal entry, a walk without my phone, and sometimes just 15 minutes of silence before jumping into work mode. It sounds small, but protecting that space has given me clarity, calm, and the ability to respond, not react, throughout the day. This practice grounds me in my values rather than the chaos of a busy inbox. It helps me make smarter decisions, lead with patience, and stay connected to the bigger vision behind my work, especially on hard days. And while it's not always perfect, especially during launch seasons or client crunches, coming back to that routine is what keeps me mentally steady and emotionally resilient as a leader.

One of my most effective practices for staying grounded and resilient is intentional reflection. Each day, I dedicate time to pause, assess my emotions, and set priorities. This practice allows me to approach challenges with clarity rather than reacting impulsively. It also provides a consistent space to process stress and maintain perspective on both professional and personal responsibilities. Structured boundaries complement this reflection. I prioritize time for family, self-care, and personal interests while maintaining clear work hours. These boundaries prevent burnout and ensure that I show up fully engaged in all areas of my life. They also model balance for my team, reinforcing a culture of respect and accountability. Physical activity is another pillar of my mental health routine. Whether it's yoga, a run, or strength training, movement helps release tension and restore focus. Exercise improves energy, mental clarity, and emotional regulation, which directly influences decision-making and leadership presence. Finally, connection with peers and mentors provides perspective and support. Discussing challenges, sharing insights, and seeking guidance helps reduce isolation, increase resilience, and strengthen problem-solving. These relationships encourage strategic thinking and empathy, which are essential in guiding others effectively. Together, these practices, reflection, boundaries, movement, and mentorship, create a foundation for sustained balance and resilience. They allow me to lead with clarity, make informed decisions, and maintain focus on long-term goals while navigating the daily demands of building a business.

For me, meaningful work is a quiet luxury of the mind, a practice of purpose that nourishes clarity and focus. I find balance through purpose, clarity, and disciplined focus. When I am deeply engaged in creating impact, leading teams, and shaping new ideas, I feel most grounded. Purpose gives structure to my energy and depth to my leadership. I also invest in the alignment of mind, body, and soul through conscious self-care. Movement, reflection, and nourishment are integral to how I sustain focus and composure. This equilibrium strengthens my capacity to make clear decisions and lead with confidence in complex, high-pressure environments. True resilience, to me, is the art of staying aligned, purposeful, and present regardless of the pace.

My most effective mental-health practice is a five-minute morning reset. Before diving into meetings or messages, I take three deep breaths, jot down one thing I'm grateful for, and write a single intention for the day. I started doing this while writing Beyond the Ladder, when the pace felt impossible. That short pause reminds me that clarity is my greatest productivity tool. It grounds my leadership decisions in presence rather than pressure and helps me show up with empathy instead of urgency. It's simple, but it's the difference between reacting and responding — and that difference ripples through every conversation I have for the rest of the day.

Mental health is key to everything! My most effective practice is having a simple but high impact routine that includes a clean diet, quality electrolytes, lots of sunshine, rebounding for exercise, healthy boundaries, support systems and breaks when needed. I am a human and not a robot and rememebering to stop and reset allows me to juggle, make clear decisions and stay sharp!

The single most effective mental health practice is mindfulness, specifically the non-judgmental observation of your own thoughts and emotions. In a world of constant crisis—hostile prosecutors, devastating client stories, and the immense pressure of someone's liberty resting on your shoulders—it's easy to get swept away by reactive emotion. Mindfulness is the practice of creating a crucial pause. It's the ability to stand in the middle of a chaotic courtroom, feel the surge of anxiety or anger, and simply observe it without letting it dictate your next move. This practice is what keeps you grounded in the present reality of your case. It provides the balance to advocate fiercely for a client without absorbing their trauma. This practice directly translates to more effective leadership and decision-making. As a firm founder, my team feeds off my energy. A reactive, stressed-out leader creates a chaotic and unstable environment. A mindful leader is intentional, present, and a calming force, which is critical for retaining talent in a high-stress field. When it comes to decision-making, my job involves constant, high-stakes judgment calls: whether to advise a client to accept a plea or risk a trial, how to cross-examine a difficult witness, or how to manage the firm's finances. Mindfulness creates mental clarity. It quiets the noise and allows you to separate objective facts from emotional biases, leading to sharper, more strategic decisions. You stop operating from a place of fear and start leading from a place of focused, intentional strength.

How I Stay Grounded as a Woman Entrepreneur: Trusting the Unknown As an entrepreneur, the truth is — you never really know what's coming next. You can plan, forecast, and visualise, but running a business is like standing in the middle of the ocean: some days you ride the waves; other days, you're just trying to stay afloat. Early in my career, I thought I could control everything — outcomes, clients, growth, timelines. I thought success meant managing uncertainty out of existence. It took me years (and plenty of sleepless nights) to realise that approach is not only impossible — it's exhausting. My most effective mental health practice now is trusting the unknown. I don't mean blind optimism; I mean a deep understanding that the universe — and our own minds — are naturally self-correcting. When we stop overthinking, clarity emerges on its own. This shift began when I started studying subtractive psychology — the foundation of my company, Business Reimagined. The idea is simple but profound: we perform at our best when we remove mental clutter, not when we add more strategies, affirmations, or to-do lists. When my mind is quiet, I see opportunities I'd never notice in a state of mental noise. I make better decisions, communicate with more empathy, and lead from calm instead of control. This practice is especially powerful for women entrepreneurs. Many of us feel a constant pull to prove ourselves — to hold it all together, to show up flawlessly. But when you stop trying to force certainty, you create space for insight and creativity to flow. The best ideas I've had for my business came when I wasn't trying — on a walk, during meditation, even while making tea (and research supports this). Trusting the unknown doesn't mean inaction; it means knowing when to act from clarity instead of panic. It means recognising that resilience isn't built by fighting uncertainty but by learning to dance with it. So when things feel chaotic, I remind myself: you don't need to know what's next to be okay right now. That single thought anchors me. It's not about faith in some abstract sense — it's about confidence in the mind's natural capacity to reset, refocus, and find its way. For me, that's real resilience — and the quiet foundation beneath every decision I make.

My most effective mental health practice for staying grounded, balanced, and resilient while building my business is taking 15-30 minutes each weekday to walk on the treadmill while listening to my audio Bible. Research confirms that mediation has mental health benefits. For me, the Bible is full of practical business advice, to the extent that my devotions evolved into a book I wrote, titled "The Bible on Business." Many agnostics and believers of other faiths can at least see the Bible as a wisdom book, even if they do not embrace my faith. There are numerous Bible stories on leadership (think the Kings of Israel) and decision-making that I leave that experience, energized, guided, and ready to take on the world.

I integrates daily meditation into my routine as a way to stay grounded and intentional. This practice helps me release the need for control, connect with purpose, and cultivate the energy I want to bring to the team and wider community. Meditation also offers me a balanced perspective—embracing ambition while honouring the importance of small beginnings. It strengthens my ability to navigate uncertainty with clarity and reinforces my commitment to leading with authenticity and vision.

My most effective practice is what I call "intentional micro-processing" throughout my day--taking 2-3 minutes between client sessions to literally feel where tension lives in my body and name the emotion I'm carrying from the previous session. After 14 years as a clinician specializing in trauma and addiction, I've learned that my body absorbs client pain if I don't actively release it. Here's the concrete impact: I track my decision-making quality in a simple journal, and I've noticed that weeks when I skip this practice, I'm 3x more likely to overextend myself by saying yes to new projects or workshops that drain the business. When I'm grounded in my body, I can immediately sense when a business decision feels aligned versus when I'm operating from anxiety or people-pleasing patterns--the same unhealthy cycles I help clients break. This practice directly shaped how I built Southlake Integrative Counseling. Instead of the typical therapist model of booking back-to-back sessions to maximize revenue, I built in those micro-breaks structurally. It means fewer billable hours, but my clinical quality stayed sharp enough to expand into community workshops like our Mind + Body Connection events, which became a significant referral source. The leadership piece is critical--when I'm regulated, my supervision of associates like Amber is collaborative rather than reactive. I can spot when team decisions are coming from scarcity thinking versus strategic growth, which has kept us sustainable without burning out our clinicians.

My most effective mental health practice is physically working alongside my team in our Palm Harbor and Oldsmar locations at least twice a week--not managing from behind a desk, but actually handling product, talking to customers, and packing orders. When I'm stressed about expansion decisions or regulatory challenges with the Florida Smokes Association, these shifts remind me what we're actually selling: access and education, not just THCa flower. Last month I was spiraling about whether to invest in a third location when our margins were tight. Then I spent a Tuesday behind the counter and talked to this older woman who'd been on prescription sleep meds for years--our CBN tincture was the first thing that worked without side effects. She cried telling me about finally sleeping through the night. I scrapped the third location plan and invested in better staff training instead. This practice stops me from making fear-based decisions disguised as "growth strategy." When you're in the weeds of Hemp Committee meetings at NCIA or chamber networking events, you start optimizing for impressive-sounding moves rather than what actually serves customers. Working the floor keeps my decision-making honest--I choose slower, sustainable growth over flashy expansion because I remember the actual humans buying our products. The leadership impact is that my team trusts me more because I'm not asking them to do anything I won't do myself. When staffing gets tight or we need to work late for a big shipping day, I'm there packing boxes. That built-in credibility means less turnover and better retention than most cannabis hospitality businesses I've seen.

Running To Dye For Beauty Studio for 14 years taught me that my most effective mental health practice is creating ritualized "closing" moments at the end of each client session. After every service--whether it's a six-hour color correction or a quick trim--I take 90 seconds in my back room to physically shake out my hands, roll my shoulders, and mentally "release" that appointment before greeting the next client. This came from hitting a wall three years into my business when I was carrying every client's stress into the next chair. I'd finish a challenging color correction where someone came in near tears about a botched dye job, then immediately start a bridal consultation while still emotionally processing the previous client's anxiety. My consultations suffered because I wasn't fully present, and I noticed my hand would actually tremble slightly during precise balayage work when I was mentally cluttered. The 90-second reset completely changed my precision work and decision-making during consultations. When a client asks if we should go three shades lighter or suggests cutting eight inches when they really need a reshape, I can read their actual needs instead of projecting leftover emotions from three appointments ago. My color formulation accuracy improved noticeably--I went from about 15% of clients needing minor toner adjustments at their next visit down to under 5%. What makes this specifically powerful for leadership is it taught my team that protecting your mental space between clients isn't selfish--it's professional. Now when I see my stylists taking a moment to breathe between services instead of rushing through back-to-back bookings, I know they'll deliver better work and our clients will feel the difference in that chair.

I've built two seven-figure wellness practices from scratch, and my most effective mental health practice is radical honesty check-ins--literally asking myself "Am I not OK right now?" multiple times a day. I learned this after beating cocaine addiction as a teenager and later conquering paralyzing public speaking fear that almost killed my sales career. When I'm making hiring decisions or expansion calls at Tru Integrative Wellness, I pause and assess if anxiety is driving the decision or if I'm actually thinking clearly. In my early twenties, a psychiatrist taught me that my body's fight-or-flight response would hijack my cognition before I even realized it was happening. Now I catch it early--if my chest tightens during a vendor negotiation or budget review, I know I need to table the decision for two hours. This practice saved me during the Refresh Med Spa scale-up. We were growing fast from a single room to multi-million revenue, and I nearly fired an underperforming staff member out of stress. I did my check-in, realized I was overwhelmed by three simultaneous projects, and instead restructured her role. She became one of our best team members and that "culture-first approach" became what we're known for. The honesty piece also makes me a better leader because my team sees me admit when I'm struggling. I recently did a podcast with Dolvette Quince from The Biggest Loser, and he said all the magic happens when you can say "I'm not OK today." That permission to be imperfect has made my Oak Brook team more transparent about operational problems before they become crises.

I started Stout Tent with $6,000 and three small children at home, and honestly? The practice that saved me was radical honesty with myself about capacity--specifically, saying "not yet" instead of "no" to opportunities. When we had our first major glamping event failure (yes, a complete disaster), I could have spiraled into shame or tried to immediately book another huge gig to prove myself. Instead, I sat with what went wrong, admitted I wasn't ready for that scale, and focused on smaller contracts I could actually deliver on. This "not yet" mindset completely changed my decision-making because it removed the binary pressure of success/failure. When wholesale clients started approaching us and we hit 200+ accounts, I didn't feel like I had to be perfect immediately--I could learn as we scaled. That mental permission to be in-process kept me from the paralysis that comes from needing to know everything before acting. The leadership impact is huge. My team sees me openly say "I don't know how to handle international exports to six continents yet, but we'll figure it out together." That vulnerability creates space for problem-solving instead of pretending we have all the answers. When you're building something from nothing to multi-million dollars, that honest assessment of where you actually are--not where you think you should be--is what keeps you making clear calls instead of fear-based ones.