World Suicide Prevention Day: A Note on Running a Business and Taking Care of Yourself

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, observed globally to raise awareness and reduce stigma around suicide, and to point people toward support when they need it.

We're not going to use this space to talk about virtual assistants or business support today. Some topics deserve to stand on their own.

Running a business can be isolating in ways that are easy to hide

Small business ownership comes with a particular kind of pressure: the sense that everything depends on you, that stopping isn't an option, that struggling would let people down, employees, clients, family. That pressure is real, and it can build quietly over months or years without ever looking like a crisis from the outside.

If you've been carrying more than feels manageable lately, that's worth taking seriously, not pushing through.

If you're struggling right now

Please reach out. You don't have to be in crisis to make the call.

• In the US: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

• Outside the US: The International Association for Suicide Prevention maintains a directory of crisis centers by country at iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres.

If someone in your life seems to be struggling, checking in directly, and simply asking how they're doing, matters more than most people realize.

Take care of yourselves this week

Whatever this month looks like for your business, it's allowed to come second to your own wellbeing when it needs to. We'll be back with our regular content tomorrow.