LinkedIn Presents

I'm Maura Aronsmeli and this is the Anxious Achiever.

We look at stories from business leaders who've dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges,

how they fell down, how they pick themselves up,

and how they hope work will change in the future.

If you're the kind of person who lives by your phone, even at family events, who wakes up in the middle of the night to check emails, who feels they have to respond to messages within a few minutes or their business might crumble or you might get fired, this episode is for you.

But this episode is also for you if you've realized that that kind of anxiety around digital communication,

it just isn't sustainable. I've made a lot of mistakes. And as a result of those mistakes,

I've made changes. I always like to say, we have to hit rock bottom before we really start to

break through. You know, I remember pre-pandemic back in

2018, I gave birth to my daughter, Kamaya, at a hospital in New York. It was two days in

from giving birth, but I was still at the hospital because I had a C-section. And as an entrepreneur,

I had no structured maternity leave. And for me, it was hard to let go of work.

I was still checking my phone in the hospital. And I had this just general anxiety that if I wasn't

responsive, no one would hire me or if I wasn't around, people would think that I wasn't available.

And while I was at the hospital, Klein emailed me and said, can you talk by phone? She had no idea that I just had a kid.

And, you know, this is embarrassing, but I took the call from the hospital two days after giving

birth. I didn't tell her I just had this baby. But it was just this

cycle of constant responsiveness that was not about her, but it was about my own insecurity and

anxiety that if I wasn't always on, I would somehow show less commitment to others. That really

taught me that I need to change my behavior. And as a result of some of the

changes that I've made in my own life and setting boundaries, I've learned that the reverse is true,

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