I'm Maura Aronsmeli, and this is the anxious achiever.

We look at stories from business leaders who have dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges, how they fell down, how they pick themselves up, and how they hope workplaces can change in the future. Today, freelance work and managing anxiety and depression.

I'm a small business owner, which means I work from home a lot, I'm responsible for bringing

an income, and my income can fluctuate from month to month or even year to year. If I don't sell,

I don't earn. And what I experience is similar for lots of small business owners and freelancers

out there. Even during the best economic times,

depending on only yourself for your paycheck can be stressful. And while life untethered to an

employer can bring freedom, it has some really big stressors, money for one. But freelancing or

working from home can feel lonely and isolating. And many of the

traditional milestones by which we measure our career and our professional growth just don't exist.

There's no promotions. Instead, you're actually on almost constant job interview type situations

in which you have to try to prove yourself.

Trying to manage all these stressors while also dealing with a diagnosed mental health issue can be hard. Sure, you can sneak out for a therapy appointment in the middle of the day,

but sometimes it can feel like the world is collapsing and you just don't have a safety net.

Later in the show, we'll hear from the writer Ada Calhoun about her strategies for managing

anxiety as a freelancer. But first, Chris Brogan. Chris is a New York Times best-selling author,

business owner, he created the story leader system, and someone who suffers from clinical depression.

You wrote, and I'm going to quote here, people with depression can be successful.

Now, read that sentence again.

I'm not saying successful people can be depressed,

although that's true. I'm saying that people who suffer from depression can be successful,

even though they are depressed. A, I couldn't agree with you more, but B, why, Chris, did you want to sort of reframe the sentence to say that

...