After Two Years of a Lot of Hard Work, Including Existing in a Mood-Altering State

As you may have noticed by the lack of my recent Sharing Suzette posts, I took a writing hiatus the month of December. Ok, ok, I admit it was longer but I had good reason. This is officially our two-year mark since I pulled the trigger on starting SevenPonds.com. It’s been an amazing journey and the amount of work and dedication has had me strapped (not literally but almost) to my computer and feeling like a virtual shut-in for the past two years. One of the top reasons for failure is startup founder burnout and I was unquestionably on the edge. I realized I had to let go of the minutia for a while, take some time off and simply not work so much.

During my two-year long work emersion I experienced an altered state of mind.  Given the sheer amount of work I had to accomplish as a founder I had to pass on accepting invitations to social events. Consequently I did not get out of the office much and this took a toll on my frame of mind – a mood-altering toll. It was an odd place for me to be, to lack the typical socialization I’m accustomed to. But with goals met and the site fully launched I had to take time off and enter back into the real world to develop a balanced life again. This, I’m happy to report, I have achieved.

I found my experience in parallel to the grieving process. There is a saying for those who experience the death of someone they deeply love: “The second year is the hardest.” This is because everyone in your life feels that a year has passed and it’s time to move on. But in the slow-moving tearful world of loss, it still feels raw and just as painful. Grief is the bridge to a new life void of a loved ones’ presence. Part of the transition process is to experience mood-altering depression. Grieving causes us to seek to be alone to properly heal and depression is part of that healing.

My experience of being alone altered my mood. It was a necessary transition to my getting SevenPonds.com off the ground. But now I’m thrilled to be back to a balanced life of work and play – albeit more work than play. The website “Rainy Mood” (below) let’s us know that “Rain makes everything better.” Be it the tears of grieving, the melancholy of a rainy day or the flicker of a computer screen I existed in front of these past years, having our mood altered becomes a necessity for everything to be better. And better they are!

It’s great to be back in the swing of things as a new recharged startup founder. Note that in the future, my posts will occur monthly to allow me more time to build SevenPonds.

Check out the website Rainymood.com. Enjoy the slowly moving clouds as you peer through the glass on a rainy day.

For other mood-altering videos see Wood-burning fireplace or Beautiful clouds.