Quote: “Every once in a while your demons will get you, that’s their full-time job.”
In this episode of the Asia Tech Podcast, Michael Waitze is joined by Krystal Choo, Executive Director and Founder of Thrive Hour – a professional training and coaching company dedicated to building strong foundations for success. They discussed the mental and emotional burdens that come with entrepreneurship and Krystal’s own journey to recovery.
Navigating the Road to Recovery
Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as intense, exciting, and highly rewarding. But the burden of taking on large problems in order to create solutions inevitably causes a great deal of stress. Though the journey is openly riddled with problems such as financial risks, what is not so openly discussed is the psychological price one pays.
After getting diagnosed with “severe clinical depression” and “borderline personality disorder” at the tender age of 13 years-old, Krystal Choo was given a prescription to “deal” with her mental health. Unfortunately, she told Michael, that ended up taking a dark turn.
Although the medication initially helped, she felt like she constantly needed to escape from reality, which led her down a spiral of addiction. Eventually, she realised that there is no chemical solution for a spiritual problem.
Krystal then shared her own experience with her psychological recovery as well as the burdens she faced by building up the facade of a successful entrepreneur.
Self-preservation and Self-isolation
“If I am my company, and my self worth is in what I do, and I don’t keep up the facade and things fail… that says that I am failing and my identity is tarnished,” Krystal says. Krystal also says that this is a common feeling amongst even the most successful entrepreneurs.
Although it isn’t often acknowledged, entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely. Aside from having very limited time to spend with friends and family, many entrepreneurs have found themselves feeling disconnected even when they are with their loved ones.
In this podcast, Krystal discussed the struggles of self-preservation that often leads to self-isolation, and why people feel like they can’t show a moment of weakness.
Cognitive Reframing
In addition to that, Michael and Krystal also touched on the differences in how men and women “modulate, regulate and master” their emotions, and the social pressure for men to appear strong. As Krystal says, men are typically more “shut down” and part of the reason why is largely due to our culture.
She then goes on to speak about how we should be eradicating the stigma around asking for help, and the science and psychology of why we feel the way we do.
To learn more about the different methods of regulating and mastering your emotions for your mental well-being, listen to this episode of Asia Tech today.
Asia Tech Podcast - Episode 73 - Krystal Choo - Thrive Hour & Neo Sapio - Growth Always Involves Some Level of Struggle and Pain
