7 Things I Learned on My Growth-Filled Journey Through Anxiety and PTSD

In May, Mental Health Awareness Month is top of mind. With the 2025 theme, Turn Awareness Into Action, we recognize that while it’s critical to be aware that entrepreneurs endure high rates of mental health issues, it is also necessary to identify actionable ways to address the challenges our community faces. 

According to a Founder Reports study of 227 entrepreneurs in 46 countries, 87.7% of entrepreneurs report struggling with one or more mental health issues. In addition, due to high stress, financial concerns, and burnout that comes with the territory of founding and growing your own business, more than 50% of entrepreneurs report that they struggle with anxiety. 

Marsha Ralls, an EO Platinum One Bridge chapter member and founder of The Phoenix Asheville, shared her story and inspiring path of entrepreneurial resilience and transformation in the face of anxiety and PTSD:

Several years ago, I experienced one of the most destabilizing moments of my life. I lost both my business and the home I had lived in for over 25 years. The emotional weight was staggering.

It was one of the most intense experiences of my life, and going through it helped me learn a lot about myself, my business, and how to heal. I’m sharing what I learned in hopes that it will give hope to other entrepreneurs who face similar business and personal catastrophes:

1. Survival Mode Is Not Sustainable

In the months that followed my loss, I was diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD. I felt stuck in survival mode, unable to regulate my emotions or make sense of the world around me. My thoughts raced, my body stayed tense, and peace felt completely out of reach.

Anxiety, PTSD, and other emotional struggles negatively impact your leadership capacity. Identifying and addressing them is incredibly difficult, especially for entrepreneurs who thrive on the challenge of solving every problem that comes their way. But it is the first step to healing.

2. Daily Practices Can Create Long-Term Change

Healing didn’t come all at once. In the beginning, I simply focused on making it through each day. But over time, something began to shift.

I started a daily meditation practice. I learned to focus on my breath, bring attention to my heart, and slowly regulate the intense emotional patterns that had taken hold. As I practiced coherence, my nervous system began to settle. I felt glimpses of safety, then clarity, then empowerment. I began to understand that I wasn’t broken. I was overwhelmed, and there was a path to healing.

3. Loss Facilitates New Growth

That path inspired me to pivot on my entrepreneurial journey and create The Phoenix Asheville, a space for transformation. It’s the peaceful retreat where I wish I had been able to go and heal when I faced so many simultaneous losses and was learning to cope with them and find my new path.

The Phoenix Asheville is a sanctuary designed to support those who are navigating loss, change, and the complexity of being human. Here, we invite people to reconnect with themselves, to find stillness amidst the noise, and to engage with practices that support emotional regulation, inner balance, and sustainable healing. Our work is guided by the belief that change begins within, and that with the right support, each of us can shift from survival to creation.

4. Fear is Inevitable, But Trust is a Choice

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding to Asheville, N.C. We had to cancel our entire fall season of events and guests through early 2025.

I could feel old patterns begin to stir again. Fear, uncertainty, and anxiety all resurfaced. But this time, I had the tools to cope with them in a healthy way.

I returned to my breath. I turned inward rather than spiraling outward. I chose to align with trust instead of fear. That moment reaffirmed the power of daily inner work, not just during calm, but especially in chaos.

5. True Success is Who You Become

I’ve come to see that entrepreneurship is not only about strategy or success. It is about who we become in the process. When we lead from a regulated nervous system, when we operate from coherence and clarity, we can move through challenges with resilience. We can respond rather than react, and lead with intention instead of urgency.

6. Real Change Comes from How You Feel and Think

Anxiety and PTSD may have been part of my story, but they do not define who I am. They became the catalyst that taught me how to live in deeper awareness and alignment. I now understand that real change begins with how we feel and how we think. As we shift our internal state, we begin to access new choices, new outcomes, and new emotional landscapes.

7. Like a Phoenix, You Can Rise from Within

My journey through dark, fearful times taught me that healing is both personal and possible. Each of us carries the capacity to reconnect with our own inner intelligence, restore emotional balance, and live in greater harmony with ourselves and the world around us.

This idea has become the heart of my new entrepreneurial mission — to create spaces where people can rise from within.

Entrepreneurship is a journey through challenges and hardships of every kind. When you start to view mental health struggles as signals rather than setbacks, you open the door to healing, clarity, and sometimes a new chapter that might become the best thing you ever imagined.

Related posts you may find helpful:

• 88% of Entrepreneurs Struggle with Mental Health: 8 Ways to Cope
• How to Protect Your Mental Health When Starting a Business