A Leader Shares His Struggle with Mental Health

Brief 

An emotional breakdown after years of trying everything from medication to meditation convinced David C. Baker to talk more publicly about mental health. There are no easy answers other than to be OK with the struggle, knowing “that the people who care about you are just as confused about what to do as you are,” Baker writes. Full Story: David C.

Insight

This isn’t me being brave.

This isn’t me crying for help.

This isn’t me with any answers.

It’s just me, David, trying to normalize talking about any struggles you may have with depression or anxiety, like me. Or maybe you just can’t get your brain to stop it already.

I live a pretty public life. Partly because I don’t want to try to remember what I’ve told various people (the truth is always consistent) and because my business model relies, in part, on you wanting to work with me—as a person—and not just tap my brain. So far that’s worked, but who knows. We’ll see after this. 🙂

Most of you reading this are leaders, and I think that mental health struggles can be challenging for you because of what leadership requires. People are looking to you and following your lead. Confusion or struggle can seem like weakness. In your more paranoid moments, you may even fear that your struggles might be used against you, to discount or even undermine your role.

Mental health is a really shitty subject. I’m going to get to that, but first I’ll give you a little history so that you have some context.I grew up in an environment where mental health struggles were regularly branded a lack of faith or trust in God. Yeah, it was kind of humorous to study Biblical characters who struggled with those things (David, Paul), but the struggles were cast as weaknesses for which more faith was required. They were proof positive that we were lost in ourselves and needed an external power to solve the challenge.