Long hours, financial unpredictability and having responsibility for your employees and their wellbeing — all amid fluctuating marketing changes — can have a negative impact on even the most experienced small business owner.

If unaddressed, these stressors, and others associated with your unique business model, can harm your long-term health and wellness. Many small business owners report developing symptoms associated with anxiety and depression that impede their ability to work and make smart business decisions.

If you think you’re different and can simply push through these difficult times to help your business thrive even as you’re struggling, think again: Global small business platform, Xero, reports in its 2026 Emotional Tax Return that financial pressure, fatigue and avoidance — both symptoms of anxiety or depression — cost U.S. small business owners, “…an average of 33 working days of productivity each year.”

Those lost working days due to negative emotions can result in missed opportunities, mistakes, lower revenue, reduced creativity and slower growth — all things that can increase your stress and deepen your depression if you’re already struggling.

When you live with these feelings for a long time, it can be hard to identify them as a problem, rather than “just the way things are.” Continue reading this article for tips to help you recognize anxiety and depression in yourself or a fellow small business owner, the impacts it can have on your business and ways to find relief.

Your Body and Anxiety
Many people struggling with anxiety first feel it in the body; that’s because anxious feelings trigger your fight-or-flight response, causing a flood of hormones to hit your nervous system in response to the perceived danger. While adrenaline and cortisol helped our ancestors flee predators and survive in tense situations, they don’t have quite the same impact in the workplace.

Instead, it results in:

• Physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat or palpitations, muscle tension, dizziness and stomach issues, including digestion problems. When you feel physically ill or simply “off,” it can reduce your ability to work effectively.
• Worries that you can’t put aside or resolve, to the point that you struggle thinking about anything else. Anxiety is an intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations, according to the Mayo Clinic. These feelings, which are difficult to control and can last a long time, can make your daily routine more difficult, stressful and less enjoyable, especially if your business is the root of your anxiety.
• A looming sense of dread, otherwise known as anticipatory anxiety, as if something bad is going to happen. Whether you’re experiencing the “Sunday scaries” the night before the start of a new work week or it’s something that dogs every step of your daily tasks, these feelings of unease can lead to avoidance and lower work performance. It’s also associated with physical symptoms, like a knot in your stomach, irritability and tension.
• “Freezing” when required to complete a valuable task or make an important business decision. This feeling might be brief, such as an immediate response to pressure, or it can turn into a recurring pattern of procrastination and indecision that makes the workday an uphill struggle to complete tasks. If this freeze occurs around major decisions, you can lose out on business opportunities, additional revenue and more.
• When your anxiety becomes intense enough, you can experience what’s known as a panic attack, which can occur suddenly and without warning. Symptoms usually peak within minutes and can include severe feelings of fear, doom, danger or unreality, combined with shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid pounding heartbeat, chills or hot flashes and dizziness, among other symptoms.

Your Mind and Depression
The overall U.S. depression rate remains at a historic high, according to analysis by Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm. Adults currently having or being treated for depression exceeded 18% in both 2024 and 2025, projecting to an estimated 47.8 million Americans. Despite the growth in the number of people experiencing depression — which rose dramatically with the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic — it can be difficult to identify in yourself due to its slow progression and the way its symptoms can be confused with tiredness or fatigue.

If you think you might be struggling with depression, ask yourself if you’ve noticed the following:

• You are often tired, no matter how much you sleep, and you might find yourself sleeping an excessive amount. A core symptom of depression, extreme fatigue can haunt your days as a small business owner. Physical tiredness, low motivation, brain fog, body aches and an inability to concentrate can make even the smallest tasks feel overwhelming.
• You withdraw from the people and things you once loved. This is often associated with feeling like a burden, thinking your small business struggles are embarrassing or believing they are somehow your fault, so you isolate to avoid feeling shame or guilt. You might also avoid interacting with others because you’re so burned out from the stress of running your business that you feel overwhelmed and have no bandwidth left for others.
• You often reach for an alcoholic beverage or drugs to find relief from the pressures of your work. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that can temporarily provide a sense of relaxation or numbness from stress, anxiety or difficult emotions. Drugs can also provide the same sense of distance from life’s troubles, but regularly overindulging in these substances to find relief makes you vulnerable to serious physical and mental health issues without resolving the base issue — your stress and depression.  
• Your feelings of shame and self-loathing might develop into thoughts of self-harm. When we constantly feel negative about ourselves, that distress can compound as our mental health worsens. If you feel like these feelings of worthlessness, embarrassment or sadness are inescapable, you might slide into suicidal thoughts or patterns. If you or a loved one is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, contact your doctor or call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Anxiety and depression resulting from small business stress can have a significant impact on your mental health. Without relief from these stressors, you can become more deeply entrenched in these negative feelings, resulting in more intense symptoms or even thoughts of suicide and self-harm. No matter what you’re struggling with, help is available to you. Your doctor can help improve your mental health through stress management tools and medications, if needed.

For more insights on the problems facing small business owners and how you can help your business succeed, please read our other informational articles at americanbusinesscoalition.info.

Articles in this newsletter are supposed to be informative, enlightening and helpful to you. While all information contained herein is meant to be completely factual, it is always subject to change. Articles are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Consult your doctor before starting any new health routine. 

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