How to take care of your mental health as a pet professional

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A guide for Mental Health Awareness Week 2025

Taking care of your emotional well-being is key as a pet professional, and this is a guide to support you as part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025.

If you’ve been struggling to be online recently, you’re not alone.

There have been huge political changes globally, conflict, controversial court rulings and lots more, meaning you’re seeing lots of conflicting opinions and confrontation online.

When you started your pet business, you didn’t sign up for this.

It was most likely all about caring for the animals or creating the product you put your heart and soul into.

But running a business means you have to ‘show up’ and be seen by the people who need what you have to offer – and a huge part of that is social media.

It’s an amazing gift, a free tool to access people all over the world, but it comes with its downsides too.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, this post explores why being online at the moment is hard, and how to take care of you.

The hidden toll of scrolling

What you wanted was a quick “five-minute” morning check-in on social media to see if any of your clients had been in touch, or just to have a nosey at what your friends and colleagues are up to.

But this can easily snowball into 30 minutes of comparison – which can derail you for the rest of the day.

One client described how her entire day could be wiped out by seeing distressing content about animal welfare before 8am.

Our brains aren’t wired to absorb the level of stimulation social media throws at us. We crave control and certainty – but social media often gives us the opposite.

And when you’re already juggling the responsibilities of running a business, this uncertainty can take a toll on your mental energy, confidence, and clarity.

Writing in Psychologies magazine, Dr Emma Hepburn explains:

“We know that social media is designed to pull you in, to try to get you to stay there.

“So that will be using emotional impact news, and then it will roll on to the next thing and the next thing and the next, and you get caught in that loop.

“You can then get involved in people’s opinions and emotions which can make you feel more strongly – whether you get more upset or more angry.”

Learn more from Dr Hepburn on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/thepsychologymum/

Navigating visibility when the world feels overwhelming

This is a big theme I’ve noticed in my community, with clients asking:

“Should I be commenting on global events?”
“Will people think I don’t care if I post something normal today?”
“I don’t even know what to say anymore, so I just don’t.”

The pressure to be visible is huge. And when devastating things are happening in the world, you can feel like you need to be sharing your thoughts on the story.

It’s ok to take a step back if you don’t want to post – and it might not be due to what’s going on outside, it might be what’s going on in your own life.

I’ve had a lot of upheaval in my life in the last two years, with two bereavements, a break-up, and two house moves, meaning I’ve had a number of periods where I’ve had to step back from being visible.

Apart from a time where I had to take nearly two months off after losing my uncle, it hasn’t impacted hugely on my income.

Everything was still there when I was ready to come back.

Things to consider if you’re feeling wobbly

If you’re not feeling great, try to focus on you instead of what’s going on outside of you.

Consider how you’re feeling and what might help your mood, and this will help you feel more in control.

In the same Psychologies article, Dr Lalitaa Suglani, author of High Functioning Anxiety, a 5 step guide to calming the inner panic (a very good book!) explains: “We want to be mindful.

“We need to think, ‘Ok, when I know I’m in that state, what are my red flags to tell me I might be anxious right now?’

“You might think, ‘Now, today, I’m feeling a bit vulnerable, so I need to stay away from certain people or certain situations.’

“It’s important to know what you’re doing so you’ve becoming more aware of your patterns.”

Learn more about her work here: https://drlalitaa.com/

Ways to take care of your mental health online

Here are a few simple ways to look after your mental wellbeing as a business owner during unpredictable times:

Create a calm morning routine: Avoid jumping straight into your inbox or going on social media and diving headfirst into drama. Go for a walk, make a brew, or spend 10 minutes with a notebook before touching your phone.
Set boundaries with your platforms: Log out of the ones that feel like they have a negative impact. Switch off notifications so you’re not being disrupted.
Curate your feed: Follow people who uplift and inspire you. Hide or mute accounts that make you spiral – it might feel a bit strange, but you have to put you first.
Let your values guide you: You don’t have to weigh in on every issue. You’re allowed to protect your emotional wellbeing, and your business doesn’t need to be a news commentary platform.
Visibility does not mean putting out constant content: There are lots of ways to stay visible – press coverage, networking, email marketing, speaking at events – that don’t involve daily posting.

And finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed at the moment, you’re not on your own – and it’s not a reflection on you.

Try having a calmer start to the day where you put you first, and see how it works.

And if you’d like support working through this stuff with others who get it, I’d love to invite you into the membership.

Inside is a full workshop I ran in May 2025 on Navigating being visible in uncertain times, which you can watch at your leisure, along with a workbook.

It’s a friendly group of pet business owners who are there to support one another, and you can join for just £15 for your first month – then it’s £30 a month after that, with no minimum term.

Join the membership here