Sam Page
← All thinking

I’m finding life is a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment.

People and behaviour3 min readSam Page

I can swing from high to low, and back again, without much warning or an obvious reason.

So, given it’s Mental Health Awareness Week, I thought I’d share an honest post, in case it helps someone else.

For me, the underlying cause is that the economy is tougher than it’s been for a long time. And that means everything day to day feels a bit harder. Whether that's immediately obvious or not.

Wins (big or small) feel bigger, but so do the challenges.

I hear the same thing from almost everyone I speak to – in particular, senior leaders, founders and CEOs.

People are feeling it professionally and personally.

It’s harder to make good decisions. It’s harder to turn up every day in the way you want to. It’s harder to be creative rather than reactive to situations.

Not impossible, but it all takes its toll.

So this is a reminder to myself, as much as it is to others:

You can’t keep going if you burn out.
You can’t be there for others if you’re not there for yourself.

Here are a few things I do to try to stay in balance. It takes a lot of discipline, and I often fall out of some of the habits.

But when I keep them up, I feel better – both personally and professionally.

  • Catch myself if I’m thinking negatively, and try to change the story to something more positive – usually by finding a different perspective.

  • Talk to people about how I feel. Even if I don’t feel like talking to anyone. Whether it’s my family, friends, colleagues.

  • Keep a good routine, but also consciously decide to change something in it now and then to see if it helps.

  • Exercise for 20 minutes every day. I’m bad at this at the moment, but if I do it, I always feel better for it.

  • Try to get a good night’s sleep by sticking to a healthy bedtime routine – no screens before I go to bed, get up at the same time etc.

  • Find time to reflect – and time to just get on with things. I think I need a bit of both, not too much of one or the other.

  • Keep learning and developing (personally and professionally) so I don’t feel like I’m standing still.

  • Create space to unwind and recharge. It might be time with my family, might be time just for me.

  • Spend time away from screens and ideally outdoors. Find adventure in the world around me.

  • Smile and say hello to someone when I'm out and about, it makes a big difference to me and hopefully to them.

Does anyone else feel the same?

Any other tips for staying in balance?

First published on LinkedIn.

More on people and behaviour

One email, every Friday.

What happened this week, what I'm thinking about, and one takeaway for yours.

GEThttps://sam-page.com/thinking/im-finding-life-is-a-bit-of-a-rollercoaster-at-the-moment.mdtext/markdown; charset=utf-8

---
title: "I’m finding life is a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment."
url: https://sam-page.com/thinking/im-finding-life-is-a-bit-of-a-rollercoaster-at-the-moment
date: 2025-05-15
author: Sam Page
type: Post or article
categories: [People and behaviour]
reading_time: 3 min
summary: "I can swing from high to low, and back again, without much warning or an obvious reason."
first_published: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A7328658479231963136
---

# I’m finding life is a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment.

I can swing from high to low, and back again, without much warning or an obvious reason.

![](https://sam-page.com/img/thinking/im-finding-life-is-a-bit-of-a-rollercoaster-at-the-moment-li1.webp)

So, given it’s Mental Health Awareness Week, I thought I’d share an honest post, in case it helps someone else.

For me, the underlying cause is that the economy is tougher than it’s been for a long time. And that means everything day to day feels a bit harder. Whether that's immediately obvious or not.

Wins (big or small) feel bigger, but so do the challenges.

I hear the same thing from almost everyone I speak to – in particular, senior leaders, founders and CEOs.

People are feeling it professionally and personally.

It’s harder to make good decisions. It’s harder to turn up every day in the way you want to. It’s harder to be creative rather than reactive to situations.

Not impossible, but it all takes its toll.

So this is a reminder to myself, as much as it is to others:

You can’t keep going if you burn out.  
You can’t be there for others if you’re not there for yourself.

Here are a few things I do to try to stay in balance. It takes a lot of discipline, and I often fall out of some of the habits.

But when I keep them up, I feel better – both personally and professionally.

- Catch myself if I’m thinking negatively, and try to change the story to something more positive – usually by finding a different perspective.

- Talk to people about how I feel. Even if I don’t feel like talking to anyone. Whether it’s my family, friends, colleagues.

- Keep a good routine, but also consciously decide to change something in it now and then to see if it helps.

- Exercise for 20 minutes every day. I’m bad at this at the moment, but if I do it, I always feel better for it.

- Try to get a good night’s sleep by sticking to a healthy bedtime routine – no screens before I go to bed, get up at the same time etc.

- Find time to reflect – and time to just get on with things. I think I need a bit of both, not too much of one or the other.

- Keep learning and developing (personally and professionally) so I don’t feel like I’m standing still.

- Create space to unwind and recharge. It might be time with my family, might be time just for me.

- Spend time away from screens and ideally outdoors. Find adventure in the world around me.

- Smile and say hello to someone when I'm out and about, it makes a big difference to me and hopefully to them.

Does anyone else feel the same?

Any other tips for staying in balance?