The APA says stress is compounding. But indie hackers like Kyle Gawley of Gravity ($3.2k/mo) are prioritizing their well-being.

It's unsurprising that stress levels are through the roof right now. The American Psychological Association is sounding the alarm, saying, "We are facing a national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come." This is due to the additional stressors caused by the pandemic.

67% of adults say they've been more stressed during the pandemic than they were before. And on top of the pandemic, 77% of adults in the United States are finding the well-being of their country to be a significant source of stress.

The list of stressors goes on, and it's easy to get overwhelmed.

To support yourself and others, the APA suggests creating meaningful (and safe) opportunities for connection, practicing self-care, celebrating milestones, talking to each other, slowing down, and getting help if you think you might need it.

Reducing stress can take some big lifestyle changes, but it's worth it. I talked to @kylegawley of Gravity ($3200/mo) about stress, the toll it took on him, and how he decided to make a change:

Once we raised venture capital, my job very quickly became cold calling, spreadsheets, and managing employees instead of writing code and building products. Initially, it was quite fun because it was new, but then it became incredibly stressful.

The pressure wasn't coming from the investors, and there's nothing evil about venture capital. I just got really, extremely stressed out. I had a really bad diet, I was drinking way too much coffee. I had stomach pains and it got to a point I was vomiting four or five times a day.

And then, one day, I was cooking a wee pot of soup in the house and the room just started spinning like crazy. I took a nap, woke up, and started throwing up black blood. I was rushed to the hospital and put in a ward with all these extremely sick people, some of whom were dying. And I was just sitting there wondering how I got there.

I was only 27 and I thought I was gonna die or be affected for the rest of my life. I was like, "Shit, I haven't traveled. I haven't done all the things I wanted to do."

So, after I got out of the hospital, I went to Thailand to do a little soul searching. While I was there, a guy sat down beside me. It turned out he was from Belfast, where I'm from. He even went to the same school. He told me he had been working for a startup back home and hated it, so he quit his job, moved to Thailand, and set up his own business.

It was the inspiration that I needed. I realized that I could actually do all the things I wanted to do while making a living at the same time.

So, I was traveling and working on the business. I wanted to do something new and creative but I didn't know what. Then, I met a guy who said I should be selling a framework I had built for myself. I was like, "Really? Who would buy this?" He told me indie hackers would. And I was like, "What's an indie hacker?"

At that point, I didn't know there was such a thing as doing a tech startup without raising venture capital, so it opened up a whole new world for me. I took that inspiration and now I've built two more products.

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