Experiencing the aftermath of a difficult business decision can be incredibly challenging. When someone close to you is struggling with regret, disappointment, or financial pressure, your empathy and support can make a meaningful difference in their ability to recover and move forward.
Empathy and Support During Business Challenges
Poor business outcomes can trigger deep feelings of regret, self-blame, and anxiety about the future. Let your loved one know that you’re there for them – not to fix things, but to listen. Being a calm, non-judgemental sounding board can ease some of the emotional weight and create space for problem-solving. Two heads really are better than one when regret feels overwhelming.
Listening without judgement is key. Allow them to express their thoughts and feelings openly whether that’s fear, frustration, or sadness. These responses are entirely normal. In the middle of such emotional intensity, decision-making can feel clouded, and people often fixate on what went wrong rather than what’s possible now.
Why Regret Happens in Business and How to Cope
Regret typically stems from disappointment with how a situation turned out especially if the individual had high hopes or felt personally responsible. The mind can quickly become stuck in “what ifs” and “I should have” spirals, which are emotionally draining and rarely productive.
Try to help reframe the narrative – mistakes and setbacks are an inevitable part of life, particularly in business. Remind your loved one that their worth is not tied to one decision or outcome. Regret can be a sign of reflection, not failure. Encourage acceptance of what’s happened, while gently steering focus towards the future. What now? What next?
Encouraging Self-Care and Stress Relief After Business Failure
This kind of stress takes a toll, both physically and emotionally. Encourage your loved one to keep their routines going: gentle exercise, balanced meals, rest, and connection with others. These small acts of self-care can significantly reduce anxiety and restore some equilibrium.
When they’ve had a chance to talk it through, help them shift towards solutions. You could brainstorm practical steps to mitigate the impact of the decision, explore alternative income streams, or think about future career opportunities. Some of the best ideas are born from moments of crisis.
Seeking Expert Guidance and Setting Concrete Goals
If the decision has legal, financial, or operational consequences, suggest speaking with a financial advisor, mentor, or legal professional. Getting an informed second opinion can relieve pressure and create clearer next steps.
Having a simple, written plan for the short and long term can also help restore a sense of direction. Setting achievable goals, even small ones, provides a sense of agency and momentum.
Learning from Business Mistakes for Personal Growth
Once the initial distress has passed, you might gently invite some reflection. What have they learned? What would they do differently next time? This process should be gentle and future-facing and not another opportunity for them to punish themselves.
Mistakes do not define someone’s intelligence, ability or future success. Setbacks are not the opposite of progress – they actually a part of it.
Every person’s recovery will look different. What works for one might not work for another, and that’s okay. Holding a long-term view and encouraging forward motion at their pace is the most helpful thing you can do.
Forward-facing is key.
www.carolinecrotty.ie
You might feel lonely that your youngest is starting school or it may seem like only yesterday when it was your child’s first day at school and now he/she’s leaving home to start a third level course.
For some parents, a child starting school is super exciting, while it can be heart-breaking for other parents. Feeling anxious about the start of school term is to be expected because it is a big change. Whatever is happening in your household right now, stay focused and remain relaxed!
It is normal for your child (regardless of age) to have worries and concerns about school. Fears can vary from “which teacher?”; “where will I sit?”; “what if the bus doesn’t stop?”; “what if my friends aren’t my friends anymore?”; “maybe I won’t fit in”; “what if I don’t know what to say”……the list goes on.
Helpful tips
Ensure you have some one-to-one time with each of your children every day and at least every week go for a walk or play some music together or take a spin in the car or chat while doing a chore together etc.
Chat with your child(ren). Your message is always “I’m here to listen” and “I am your ally” so your child(ren) can approach you with worries and will be assured that together you will devise a plan of action to tackle their fears head-on.
Listen to the small things so your child knows you will be there for the big things as they age and worries change.
Encourage your child to share their feelings with you or their other parent / responsible adult. Explain that changes associated with returning/starting school can be difficult, that worries are okay and that it is beneficial to talk about them.
When your child is anxious, it may be easy to become stressed. The more grounded you are the better. It is comforting for your child to see that you are relaxed about a situation particularly when your child is anxious about it. Your child is looking to you for comfort and reassurance, if you react it may send the wrong message to your child and they may panic even more.
When your child comes to you and says they are worried about something, please be careful not to dismiss their worries or undermine their fears. Do not say “don’t worry” or “everyone feels like that”. Instead, chat about what course of action your child can take to help alleviate the worry. Encourage your child to work through the anxiety and to problem-solve. Try to empathise by saying “I see that you’re worried about this”.
Don’t dismiss fears as silly or say “that’s nothing“. When your child comes to you stop whatever you’re doing and listen carefully – show that you are interested in finding a solution. Listening to your child means that you allow them time to speak and time to think about what they want to tell you – don’t jump in too fast or finish sentences! Take time, listen and reflect back what you hear so your child knows you are paying close attention and that what they tell you is important to you.
Don’t break your child’s confidence by discussing their worries behind their back and making fun of them – they won’t confide in you again if they discover that you’re not trustworthy!
Encourage your child to be solutions-focused “what helps you feel relaxed?” or “what can you do that might help you feel better?”
Encourage your child to think about the nice things that happened during the day to gear their attention away from anxious thoughts particularly at night time. A nice way to finish the day is to ask your child, when saying good night, “what’s the best thing that happened today?” or “what was your favourite part of today?”
Praise. Praise. Praise. Every time your child handles a tricky situation and manages their anxiety give plenty praise. Be encouraging. As a parent you can’t always fix everything or be around to offer constant reassurance, but you can give your child the confidence to believe in their own abilities to overcome worries and concerns.
Think about how you behave when you are tired and hungry – we as adults are easily irritated. Your child may be irritable because of hunger or tiredness. It is important to have a good back-to-school routine for sleep and for meals. Watch portion sizes. Don’t reward your child(ren) with food items, instead reward with a trip to the playground or a comic or art materials. Stick to your screen time schedule (i.e. set limits to the amount of time, no screens in the bedroom or at the meal table). So very many children head to bed but not to sleep and school work and concentration suffer as a result of being on line into the small hours.
To recap, chat with your child, stay grounded, be and encourage your child to be solutions-focused, encourage and praise and stick to the back-to-school routine for sleep, food and screen-time!
www.carolinecrotty.ie
Do you know someone who is happy? Perhaps you are that happy person. What ‘happy’ means to me may differ to how you would define it. There are possibly as many definitions of ‘happiness’ as there are people.
Various factors impact and contribute to our overall sense of happiness from involvement in our communities to celebrations, weather, finances, family etc. I don’t have enough space here to examine influences on or definitions of happiness but in my experience, everyone wants to be happy.
Ask yourself ‘Do I want to be happy? If the answer is ‘yes’ put a plan of action into place. We all know that life is not fair but being happy requires an investment of your time and effort because happy people work at being happy.
If you want to be happy follow these tips:
Accept yourself completely – just as you are AND accept your reality. This means you accept your family, house, appearance, birthplace, strengths/limitations, history etc. Acceptance is the key to happiness. (This is not easy but it is vital).
Learn something new – how to put up a shelf, knit, sew, bake a sponge cake – keep your brain active with new knowledge and skills.
Forgive yourself for mistakes you have made. Forgive others for theirs. Let go of resentments – it is difficult to be happy with a heavy heart.
Engage in activities. Start a new hobby such as yoga or Bridge. Join a club or start one e.g. a book club or dinner club with your neighbours/friends.
Spend time with people that make you feel good, ideally positive people. Avoid people who stress you out or drain your energies.
Have a sense of purpose. Happy people have something to do or somewhere to go (even if it is just to the shop for milk).
Do things you are good at, that you enjoy, that are fun or make you feel good. Do them often.
Say NO. If you don’t want to do something don’t do it. If you do, then do so without complaint.
Acknowledge that you are not responsible for other people’s reactions, you are only responsible for yours.
Find your voice and say when you are unhappy about something. (Say I feel x when y because z)
Nurture a loving relationship with YOU. Happy people give themselves breaks and let themselves off the hook. They learn how to relax and how to manage anxieties/stresses.
Set short-term achievable goals. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unattainable goals! Set a goal, achieve it, acknowledge the achievement then set new goals!
Invest time in others. Make time for your partner, children, friends, neighbours or strangers.
Watch your language. I don’t mean swear words I mean self-talk. Say only positive things and use only positive words particularly when talking about you.
Help others because it makes us feel happy. Help willingly. Volunteer in your community or to do something nice for a neighbour.
Your brain believes you must be happy if you are smiling, it immediately raises your mood. Smiles are contagious.
Treat your body as well as you can. Eat well, hydrate, keep moving and breathe slowly.
Be kind and gentle, forgiving and compassionate with YOU and others.
www.carolinecrotty.ie
Everyone gets worried from time to time but if your thinking keeps spiralling out of control and into chronic worrying it may be time to seek help. Worry and stress can have different symptoms that affect both our bodies and our minds.
Do you find that you:
Jump to negative conclusions.
Spend time worrying or feel distracted at work or at home.
Try to predict the future but the outcome is never good. For example someone at work mentions that the boss wants to see you and you immediately think “I’m in big trouble” or “I’m going to be fired”.
Think the worst? For example a family member is late home and you think he/she might be involved in a car crash.
Have a mind like a washing machine on spin-cycle with oodles of different thoughts, worries and ideas and you just can’t get them to stop.
Have a feeling of dread or unease and you don’t know why.
Have difficulty falling asleep at night or, once asleep, you wake in the middle of the night and spend hours trying to get back to sleep.
Feel tension in your shoulders, or get headaches or regularly get an upset tummy.
Cry or become annoyed very easily.
Have a ‘tight’ feeling in your chest.
Just not feel like yourself.
Therapy helps you to recognise your unique individual signs and symptoms of worry and stress and it teaches you how to regain control and stop yourself from worrying about things over which you have no control.
I can help you to understand what is happening for you physically and emotionally and help you to learn how to cope and to relax. By learning how to regain control your mind and thoughts, you learn how to manage the worry and stress and ultimately control what is going on in your mind – so that if you have a negative thought you can quickly stop it and change it to a more logical and rational thought. After therapy you will sleep better, feel more positive and confident because you will be in control.
www.carolinecrotty.ie
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