Lesson 1: Stress Tolerance Is Built, Not Born

In 2020, I started Rachel Harrison Communications at the beginning of the pandemic. Within weeks, we lost our bar and restaurant clients — and most of our hotel clients. Overnight, the foundation of our business disappeared. What saved us were three things: we retained most of our liquor clients, four hotel clients, and my team got incredibly creative.

While I was doing everything I could to secure PPP loans and keep the company financially afloat, my team built an entirely new COVID division. We represented a digital nightclub. An HVAC company that de-ionized air to reduce viral spread. UVC wands that disinfected phones and surfaces. We adapted in real time. It was survival mode.

At the same time, I had split with my business partner, started a new company and was fully on my own. I was trying to stabilize the company, bring in new business, and make sure I could pay my team. I didn’t sleep most nights. For weeks. The stress was constant and physical.

Today, people talk about how stressful it is to run a business. And yes — I still experience stress. There’s fear. There are unknowns. Employees leave. Clients choose other agencies. Payments come in late.

But something has changed.

My cortisol doesn’t spike the way it used to. I don’t spiral the way I once did. When a bump in the road happens, I (mostly) take it in stride. I’ve learned that the only real option is to put one foot in front of the other and do the next right thing. And 9 times out of 10, it all works out if you’re putting in the work.

Here’s what I’ve learned: stress tolerance is built through exposure. When you survive something that feels existential, everyday challenges stop feeling catastrophic.

Leadership isn’t about eliminating stress. It’s about expanding your capacity to hold it. All I can do each day is my best. And that’s what I ask of my team.

But I don’t get stressed like I did before 2020 — because that season built a different level of resilience.