Building Your Personal Brand When You Struggle with Anxiety

6–9 minutes

Written by Madison Lamb • Published June 28, 2025 5:55 AM PST

Personal branding is hard enough, but when you’re dealing with anxiety, it can feel like a constant tug-of-war between visibility and vulnerability. As somebody with anxiety who struggles to find my identity on a day-to-day basis in reality—and questions its stability every waking minute—building a brand that is expected to portray me and my business as a whole can seem very daunting. For the longest time, I had no idea what to put, how much information was too much to share, or if I had even shared enough for people to think I was a real person. I overthought everything—down to this introduction, which I’ve typed, backspaced, and retyped, I kid you not, seven times.

The Invisible Struggles of Branding with Anxiety

In digital spaces, anxiety doesn’t always look like panic attacks or breakdowns. Sometimes, it hides in the small behaviors that hold us back without us even realizing:

Avoiding networking because of social anxiety — which leads to missed opportunities and meaningful connections that could’ve opened doors for career growth or portfolio expansion.
Not sharing consistent or personable content out of fear, which can make your social media presence feel “robotic” or disconnected — and that often leads to a lower CTR (click through rate) and fewer successful leads.
Dismissing a valuable part of your identity because someone, something, or your own anxiety told you it’s not worth sharing. That silence becomes a missing chapter in your brand’s story.
Fearing perception from strangers, and letting that fear keep you from showing up fully as yourself. You shrink down your personality to avoid judgment—and your brand narrative suffers for it.

When the Story Feels Too Heavy to Share

Recently, I struggled with talking openly about the reason I was diagnosed with PTSD.

I had recorded and edited the video—even posted it—but then took it down because I felt truly embarrassed. It felt easier to just say what happened without putting the full story out there for everyone to dissect.

Even though I don’t owe anyone anything, this experience is such a core part of who I am and what I’ve overcome. Posting about it became an act of reclaiming my voice.

Through that one vulnerable moment—and others like it—I’ve grown a community of people who understand what it’s like to fight internal battles in a world that is confused even when they try to listen.

Real Strategies That Helped Me Show Up Authentically

Over time, I’ve learned ways to make the process less overwhelming and more sustainable. These aren’t magic fixes—but they’ve genuinely helped me build a healthier relationship with my digital brand:

Designated Platforms for Different “Tones“

I’ve made it easier on myself by giving each platform its own energy.

TikTok? That’s my real talk. I’m feral over there—saying exactly how I feel with no filter and then some, all genres and niches unlocked.
Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter? I’m much more reserved and professional. I only repost a small portion of the commentary videos from TikTok and use those platforms mainly for curated business and website content .

Boundaries, Boundaries, Boundaries

The digital marketing world is oversaturated, and that’s exactly why boundaries are essential. Just because people have access to you doesn’t mean they have access to all of you.
When the vibes are off—you are 100% within your rights to refuse service, log off, or disengage entirely.
Don’t forget the power of the block button, either. Use it when you need to protect your peace. ✨

Batch posting (to a point)

Scheduled and batch posting works great for filler content and keeping things moving when I don’t have the energy to create in real time. But I usually keep it to just a few days or a week in advance, since I like staying current with trends and my content tone can shift quickly depending on my energy and what’s happening online.

Authentic interactions > robotic professionalism

I make it a point to comment and interact with other creators in my own tone—casual, personable, and aligned with my energy. I’ve found that people respond better to real, thoughtful replies than to the typical “great post!” type comments. It’s also a great way to spark conversations and build genuine relationships.

Trial and error = slow confidence building

When I first started networking and building my brand, I overthought everything. I was vague, unsure, and constantly second-guessing myself. But over time, both the numbers and real feedback helped me grow my confidence.

Quantitative: Seeing what types of posts worked and which ones didn’t gave me insight into what my audience actually wanted.
Qualitative: Hearing directly from people who told me I’d impacted them? That gave me something the numbers never could—validation that felt personal.

What Didn’t Work and What I Learned From It

Even though I’ve found strategies that help, some things have definitely not worked—and they’ve taught me what not to repeat.

❌ Staying Online During an Anxiety Spiral

When I’m overwhelmed, trying to “push through” online never ends well.
One time, it led to a full-blown anxiety attack directed at a moderator—who, by the way, was upset over a very reasonable decision I made as a server host.
Looking back, what I should have done was log off and deal with it the next day.
The second I saw the message, the anxiety hit. If you know, you know.

❌ Forgetting My Digital Footprint Exists

I used to act like my digital footprint didn’t matter—and I cried online like I was getting paid for it.
Being open and authentic wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was realizing I needed to dial it back and come back to reality sometimes.

🧠 The Wake-Up Call

People around me started saying things like:

“No, my entire FYP isn’t filled with people hysterically crying and a gay guy giving us his daily scream.”

That was my reminder: not everyone lives online the way I do—and maybe, just maybe, I needed to start practicing more discernment.

💌 Who This Is Really For

I’m writing this part mostly for the introverts, the emotionally intelligent ones, the people who feel everything but also know when to pull back.
The ones with discernment who still want to show up authentically—just on their own terms.

Redefining Personal Branding on Your Own Terms

For the longest time, I was flip-flopping between niches, and everything felt so fake. Nothing was actually working—because I was hiding what was really going on behind the scenes. I wasn’t being honest with myself about what I personally wanted to make my brand about: mental health, from a pop culture media strategist perspective, per se.

It’s different for everybody. And it’s funny, because I just had a conversation with my little sister recently, who discovered her love for baking and is now on a new entrepreneurial endeavor with her friend and business partner.

She told me she doesn’t know why it took her so long to realize that something that brought her so much comfort for years never came to mind when she was trying to figure out what to build her future around. And now? This business might be it. They already had sales for Father’s Day in their first week of production!

That’s coming from someone who’s had 20 jobs and a freelance house-cleaning business—all before the age of 26.

💡 The Point Is: It Takes Time

Give yourself grace. You’re allowed to change your mind, shift direction, and try new things.
Be willing to pivot. What you start with isn’t always what you’ll end up building a brand around.
Don’t be narrow-minded. Keep your vision open—but grounded.
Don’t lose your footing. Let your values guide your brand more than trends.

🎯 Stick to a Plan That Respects You

Determine a game plan—one that sits well with you, that feels aligned, and doesn’t push your boundaries.
Then stick to it for four years at least.

That’s how long it’s taken me to get any real online traction. However, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve rebranded based on my evolving, self-made identity—until I finally found what I truly wanted to focus on this past year.