How do you manage anxiety in your personal and professional life? In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Elizabeth Ruh, a Bloomington native, dedicated community volunteer, and the Founder of Personal Financial Services.

Elizabeth has over 20 years of experience as an accountant and IRS Enrolled Agent, often working with underserved folks with challenging backgrounds who rely heavily on her to navigate daily life. The weight of being responsible for so many clients can be quite stressful.

Listen in as we discuss her struggles with anxiety and how anxiety impacts her personal and professional life. She talks about leaving a toxic relationship with a covert narcissist, how it held back her business, and how she’s overcoming the challenges of having anxiety as an entrepreneur.

Then, Elizabeth shares some wise words of encouragement and advice for those living with anxiety.

Connect with Elizabeth: @Eligabiff

Resources Mentioned:

• National Institute of Mental Health: Anxiety Disorders
• Article: My Anxiety Disorder Is Hurting My Accounting Career
• Article: Accountants and Anxiety
• Article: Anxiety, Accounting: The “A” in CPA stands for Anxiety

Do you have any spiritual practices that help you ground and re-center yourself? In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Vic Bava, an accountant who prioritizes his spiritual practice in order to stay grounded and establish peace between his body, mind, and emotions.

He joins us to discuss how he found his way into accounting and why he decided to start his own firm. Then, we move into the heart of the conversation, which centers around his spiritual practice and how it helps him in both his personal and professional life.

Vic talks to us about inner engineering work, insight for other accountants that his spiritual practice has taught him, and how members of his family followed in his footsteps. Vic shares how he practices yoga and meditation, where people can start with their own spiritual practice, and how the brain is different from the mind.

If you want to find more balance and peace in your life, consider finding a spiritual practice that works for you. Tune in, listen to how Vic has been able to accomplish inner peace, and how adopting a spiritual practice can improve your quality of life.

Connect With Vic:

• Resource: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43877.The_Monk_Who_Sold_His_Ferrari
• Resources: https://www.innerengineering.com/
• Website: https://thebackpackcpa.com/

Welcome to Underwithheld - the podcast by accountants and for accountants where we talk about our ubiquitous professional and personal struggles.

Spend some time with me and our colleague Scott Scarano as we chat about sleep. Scott is the owner of an accounting firm in North Carolina and also a host of the accounting podcast, Sons of CPAs aka Accounting High.

You can find Scott at Padgett Business Services and follow him on Twitter at scottscarano.

Timestamps:

[00:00:34] Episode introduction

[00:03:05] Scott introduction - nerves, family legacy in the accounting industry, podcasting, rapping

[00:07:07] Fighting sleep

[00:13:00] Habit developing & tracking

[00:17:50] Why sleep is important

[00:23:00] How employers can help staff

[00:26:24] What employees can do (and more thoughts for employers)

[00:34:08] Conclusion

Resources:

Scott references:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep

https://ouraring.com/

Also see:

https://hubermanlab.com/toolkit-for-sleep/

Welcome to Underwithheld - the podcast by accountants and for accountants where we talk about our ubiquitous professional and personal struggles.

Spend some time with me and our colleague Matt Metras as we chat about boundaries and work-life balance. Matt is a solo tax advisor who focuses on crypto clients. He shares with us how he started in the profession, how his practice has evolved over time, and his approach to maintaining healthy advisor-client boundaries.

You can find Matt at MDM Financial Services and follow him on Twitter at @EmDeeEm.

Timestamps:

[0:17] Episode introduction

[03:49] Matt introduction - becoming an accountant during a crisis, become a crypto tax expert, hobbies & community service

[07:31] Issues - compression, seasonality, increased workload, legacy clients

[11:43] Possible solutions - Cull client list, setting expectations, increase communications

[16:20] What's worked, what hasn't

[22:34] It's an employees' market

[25:04] Family

[27:20] Conclusion - client fit & professional community

Spend some time with me and our colleague Mike as he share's with us what it's like being an accountant with depression.

You can follow Mike on Twitter at @mavidormike.

Timestamps:

00:01:01 What is depression?

00:04:48 Mike introduction - family, childhood, college, entering public accounting

00:08:59 Mike's chronology of depressive episdoes and their impact on school, work, etc

00:20:38 Being an accountant with depression

00:24:17 Mental health from the employer perspective

00:33:36 Thoughts and tips - being an employee with depression

00:39:17 Conclusion & encouragement

Resources:

https://988lifeline.org/ Mental Health hotline as of July 16, 2022 - call, text, chat

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression

https://thedepressedaccountant.com/

https://www.goingconcern.com/mental-illness-in-accounting-profession/

https://www.goingconcern.com/its-time-accounting-profession-get-serious-about-mental-illness/

https://www.goingconcern.com/ocd-adhd-yes-mental-health-issue-public-accounting/

https://www.hopetocope.com/blog/accountants-overwork-depression-and-anxiety/

https://www.goingconcern.com/are-accountants-really-that-depressed/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444230504577617381107874516

Spend some time with me and our colleague Tex as they share with us what it's like being an accountant with ADHD.

You can follow Tex on Twitter at @ItsLilTex.

Timestamps:

00:01:04 What is ADHD?

00:03:23 Tex introduction - childhood, college, diagnosis, becoming an accountant

00:09:53 ADHD - experiences, misconceptions

00:19:13 Being an accountant with ADHD

00:35:20 Professional licensing

00:42:11 Ways accounting firms can help ADHD employees

00:47:26 Thoughts and tips - being an employee with ADHD

00:58:14 Conclusion & encouragement

Resources:

https://drhallowell.com/tag/driven-to-distraction/

http://disorganizedmind.com/

https://howtoadhd.com/

https://hubermanlab.com/adhd-and-how-anyone-can-improve-their-focus/

https://www.verywellhealth.com/dopamine-and-adhd-5220847

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd

Welcome to the first episode of Underwithheld - the podcast by accountants and for accountants where we talk about our ubiquitous professional and personal struggles.

Spend a few minutes with me as I talk about Imposter Syndrome. What it is, some reasons we see it so much in our profession, and some ways that I work through my own Imposter Syndrome.