“I knew my life was going to change forever,” Webb, 48, tells CNBC Make It.
But a thriving business is not always a recipe for happiness. Within seven years of launching Drybar, “everything started to unfold for me personally,” she says.
She and her first husband, Drybar co-founder Cameron Webb, separated after 16 years of marriage. Her mother died of cancer. Her teenage son went to rehab for addiction problems.
Webb buried herself in work, avoiding those difficulties until they became too big to ignore, a topic she addressed in her book, “The Messy Truth,” published in November 2023, and continues to talk about today.
“I wish I had paid more attention while I was at it so it wouldn’t have fallen apart the way it did,” Webb says. “I think sometimes rock bottom and everything falling apart is the way we learn.”
Specifically, she learned how to recognize and address signs of burnout, and prioritize her mental health without feeling like she was sacrificing her career or family, she says. Here’s how.
In 2018, Webb suffered from what she described in her book as “major depression.” She was physically and emotionally exhausted, and had internalized a great deal of self-inflicted guilt over her decision to end her marriage and her son’s subsequent struggles.
“Am I destroying my family? Our lives?” Webb asked herself at the time, she wrote.
She says that these struggles were the result of her unwillingness to fully deal with the problems in her life and their effects on her as they occurred. Drybar helped her avoid confronting her feelings about the breakdown of her marriage or acknowledging the impact the divorce had on her two children.
“I was (a lot) on that fast track and I wasn’t paying attention,” Webb says, adding, “We get distracted when we don’t want to deal with s—. Every human being does that. I had to look at some things I didn’t want to look at.” To her for a long time and I just wished she would go away, but she never did.
What finally helped Webb turn things around was a conversation with Brené Brown.
Webb says the best-selling author and social work professor helped her realize that she had never fully acknowledged the trauma of her divorce or her mother’s death, and she felt guilty about her son’s struggles. She started doing just that, adopting mental health treatments such as therapy, meditation, journaling, daily exercise, and running.
The therapy and memoir especially stuck with her. “Talking to someone is important,” she says, and writing down your thoughts and feelings often helps people process their feelings or cope with depression or anxiety.
“It’s like getting these things out of your head and onto paper. That in itself is very cathartic when you’re dealing with something difficult,” Webb says.
Other methods may work better for other people. The important part, Webb says, is simply committing to prioritizing your mental health.
“I could never see myself working the land (again) the way I did when we were farming Drybar,” she says. “It was like a badge of honor.”
For her, this means not feeling guilty when the need for personal time forces her focus away from work or her family. “I think a lot about self-control and discipline (regularly doing) the things I know are best for me,” Webb says.
And she’s still busy today: After Drybar, Webb co-founded other companies like massage startup Squeeze, and currently serves as president of humidifier brand Canopy. But she no longer lets her work get in the way of her mental health, which is easier to do when you have financial stability and a high-quality support system, she admits.
However, Webb no longer wanted anyone to treat his business as she did at Drybar, including her current employees.
“As long as you get everything done, I don’t care how many physical hours you work,” she says. “That’s the mindset shift I wish I could see more of in the world. It’s like, let’s get our work done. But let’s enjoy our lives, too.”
Don’t Miss: Want to be smarter and more successful in your money, your work, and your life? Subscribe to our new newsletter!
Gets Warren Buffett’s Free Guide to Investing on CNBCwhich summarizes the billionaire’s best advice for everyday investors, the do’s and don’ts, and three key investing principles into a clear, simple guide.