This Small Gesture from a Stranger Changed How I Handle Stress in a High-Pressure Career In an intense career where mental health is constantly challenged, a simple gift from someone I just met became my unexpected source of strength.
By Hadas Kanner-Golan Edited by Frances Dodds
This story appears in the July 2025 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
As a young lawyer in the early aughts, my first months as an in-house general counsel were chaotic. The previous counsel had left abruptly weeks before I arrived, and there was no one to fill me in on the multitude of open cases and ongoing projects.
I felt lost and overwhelmed. Management didn't seem to care; everyone expected me to immediately pick up where my former counsel left off, and I was extremely stressed.
Following a meeting, I stepped back into my office, and sat there, gazing. Then, someone approached me and asked if they could enter. He was a consultant who attended the meeting, and it was the first time we met.
Placing a heart-shaped pink card on my desk, he said, "You're going to be alright. It will get better." It was (he would later tell me) a card out of a stack he had bought for his daughter's party. Looking for a way to cheer me up, he brought me one of them.
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That gave me hope. For the first time since I started working there, I felt seen and understood.
It also taught me that there are meaningful skills beyond education and job experience — things that, as a young person in an era devoid of terms like "toxicity in the workplace" and "soft skills," I thought were the only ones that mattered. I learned that empathy, emotional intelligence, and good communication are pivotal for personal growth and development in any environment.
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When I looked for a cofounder to build the children's health management app Encurage, this experience guided me to prioritize these skills, and partner with someone who doesn't shy away from or ignore the rough days. His name is Victor Horton, and as a bootstrapped company, we experience many such days — and being able to lean into our feelings together was what helped us emerge with a working product, traction, and revenue.
Now navigating growth and the path to profitability, there are inevitably more of these days ahead. I still keep the card in my desk. It's a fond memory, and a reminder to keep our mental wellness in check.
