Giving up on the startup dream due to health problems

I am starting up a tech company with some partners while I am working on my day job. We have been working on this company now for around one year.

The thing is, revenue is expected for a couple of years from now which means that we will not get supported by our startup. This is the reason why I am still working on my day job. Yes, people will say leave your day job — go head on with your startup. But practicality wise, stakes are high. Bills have to be paid.

All is well until this month when my co-worker at my day job left and I was the only one who can handle her assignments together with my assignments. On top of that, the schedule on my day job became really hectic, it was really getting out of hand. While I have flexibility on my day job, the deadlines became really tight.

This means that I had to work really long hours, almost 110-120 hours in a week combined on my day job and on my startup. It has been like this for the past four weeks. No breaks on Sundays.

This blew my health out. I have serious asthma attacks, coughing really hard, throwing up, and finding it really hard to breathe. The doctor said that this is related to fatigue and stress.

This week, I took the week off my startup. My partners will be the ones to work on it for now. Then this morning, I woke up and I couldn’t breathe again. I called my employer that I am not going to work. Today, I will just sit here and do nothing. I’ll just take a break.

It looks like it is going to be like this in the next few months. What is the use of working really, really hard when you are going to die anyway because your health is bringing you down? The amount of risk and time needed is too long to make this work. Actually, this is not the first time that this had happened. I think this for this year alone, this happened for around threee times already.

This thinking is going to be very stupid. I am thinking of getting out of my active role on my startup because I can’t handle the stress anymore. I will just be a board adviser there.

Money is the problem to be honest. I don’t even think it is the right time that I have started up a business at this point in time. I am now doubting if I am really an entrepreneur, too. But what the heck. I’ve experienced running out of money before and I do not like to be back in the same situation anymore.