It was already shaping up to be one of those days.
An unexpected bill is due, and the money just isn’t there. The kids are fighting again. Understandably, your wife is over it, and now it’s your fault. One of your employees just called to say the new group of wean pigs is sick. It’s all a part of a life, but sometimes it just stacks up to be too much.
“In a world of unpredictability with so many factors at play on any given day, it’s easy to be mentally or emotionally hijacked by elements out of our control,” says Athena Diesch-Chham with Restorative Path Counseling and Wellbeing. “Stress and anxiety thrive in this environment. However, the long-term effects of that are real.”
Farming stress will never go away, so how can you get more grit or become more resilient to that stress?
One expert says it starts by paying attention to the present.
“Don’t think about what happened yesterday or worry about what is happening tomorrow,” says Cheri Burcham, with University of Illinois Extension. “Focus on what you are doing and feeling in the very moment.”
Diesch-Chham likes to think of it as “being where your feet are.”
“So often brains are hijacked by stress and launch us mentally to a different space either in the past or in the future,” Diesch-Chham adds. “Mindfulness is just asking for our whole selves to be here in this moment, wherever our feet are planted.”
Pay Attention
This concept of truly being “in the moment” not only reduces stress, but research shows it can also lower blood pressure, increase immunity and reduce anxiety and depression, Burcham says.
When you intentionally notice where you are, you can recognize potential challenges sooner, says Abigail Cudney with Michigan State University Extension. Instead of habitually reacting to stress with intense anger, emotional shutdown, negative thinking or overthinking, this intentional awareness helps rewire the brain through a process called neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to grow and adapt to new experiences.
Consider the attention you pay when walking through the barn. You use all your senses to make assessments and determine what’s going on all around you.
“Whether it’s walking the barn or enjoying the fall scenery, naming something you are currently experiencing for each of the five senses is another way to practice mindfulness,” Diesch-Chham says. “This doesn’t have to be complicated – the whole goal is to bring mind and body to the same place.”
5 Senses Technique
Just Breathe
The fight or flight response animals have when stress strikes is the same thing that happens in people. As a review, the vagus nerve, which runs from the base of the brain and branches out to the organs, serves as a conduit of chemicals/hormones that are activated automatically/reflexively by the sympathetic nervous system. This is an involuntary and adaptive process that increases respiration and blood flow to prepare the body for quick and protective action, such as fighting or fleeing. Once the perceived threat has passed or been managed successfully, the stress response also passes and respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate return to a normal steady state, according to the Yale School of Medicine.
Through deep breathing, the vagus nerve can be stimulated intentionally to help restore, mitigate and even prevent these physical and psychological reactions. Slow, even breaths that originate deep within the abdomen stimulate the vagus nerve in a way that signals safety and cues the body and mind to relax, restore, and release chronic and unhealthy patterns.
“Deep breathing can be practiced anywhere and in so many ways – so it is very accessible and easy for farmers to practice,” Burcham explains. “Practice in the field or even while operating machinery.”
Let Go of What You Can’t Control
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of “being where your feet are” is realizing you can’t control it all.
“Working towards recognizing what truly is within our individual control and then choosing to focus our energy on managing what we can control to improve our overall mental health and stress, helps us remain resilient through the pieces that are outside of our control,” Diesch-Chham says.
Adversity happens. Markets will crash. Animals will get sick. Disease will strike. Families will argue. But you can recover faster from those stresses by staying grounded in the moment, aligning your thoughts and emotions with reality.
Resources to Help Build Resilience:
North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center
