How much time do you spend making sure your equipment is properly maintained? From combines and drills to pickups and silos, the farm has spent a lot of money and you probably have a “correct” way to take care of the tools you’ve invested in. But what is the most important asset on the farm? Quick answer: you and the people around you. Do you allocate as much time and attention on those assets? Probably not.
Terms like “self care” and “rest” might sound like frilly nonsense, but you’d likely never put your sprayer away without cleaning it out or run your pickup without changing the oil. No, because neglect is expensive, right? The same is true of you and the people around you. Neglect is expensive and causes bigger problems — often preventable — if you had taken the time.
Self care doesn’t have to mean bubble baths and face masks (although it can; no judgement). Proper self maintenance might look like taking a walk or counting to ten in a heated moment, finding a hobby or physical activity you enjoy and making time for it, or getting away from the farm physically and mentally. Activities that tend to worsen a mental state are doom scrolling through social media, comparing your reality to someone else’s “instagram-worthy” snapshots, isolating yourself, and increasing your use of alcohol, medications, or recreational substances.
Most importantly, whatever stressors you are dealing with, please know you are not alone. Farming is stressful and the last couple of years in Idaho have been particularly so. Exposure to chronic stress is the cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and farmers face extreme cases of chronic stress from commodity prices, weather, policies and regulations, input costs, and countless other sources. Which is why farmers in Idaho are between 3.5 and 5 times more likely to attempt suicide than non-farming peers.
As a result of chronic stress, 1 in 5 adults experience anxiety; 1 in 6 adults deal with depression; 1 in 2 adults are burdened by shame; 1 in 3 adults fight feelings of personal failure; and 1 in 4 adults are emotionally exhausted. Taking some time for personal, mental maintenance — whatever that looks like for you — can help reduce chronic stress and its symptoms and will keep your farm’s most valuable asset in working order.