Happy New Year! May you and your family enjoy peace, prosperity and joy in 2022.
If you haven’t heard it enough from me and other sources over the past year, I’ll say it again. You are your farm’s greatest asset. No one could step into your shoes and take over your role within — and everything you do for — your farm operation.
You are unique and essential to your business as well as to your family. This applies whether you own the land you work, are a farm worker, a seasoned or new farmer, retired, or support those who work on a farm. This is why it is so important that you take care of you — you’re the only person who can protect this great asset through self-care. I would like to invite you to join me in making 2022 a year of self-care.
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Easier said than done, though, isn’t it — because we usually put ourselves at the bottom of our to-do lists.
Recently, I talked with Lauren Van Ewyk of Wellspring Consulting Services, who is a social worker and a farmer, about self-care and five areas we can focus on to move self-care into a place of prominence in our lives. Tuning into these areas is easy and could provide big benefits to your health and well-being.
One area to zero in on for self-care in 2022 is relationships, says Van Ewyk. Consider, she says, which relationships you’d like to grow right now and what those relationships will look like. “Do you want to grow your relationships with your kids? If so, think about ways you can do that,” she says.
Another self-care area to target is the physical. What physical thing would you like to achieve this year? This could be anything from getting on a treadmill every morning, paying a visit to the local swimming pool or going for a walk in the woods once a week, says Van Ewyk.
One area farmers tend to neglect when it comes to self-care is a career plan. “We wear so many hats on our farm, we don’t always do a great job of taking a step back and asking, ‘how can I grow my self-care through my career?’” says Van Ewyk. This area of self-care could involve taking an extra course, learning about a new crop, variety or farm management issue like soil compaction, or many other activities.
“It might be you decide to volunteer for a local association, or that you get involved in the local agriculture society.” There are many ways to explore and grow self-care through career planning.
Faith is another area to concentrate on. And that doesn’t mean it has to be a specific belief in a higher power or religion. “It might be your legacy,” says Van Ewyk. “It might be that you want to learn about your grandparents and what they held dear and what was important to them.”
An emotional self-care plan is also important to attend to. That involves allowing yourself to safely experience your emotions, explains Van Ewyk. “When we feel frustrated, as farmers, we typically try to throw things under the mat, like, ‘I’m not going to deal with that. I’m going to walk away from that scenario.’” Rather, learn to experience your emotions safely. That may involve walking away and acknowledging what someone said to you was hurtful and how that makes you feel. “That’s giving yourself a safe place to experience emotion,” says Van Ewyk.
Also, emotional self-care involves taking opportunities to stop and smell the roses — to be in the moment. This can be as simple as tak- ing a deep breath when you go outside and then releasing that breath slowly. Take a moment to notice the path of your breath a few more times as you take in the morning air.
“Take an inventory and be very purposefully mindful. A lot of people talk about mindfulness and that just means we’re paying attention on purpose. Sometimes when I’m out in the barn with the young lambs, before I start doing the chores, I just watch them. I enjoy the lambs frolicking back and forth,” says Van Ewyk.
Those examples listed above are just suggestions. There are so many ways to experience and express self-care. This year, I’m going to ditch my usual new year’s resolutions (eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more, etc.) for these easy, gentler and kinder self-care focus areas. For one, this means I’ll start my day with a walk with my dogs, rather than trying to work it in after my to-do list is complete. I’m already looking forward to it. I’ll also be focusing on some friendships and taking a course or two to learn some new skills for my job. I’m dreaming up different ways to focus on all of the areas of self-care. In what ways will you grow self-care in 2022? Please drop me a line at kbelanger@ farmmedia.com.
