Saying yes to grain and feed farming is saying yes to surrendering to the mercy (or not) of weather, big costs, break downs, long days, things changing on the fly, finding the help to get the job done. At harvest time there are meals to be made, the garden to be processed, kids beginning school and extra curricular activities. There is a constant buzz of busyness in many directions as crops have a window of time to get from fields to bins.
Farming is a perfect percolator for stress. For those who are modest, brace yourself, this may be a bit graphic. And in a real life analogy to help make sense of the question: What is stress anyway? Well. . . stress is like S**T! It’s always going to be part of the daily life of farming (and life in general). It will always build up and it always stinks. It has no preference to age or gender. S**T happens! It’s not IF it’s going to go somewhere, it IS going somewhere.
S**T can come in many forms. For some it can be a blow out, for others it can take a long time to build and release. For some it is a regular occurrence. When S**T is there, like stress, it becomes the focus of thoughts and the top priority task at hand. If it’s not properly handled it leaves an obvious mess that is never nice to clean up.
The question is; where and what do we do with S**T (aka stress) that needs somewhere to go?!
The ideal place for S**T is an outhouse of some sort. A contained space that is not too vulnerable. It leaves the mess where it can degrade on its own without affecting or impacting others. There is nothing to clean up afterwards and once it’s found its release all systems find calm and the ability to keep going returns.
What and where does that look like when we think about an outhouse for stress? Maybe it is blowing out the famous ‘F’ bomb while pounding a hammer in a break down. Maybe it’s walking away from others and cussing in your vehicle on your way to the combine or grain truck. Sometimes humour can help to release times of stress. It can look like anything and be anywhere that creates an outlet for release. The important thing to keep in mind is that it is done in a way that does not hurt you, others, or impact relationships with others. The container of an outhouse is for one, the release for stress is best done in the same way.
And for the times where it catches us by surprise and does make a mess, it’s just plain SH**TY! It is important to clean it up so that it doesn’t continue to affect relationships with the stink that has been left. Going to those that have been affected in times of stress, acknowledging the blow out, and resolving any hurt or offence to the relationship leaves the air open and smelling fresh, crisp, and full of crop dust as the days of harvest 2024 reap all that has been sown.
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