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I just got back from the 2025 Southern Regional Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference in Savannah yesterday. It was a great event—kudos to the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association and everyone involved who made it an excellent, informative, well-organized event!

Our initiative Rural Georgia Growing Stronger had a table at the conference, and I also got to speak in one of the sessions about The New Competitive Advantage is Mental Resilience, and be part of the Harvesting Connections women’s breakfast.
During the event I loved talking with people and watching people as they talked and joked with each other. People saw old friends, made new friends, and shared ideas and stories. It was wonderful.
There is always something new to learn at this event, and I think this year my big lessons were about the faces of stress and optimism, together.
Usually, when I think about someone who is stressed, I think about someone where you can see the worry in their face, the lines on their forehead, the pain in their voice. But at this conference, I would be talking with someone who was smiling and joking, then when I asked about what they were growing, they would begin to tell me about their hurricane damage, lost pecan trees, damaged blueberry bushes, and the like. They talked about losing so much—but they wouldn’t look anguished as they talked, just quiet and very tired.
Then, they would start telling me about their plan for the future–how they were going to diversify, change to peaches instead of pecans, or whatever idea they had to keep going. Their optimism and hope would re-energize them. It was amazing.
I took two lessons home this week. The first is that the face of stress isn’t always what you think. It isn’t always worry and anguish. Sometimes it can just be quiet, or tired, or even hiding behind a joke.
My second lesson is that resilient people can have a face where stress and optimism both show up. I saw lots of people who were very stressed, but also feeling optimistic and hopeful because they had a plan and support for the future.
So, when you’re talking with someone who looks ok, don’t assume they are ok. Really check in on how they are doing. Maybe they just look tired, or quiet, or flat—but they can still be feeling lots of stress. Maybe they are cheerful and joking and talking about their future plans—they can still be feeling stress.
The face of stress looks different for everyone. Stress and optimism can coexist. Our job as friends and caring people is to give people a chance to talk about how they are doing, really. Then we need to both acknowledge and help with the stress and support the optimism and plans for the future. That’s how we can help the people we care about thrive on the farm.