It’s OK to Take a Break

Last week I was at the SOWTH Conference hosted by Georgia Organics in Atlanta. It was a great event with over 1,200 producers and farm-connected people there. The energy and love of farming had the place buzzing.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make those days possible!

I spent a lot of time at our Rural Georgia Growing Stronger booth talking with producers about messages to make it easier for farmers to ask for help and do things about their stress. One message that came out loud and clear was “It’s ok to take a break.”

The more I think about it, the more I love this message. Hard work is an important value to hold, but working without ever taking a break is a surefire recipe for stress, exhaustion, making mistakes, and getting sick.

Think about it—if your truck engine has been running hard for a long time and you see the temperature gauge moving close to H, what do you do? Do you tell the truck to push through and ignore the needle moving to H until the engine overheats? Or do you give it a couple of minutes to cool down, then put some more coolant in it and go back to work? 

In the long run, which action keeps your truck running longer?

If we treated ourselves as well as we treat our trucks we would surely run for longer mileage (Check out my post on Do You Treat Your Truck Better than You Treat Yourself? for more thoughts on this.) This means good fuel (food), enough liquid (water), and time to cool down.

A break can sound like something that’s impossible to do. “What do you mean take a break? I’ve got too much I need to get done!”  But here’s the thing: In farming there is always too much to get done. If you wait until you’re finished with all your work, you will never take a break. And your engine will overheat and something will go wrong .

The thing most people forget is that a break can take just a few minutes. It doesn’t have to be a week at the beach. A break can be 15 minutes, getting a cold drink and stretching your back. Or even 5 minutes calling a loved one to ask how their day is going. Some people call this a microbreak.

Anything that is positive and interrupts the intense focus of your work for a couple of minutes so you can breathe can be a microbreak. I keep a file of favorite pictures of friends and family on my phone, and sometimes a break is just looking at these for a couple of minutes and smiling at memories of good time. Here  is an article with other ideas for a microbreak—it’s written for caregivers, but can apply to anyone with big responsibilities.

So, what are some things you can do to take a break? Make a list, and try to do at least a couple every day.

It will help you keep from burning out your engine, and keep you thriving!