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Last week I got to go to the NorthEast Georgia Ag Expo in Hart County. It was a great day—I had a table with farm stress resources I got to share with lots of farmers and their families.
Throughout the day I also got to have a number of very genuine conversations with farmers about how challenging things are right now. I heard a lot about high input costs, low commodity prices, fickle weather, and trouble finding labor.
I spent a long time talking with one farmer in particular. He told me a lot about his challenges, like how input costs had increased up to 10 times higher in the past 40 years, but many commodity prices have stayed nearly flat. With frustration he simply said “You can’t do anything about stress during times like this.”
“You’re right” I said. “There is nothing you can do about these costs and prices. BUT there are lots of things you can do to keep from letting the stress eat at your body and your mind. You can do lots of things to keep from letting stress make you sick or even kill you.”
We then had a conversation about drinking water, eating healthy food (I did my rant about not living on those unhealthy orange peanut butter crackers), and taking even small breaks every now and then. I didn’t think he was really convinced, but he listened.
Later that day this same farmer came back to me. He said “I’ve been thinking about what you said. I’m going to go home and tell my wife you said I should go trout fishing more.” He smiled and there was a twinkle in his eye I hadn’t seen before.
“Absolutely” I said, grinning. “Go fishing.”
Going fishing—one of the things that will keep you thriving. 😊
