{"id":1005,"date":"2025-06-20T15:33:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T19:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/?p=1005"},"modified":"2025-06-20T15:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T19:34:40","slug":"taking-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/2025\/06\/taking-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In farming, and in life in general, so much is out of our control. We can\u2019t control input costs, or commodity prices, or big policies, or the weather\u2026sometimes it\u2019s hard not to feel a little bit helpless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I hear people talk about \u201ctaking control,\u201d whether that control is of their business, their emotions, or their teenager (good luck with that one!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems like everyone is thinking that there are two options. We are either in<\/em> control or out of<\/em> control. I\u2019m always a little suspicious of either\/or situations, and I like to think about third options and not let my thinking get boxed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026 what if in addition to \u201cI\u2019m in control\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m not in control\u201d there was a third option that said \u201cI\u2019m not<\/em> in control of what\u2019s going to happen, and also<\/em><\/strong> I am<\/em> in control over planning and preparing for some possible futures\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if, when we can\u2019t control something in the moment, we said things like these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t control the weather, and also<\/em> I can make sure I have the right insurances for a range of weather damage, have all my paperwork up to date and accessible, have my home and farm ready for bad weather, and monitor predictions carefully.\u201d (I suggest you follow Pam Knox, the meteorologist for UGA Extension.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t control what will happen to my parent\u2019s health, and also<\/em> I can make sure I know their doctor\u2019s name and contact information, that they have signed a release so I can talk to the doctor, and that I have a list of all the medications they take.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t control interest rates, and also<\/em> I can talk through some \u2018what if\u2019s\u2019 with my banker\u2014what happens to my budget if rates go up?  If they stay flat? If they go down?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You get the idea. We can\u2019t control events, but we can be ready for possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you look down the road to the future, what are some possibilities that you see?  Changes in technologies, changes in markets, changes in your town or family?  How can you get ready for some of these possible changes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 If you can have a couple of plans of action, you are no longer \u201cnot in control.\u201d You\u2019re living in the third option, in the and also<\/em><\/strong> space, where you can take a breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a breath is key to thriving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In farming, and in life in general, so much is out of our control. We can\u2019t control input costs, or commodity prices, or big policies, or the weather\u2026sometimes it\u2019s hard not to feel a little bit helpless. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I hear people talk about \u201ctaking control,\u201d whether that control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":1006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1010,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions\/1010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}