Here in Montana, many are busy with haying and grain harvest. As a young girl helping my mom, preparation for harvest included a big grocery shopping trip to Havre along with the usual one or two trips to Big Sandy each week. Harvest meant filling the refrigerator in the basement with Shasta pop and a watermelon or two. It meant helping my mom build the 10 a.m. meal, the noon meal, the 4 p.m. meal and then of course supper. It meant staying up late and helping with the dishes. Even as a young girl, I understood the hustle and stress felt by the adults.
It's a stressful time of the year – it's part of the season. The goal isn't to eliminate stress; that is not realistic. Instead, let's have the goal of not letting stress overwhelm our judgment, our health and our relationships. Here are ten tips for consideration.
Start the day with a two-minute plan
Before starting the combine or swather, identify the three most important priorities for the day. Everything else is a bonus.
Every couple of hours, spend five minutes outside the cab. Stretch your arms, roll your shoulders, gently pull your knees towards your chest. Drink some water and have a snack. Take three deep, slow inhales and exhales. Play a favorite song on your phone and dance. If someone drives by when you're doing this, just proclaim you had a grasshopper jump down your shirt! These few minutes can reset both your body and your mind.
Running on coffee, Red Bull and convenience store snacks catches up eventually. Keep simple foods in the cab, such as nuts, cheese sticks, fruit, beef jerky, yogurt and sandwiches. Stable blood sugar often means a steadier mood and better decision making.
Stay hydrated even when you don't feel thirsty
Even mild dehydration can increase fatigue, irritability, headaches and slower reaction time. Keep water where you can actually reach it. If drinking from a water bottle or jug, add extra flavor by adding sliced oranges, lemons, lime or cucumber.
Practice the next actionable step
When equipment breaks or a thunderstorm rolls in, it can be easy for our brains to catastrophize the situation. We may go from zero to 60 with the following reel playing in our head: The combine broke down, now I'm going to lose two days and rain is coming. The crop will suffer and the harvest is ruined. This is what happens when our stress hormones spike – objectivity can go out the window because our brains are trying to solve ten problems at a time. Instead say to yourself, "What's my next actionable step?" We are essentially telling our brains, "We're only solving one problem right now." It doesn't mean we're ignoring the other issues. It simply means we're handing them in the order they become actionable.
Use your breathing as a reset button
When frustration spikes, do what is known as box breathing. Inhale for four seconds, hold the air in your lungs for four seconds, exhale for four seconds and wait with empty lungs for four seconds. It takes less than a minute and helps calm our nervous systems.
Don't rely on memory alone. Use the back of an envelope and pen or the voice memo on your phone to document necessary things such as repairs, phone calls and tomorrow's priorities. Keep a pen and notepad by your bed. If you wake up with these thoughts during the night, write them down. By doing so, they are literally off your mind and you won't have to worry about forgetting them in the morning.
Long hours and long days in the swather, combine, truck and kitchen can be isolating. Take five minutes and call your spouse, neighbor, friend or family member for a quick check-in. It can make a surprising difference. Sometimes hearing another voice is enough to reset our perspectives.
Give ourselves permission to be good enough
Not every field will go perfectly. Combines break down, thunderstorms roll in and stuff happens. Perfection is rarely possible during harvest, but progress is.
Stress is sneaky. It can tell us we are the only ones who are struggling as we see the neighbors seemingly humming along perfectly in their fields. Send a text, make a call, stop by and ask the question, "How are things going?" That simple question may be exactly what someone needs to hear. You may be providing them with a crucial relief valve.
Harvest has always demanded long hours, difficult decisions and resilience. While none of us can control the weather, commodity prices or unexpected breakdowns, we can control how we respond to the pressures they create. Small habits practiced consistently can protect both our physical health and our mental well-being. As harvest continues, remember that taking a few moments to care for ourselves isn't time lost – it's an investment in finishing the season safely, successfully and strong.
Darla Tyler-McSherry is the founder and visionary of Ask in Earnest. Visit askinearnest.org for more information on the Ask in Earnest initiative.
This article originally appeared on Farmers Advance: More than just crop yield: Protecting your ultimate farm asset this season