Beginning Farmer: Burnout Solutions

So after selling 3.5 bulk beef, 30 Thanksgiving turkeys, and a few Christmas pot roasts, I was burnt out on the farm.  I've talked before that the stress of the farm is directly correlated to my infertility.  The summer broke me.  The fall I was feeling SO much better.  The winter my stress level was actually doing really well, the hours in a day just didn't match up.  I was more productive than I have ever been, feeling good, ovluating (TMI?), and felt like I was killing it at work.  Christmas came, then New Years, and I was doing well.  

Burnout Sucks

Then I get back to work.  January 2nd.  And I couldn't make myself schedule out social media posts.  I wrote a blog post that I cared about, then an email, then couldn't get myself to do it again the next week.  I started this one many times.  I stared at a blank screen, I wrote in my agenda mutliple times that I needed to schedule posts and write a blog post.  I just couldn't do it.  I realized I was facing burnout.  

What's interesting to me is that I have never had burnout in just one aspect of my life before.  Normally if I'm burnt out it's from everything.  But I was still waking up at 5am and excerising, I was meal prepping on the weekend, I was doing farm chores, I was working to get my kids outside as often as I could, and I was still killing it at work.  I just didn't want to do the business side of farming.  

How I Overcame It

So I didn't.  I decided to not force a blog post.  I decided to not schedule out all my Facebook posts for the month.  I decided to not send unnecessary emails if I had nothing to say and nothing listed online.  Speaking of, I decided to deep clean my kitchen instead of get the meat listed online. 

Moral of the Story, I took a break.  I decided to rank what was important to me.  In this order:

Important:
  • My family - extended and immediate (husband and kids)
  • My Catholic Faith (Catechism in a Year Podcast)
  • Getting my kids outside
  • My health - meal planning, meal prepping, and working out daily
  • Trying to reconnect with friends I let go of when I got stressed
  • Getting my kids off the T.V. and spending more time with them off my phone
Not As Important But Still Nice:
  • Keeping my house picked up
  • Moving the needle for the farm forward (email, blog posts, gaining new customers)
  • Reading books (this used to be in the important for me, but I actually like having more time not tied to finishing a book)
  • Posting on social media for the farm
  • Working on some home improvement projects
Not Important At All But Will Move Up At Some Point:
  • Deep cleaning my house
  • Actually fixing the house (the big projects)
  • Reorganizing the kids room
  • Building a permanent farm stand

Conclusion:

I realized by recognizing what is important to me helps my mental health and stress levels.  If I have prioritized what I will care about, I won't be stressed out about the things that don't matter as much.  If I can do everything on my "important" list in a day (and feel accomplished in just that) and then accomplish some of the "nice to have" list, I'm feeling super accomplished.  And even if I only get some done on my "important" list, I still feel like I did something, because I know that's a priority for me.  I've only "failed" if I didn't do anything on that list.  

So if your are experiencing burnout, if it's general burnout or a specific burnout like mine was, try making your important list.  In a week see if you are feeling better about whatever burned you out.  I do.  Which is why actually typing this blog post is enjoyable again.  Because it's on my "not important" list, and now it's just fun to do again.  

Hope that helps!