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!