Rural issues - coping with stress

Living and working in rural Australia can be very rewarding. However, farming can also be stressful. There are the everyday issues of family life, balancing budgets, planning for the future and keeping up with developments in your area of farming. The added pressures of managing a farm during difficult times like extreme climatic events, market fluctuations or natural disaster can sometimes seem overwhelming. Social isolation and working long, irregular hours can make this harder to cope with.

Stress can affect many areas of the body including the nervous system, memory, the ability to fight off infection, cardiovascular health, pain and gut problems. Everyone reacts differently to potentially stressful situations. This can depend on your personality, the extent of your support network or other things that are going on in your life.

Keeping yourself in a fit state to enjoy the good times is very important. Keeping yourself fit to weather the difficult times is even more important. A small amount of stress can help keep us motivated and actually improves our performance and productivity. However, persistent high levels of stress can have a negative impact on your physical and mental wellbeing, your performance and, ultimately, your farming business.

Recognising stress

Learning to recognise your stress triggers is an important step in developing your coping skills. The Farmer Health ‘Steering Straight’ plan can help you achieve this.

Try to:

• Think about your thinking: Consciously focus on identifying and halting unhelpful patterns of thinking (e.g. ‘I will never get this job done’) and replace this with helpful thinking patterns (e.g. ‘This job might take me a while, but if I break it into chunks and get someone to give me a hand, I can get it done’).
• Talk positively to yourself: Instead of getting annoyed and irritable when things go wrong, tell yourself you won’t let this get to you. Try it, it works.
• Talk to your friends: Chances are you’re not the only one who feels the way you do, and talking may help you find solutions you hadn’t thought of on your own.
• Talk to a professional: If you feel you need a hand, talk to an expert (for farm tasks as well as your own personal wellbeing). If there are not many services in your area, or you’d prefer something more private, there are confidential phone lines and online services you can use to support your social and emotional wellbeing.
• Talk to your pet: They are always pleased to see you and great listeners! While pets may not have the answers, often the process of talking about a challenge can help identify solutions.
• Write a list: Sometimes thinking of all the jobs you need to do can seem overwhelming. Writing a list and prioritising tasks can increase your sense of control. Make sure you tick off items and reward yourself as you achieve them!
• Don’t avoid making decisions: Stress can lead to poor decision making or—worse still—failure to make any decisions. Seek information and make decisions early to ensure you have options in difficult times.
• You need to look after yourself, it’s a critical important element of looking after your farming business.

Improve your health

Some key things to reduce stress and improve your health include:

• Eat healthy, nutritious food
• Get adequate sleep and keep a regular sleep routine
• Keep physically active
• Make time to get away from the farm
• Find things to laugh about
• Allow yourself time to do something you enjoy
• Keep socially connected.

These are things that we often forget when we are feeling stressed, but they are the very things that can help us get through a stressful period.

Some tips for managing stressful times in your farming business:

• Make a list of people and services you can call on for information and assistance
• Break large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks which you can then prioritise in order of importance
• Keep the lines of communication open—schedule regular farm business meetings and don’t avoid making decisions
• Celebrate and reward success, even small wins should be acknowledged
• Keep in touch with farming groups and industry networks—they are sources of information and social contact
• Schedule time away from the farm—taking a break gives you fresh perspective, renewed energy and improved decision-making power.

Taking a few minutes to complete your own ‘Steering Straight’ plan is a great way to put strategies in place for managing stressful times—before they happen!

Where to get help

• Beyond Blue Tel. 1300 22 4636
• Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Customer Service Centre Tel. 136 186
• Farmsafe Australia Tel. (02) 6269 5622
• National Centre for Farmer Health - Managing Stress on the Farm
• Rural Financial Counselling Service Tel. 1800 686 175
• Lifeline Tel. 13 11 14
• This way up – online ‘Coping with Stress’ program developed by the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD) at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and University of New South Wales (UNSW) Faculty of Medicine
• MindSpot – a free online treatment and assessment service for anxiety and depression
• iFarmWell – a free online tool kit to help farmers cope effectively with life’s challenges and get the most out of every day
• Mensline Australia Tel. 1300 78 99 78
• Kids Helpline Tel. 1800 55 1800
• Parentline Victoria Tel. 13 22 89
• SuicideLine Tel. 1300 651 251
• SANE Helpline Tel. 1800 18 SANE (1800 18 7263)
• Suicide Call Back Service Tel. 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blue - Reducing Stress
• Black Dog Institute - Hints to avoid harmful stress
• On track - Working through practical problems following disaster
• Reach Out - Coping with the Drought