 Hi, this is Sean Brotherson, Extension Family Life Specialist with NDSU Extension. This is the third in a series of short videos on the topic of understanding and managing key stresses in farming and ranching. Thank you for your interest in this topic and how it might be of relevance in your life and work. The main objectives of our discussion on this topic are to explore the use of coping strategies in managing stress and to identify four key coping priorities that can assist you in managing stress in farming and ranching. Every farmer or ranch operator wants to do a good job in managing the farm or ranch operation. We might use assessments like hours worked, acres planted, or bushels per acre as a gauge of our success in managing the farm operation. However, it's critical to remember that the most important asset on any farm or ranch operation is the health of yourself or others involved in the operation. This is because a person's health allows him or her to function every day, make decisions, and do the management of the farm or ranch operation. Stresses on the farm can negatively affect physical or mental health, so good stress management should be the highest priority in managing your operation. You want to protect and maintain your most important asset on the farm operation, your health. Good management of your farm or ranch operation begins with good stress management and prioritizing your health. Let's explore the tools in your coping strategies toolbox and four key coping priorities to focus on in managing farm and ranch stress. Most farmers and ranchers have a toolbox available with a variety of tools to help them in handling different tasks on the farm or ranch operation. What's the question? What's in your toolbox when it comes to managing stress? We often recognize that sometimes we don't have the tool that would be most useful in our current toolbox, so we may need help in getting it from someone else or learn how to use a new tool that works better in solving a problem than other tools. A helpful quote says, tools are designed to do very different jobs. Find the right coping strategy or tool to fit the situation and remember to change strategies or tools if the one you're using isn't working. When the task is managing stress on the farm, you also need a variety of useful tools for handling the tasks of dealing with such things as physical fatigue, low mood or strained relationships. Think about the tools you're using to manage stress. What are you doing? Is the tool or approach you are using have a helpful effect or a harmful effect? We all use different tools to handle stress when it comes our way, but there are some common coping methods that are less effective tools or approaches to dealing with the concerns of stress. If one way a person handles stress is to overeat or self-medicate with alcohol or cigarettes, these are tools or strategies, but they are less effective options that could be replaced by a more effective option such as daily exercise. Other less effective tools we sometimes use in managing stress include eating too much or eating unhealthy foods, drinking alcohol to excess or using drugs, ignoring our financial situation or pushing it off to another time, talking negatively about others or blaming someone else for our difficulties, avoiding others withdrawing from spots in the community like the coffee shop, elevator, gas station, cafe or church. You may be able to think of other approaches that are less effective in handling stress and you want to reduce usage of those tools. Finding more effective tools to use in managing stress is an important priority in farm management. Ask the question, what helps you to relax or feel better in a positive way? Some useful tools to handle stress when it comes along that are more effective include getting some regular or daily exercise, 15 to 20 minutes, even 5 minutes of walking, stretching or other exercise is very effective in relieving stress and improving how you feel. Go for a drive or get out in nature and observe for a few minutes. Call a friend and get together for breakfast, lunch or just a visit over coffee. Watch a funny movie in the evening and laugh, which is a great stress reliever. Identifying other positive strategies that work for you is important in learning to manage stress effectively. Among the tools available to you, I now want to emphasize four key coping priorities that can help you to more effectively manage stress and focus on wellness. Among coping priorities, a few should receive emphasis. These will enable the individual farmer or rancher to cope better through time. The first coping priority is to rest and renew one's own well-being. As an example, a quote reminds us that sustainable farming includes sustaining the farmer. A few key points to consider. You can't care well for your farmer family if you don't care for yourself. Self-care involves attention to your stress levels, engaging in activities such as consuming a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and exercise, and giving yourself time to renew your energy. Next, explore sources of personal renewal that you value and help you to feed your spirit. Examples might include walking or hiking outside in nature, engaging in faith practices or mindfulness, spending time on a hobby that interests you or catching some laughter through watching a funny movie. Next, build in personal time-outs or rest breaks on a daily and weekly basis. For example, the Thrive with Five initiative encourages people to take five-minute breaks during the day and reset their focus or energy. On a weekly basis, set aside time for breaks to spend time with family or connect with sources of support. Finally, connect with others in your life who can lend strength and support to you. This might include family members, friends, spiritual leaders, or community professionals. A second coping priority is to focus on open, continuing, and healthy communication. If you're feeling stress, simply bottling it up inside and not finding ways to process it can lead to emotional frustration and difficulties in communicating with others or making decisions. Healthy and regular communication with others helps to short-circuit that cycle and helps the individual maintain a healthy pattern. A few key points to consider. First, be willing to share your stresses or concerns with others. One of the largest obstacles to healthy communication is being unwilling to share with others due to feelings of pride, stubbornness, or inadequacy. Seek to open yourself up to talking with others. Next, the process of talking or sharing with others helps a person explore ideas, see different perspectives, relieve stress, and make better decisions. Identify others who understand your situation or who you feel able to trust and seek to talk and share with them. Listen to one another as part of the communication process. This may include listening to a spouse, parent, child, sibling, business partner, employee, counselor, or others who can share ideas and support. Finally, avoid anger or withdrawal as a primary mode of communication. These types of communication typically increase stress rather than help you cope with it. A third coping priority is to focus on relationships that are important to you and can help sustain you, particularly family relationships. Many and other relationships that are positive and healthy provide a large source of support, but they may become a drain if they're not maintained. A few key points to consider. Reassure family members and others you care about of your love and commitment. Stress on the farm can include long hours and limited family time, so sending messages of reassurance takes on greater importance. If conflicts with family members or others arise during times of stress, take time to work through any concerns and resolve stresses in the relationship. Conflicts that are unresolved can become a continuing source of added stress. Also follow consistent family routines that give security, such as family meals together or a daily cup of morning coffee with a spouse. Next, think of taking time away together as a couple or a family, adjusting for what is possible according to the circumstances in your farming or ranching operation. Taking away from immediate daily stresses can be very helpful to reflect on things with other family members, take some renewal time and return with new ideas or perspectives. Relationships can be a buffer to stress and be a resource to help you bounce back when things feel challenging. Giving attention to the relationships around you, whether with family members or farming partners is important because healthy relationships are a key coping resource. A final coping priority is to connect with resources that give you the tools needed to manage concerns. Just as you would connect with a neighbor to access a piece of equipment to help on your operation, you should seek to connect with informal or formal resources that help in managing stress or provide support. Again, remember that your health is your most important asset as a farmer or rancher and that a key to your health is stress management. A variety of organizations furnish useful resources to assist those in farming or ranching to manage stress. The most important thing to do when dealing with stress is to just get checked, especially to access resources that can assist with your health and stress management. If you as an individual feel a need to access physical or mental health supports or services, or if you feel concerned about an individual that you know who is under stress and may have difficulty coping, connect with or refer someone to a local health care provider. Most rural communities have access to a health care provider and health care providers typically deal with a wide range of health issues, whether physical or mental or emotional health, and can help you take next steps in attending to your health. Sources you may connect with or refer to include a counselor, clergy member, medical professional, social worker or local law enforcement. There are a variety of other useful resources available to assist with health and stress management. If you as an individual feel a need to access mental health supports or services, or if a person feels concerned about an individual that he or she knows who is under stress and may have difficulty coping or has suicidal feelings, the resources listed here provide a starting point for information in North Dakota and the Upper Midwest. To begin with, you can call the 211 helpline number 24 hours a day, which is staffed by individuals and counselors who can provide information, services, referrals or crisis counseling. Additionally, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at any time by calling 1-800-273-TALK or 1-800-273-8255. Please don't hesitate to call on your own behalf or on behalf of someone you know or are concerned about. Remember, your health and the health of others needs to be your first priority. The NDSU Extension Farm Stress Website also has a wealth of resources on farm stress that you can access, and it can be accessed at www.ag.ndsu.edu backslash farm ranch stress. This concludes video number three in the series, Understanding and Managing Stresses in Farming and Ranching. Thank you for viewing this resource. We encourage you to seek out further understanding on farm and ranch stress by viewing the other short educational videos in this series. These and other educational resources can be accessed on the NDSU Extension YouTube channel or on the NDSU Farm Stress Website. This educational resource has been supported and brought to you by the North Dakota Slaving Council and NDSU Extension, extending knowledge, changing lives.