Farmers across the country are having some issues trying to find employees, which is forcing them to take on double-duty in order to keep things running as smooth as possible, leading to more stress. According to Family Science Specialist Sean Brotherson, the term for that type of stress is “stress pileup.”
“You have stress that accumulates, simply because you don’t have the time, energy, or the resources available to you to manage it as effectively as you normally would. So that’s kind of the first stage of it,” he said. “When you’re down, one or multiple laborers that typically would help you on your farm or ranch operation, then those tasks that you might be able to delegate or share with them, start to pile up on you. So, you’re spending longer hours, you have less energy, and so you simply start to have a pileup or an accumulation of stress.”
That pileup of stress leads to what Brotherson calls “stress spillover.” “It’s kind of like when you fill up a glass of water, and you keep pouring, and there’s not something else to fill it up. It just kind of spills over into the rest of your life. Whereas normally you might be able to say, hey, we’ve got things on our farm operation managed, we know our timeline for this activity or that activity, it starts to feel like it’s spilling over constantly, and you’re always on the hook for whatever task is needed for you to manage because there aren’t other people to help you manage it.”
One suggestion he had for friends and family is to keep an eye on the farmers in your life and look for stress warning signs. He explained, “Physically, you’ll start to see things like it might affect your appetite. Some people start having digestive issues, or else they start eating their stress. Some people will see it with their sleep, so they start having sleep concerns where they’re having insomnia or trouble sleeping. Emotionally, you may feel overwhelmed, you may feel a sense of hopelessness or discouragement, or irritability. Mentally, you might feel like it’s hard for you to make decisions; they might feel a sense of confusion about things, just not as much mental clarity.”
Brotherson wanted to remind farmers that no one is a weak person for trying to better themselves and control their stress levels using various resources. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.
