Understanding
and managing ourselves.
The pressures of farming, together with its isolation, mean that farmers are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than other people. Rural farming communities are at greater risk of suicide than most other Australians.​
It all starts with self awareness.
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“Undoubtedly, the greatest influence on our lives is going to be the positivity of our own attitudes”.
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“There is a fine line between genius and madness. Learning to control your mind so that it does not control you is one of the most important tools to learn in life. The journey is a personal one and certainly not a one size fits all approach. Have an open mind and do what feels right for you”.
Resources
Click the icon to watch, read or listen
Developing Emotional Intelligence
Mind Tool Videos
Below is a set of key focus areas that can be used to support mental health. Each focus area provides an introduction to help understand its importance and value, then presents a list of highly engaging resources in various audio and visual formats you can listen to, read and watch at leisure. The provision of these resources is where the Marcus Minds Project can be of enormous value to those seeking helpful wellbeing advice, as all the sifting has been done when it comes to finding content you can engage with and can support and better understand the benefits of mindfulness.
Mental Health
on Farms
The pressures of farming, together with its isolation, mean that farmers are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than other people. Rural farming communities are at greater risk of suicide than most other Australians.
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Farmers’ mental health may be affected by:
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The pressures of running a farming business
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Natural disasters like draught, floods and bushfires
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Changing legislation
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Changing market conditions
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Difficulty finding and keeping good workers
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Isolation
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Family problems
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The Mental Health Continuum
It can be hard to talk about mental health. Maybe your family and friends feel uncomfortable talking about it. Maybe you don’t know where to start or how it relates to you.
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Beyond Blue have developed a mental health continuum to help you talk about your social and emotional wellbeing. It can also help you decide what steps to take to look after your own mental health right now.
Resources
Click the media player to watch
Steve's Story - Mental Health
SafeWork NSW
Resources
Click the graphic below to access the Beyond Blue Mental Health Continuum
“If you don’t have 10 minutes to spare daily for meditation, then you do not have a life.”
Tim Ferris. Tools for Titans.
Stress Management
When your tractor dies or a deadline looms, how do you respond? Long-term, low-grade or acute stress can take a serious toll on the body and mind, so don’t ignore feelings of constant tension.
Understanding what’s happening inside your body and learning simple coping skills to combat the negative impacts of everyday stressors can provide huge benefits to the mind. Take a look at these top ten tips that can assist in managing stressing.
10 tips on Stress Management
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Smile – the muscles required to smile send a message to your brain that releases endorphins.
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Meditate – activates the parasympathetic nervous system – helps calm down nerves and helps you connect with your true self.
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Exercise – draws blood and energy from the brain into the body and legs – this helps to relax the brain and energises the body – leaving you feeling good.
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Gratitude – placing your focus on things you can be grateful for helps you to reduce stress.
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Eat well – avoid highly processed foods and junk foods. Eat more whole foods like fresh fruit, vegetables, good fats and proteins.
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Distract yourself – find ways to have some fun.
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Breathe deeply – slow, deep breaths are a very quick antidote to stressful feelings.
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Good posture – focus on keeping your spine straight and relaxed, avoid sitting for too long, move more frequently.
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Have a massage – regular massage can help you to release stress and improve wellbeing.
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Spend time with happy people – laughter is contagious! The brain responds to the sound of laughter by preparing the muscles in the face to join in.
Emotional Intelligence
Many doctors, psychologists and physicians will advise being intentionally aware of our emotions, thoughts and feelings is fundamental to being able to manage resulting behaviours.
This accompanying resource aims to increase self-awareness of emotions (emotional intelligence) and to explore a range of tools that can help strengthen mental health.
Personality Test
humanmetrics.com
Emotional Intelligence
positivepsychology.com
Resources
Click the media player to watch
The Emotional Life of Your Brain
Richard Davidson
What Is Your Myers Briggs Personality Type?
Psych2go
How to Change Your Life (Locus of Control)
Always Improving
Emotional
Self-Assessment
Being able to accurately assess yourself is essential for self-awareness. Without being able to accurately recognise your feelings, you can't control your feelings or the actions you take in response to these feelings.
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The website resource listed offers multiple tools and tests designed to help explore emotional self-awareness, and then explore how accurately you can assess yourself.
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Developing your self-awareness requires you to assess how well you are able to recognise your own emotions and their effects on your self and other people.
The video resource is part of a Youtube channel with more information on developing additional self-leadership tools.
Using Healthcare Services
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Farmers and their families often face many more physical risks than other people and they are at also at increased risk of depression and anxiety. Safety and staying healthy are therefore especially important for those who work on farms.
Injuries on farms
Agriculture has the highest fatality rate of any industry in Australia. Every year, thousands of people are injured or become ill and need to go to hospital because of working on a farm. This is because there are many hazards on farms such as vehicles, chemicals, large farm animals and extreme weather conditions. Farmers often work alone in remote locations without mobile phone coverage or access to first aid. Vehicle accidents cause more than 3 in 4 deaths on farms. The most common cause of injury on farms is quad bikes, but farmers may also be injured driving on rural roads or in aircraft.
Injuries can also be caused by:
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agricultural machinery like tractors and harvesters
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snakes, ticks and venomous spiders
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dams and creeks
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electrical fencing
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fire and flood
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rifles and guns
Staying healthy as a farmer
Avoiding accidents is an important part of farming.
This includes learning how to:
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Use a quad bike safely
Staying physically fit is important. The National Centre for Farmer Health has information about staying fit on the farm.
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Farmers are often good at helping others but not so good at seeking help for themselves. It can be hard to access mental health support if you are living on a farm. If you, or someone you know, is experiencing depression or anxiety, then it’s important to get help. Talk to friends, other farmers, a doctor or someone at Beyond Blue’s support service.
There is a range of online mental health resources available on the Head to Health website. The healthdirect website has more information on rural and mental health. AgHealth Australia has also produced a useful booklet to help you identify and manage the stress of farming.
Access to medical services and treatment
Accessing health services and treatment in remote and rural areas can often be difficult. Find out here about rural and remote health and services in your state or territory. If you are concerned about any symptoms, use healthdirect Symptom Checker to find out what to do next. You can also find the nearest health services to you using healthdirect service finder.
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More information on farmer health
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The National Centre for Farmer Health has information and advice for farmers and their families.
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Farmsafe Australia has advice on staying safe on farms.
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Beyond Blue offers mental health advice and support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call 1300 22 4636.
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Lifeline offers 24-hour crisis support. Call 13 11 14.
Lifeline
lifeline.org.au
Mindfulness
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Farming is tough on the body, and it can also take a toll on the mind. Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity and without judgement. It's a beneficial undertaking and provides valuable insights into the enjoyment of living and working on the land.
Understanding Mindfulness
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Formal Mindfulness - This is the practice of mindfulness meditation where we sit, usually with the eyes closed, and focus attention on one thing, usually either the breath or the sensations experienced within the body (akin to the 5 senses)
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Informal Mindfulness - This is the informal practice that brings the same kind of improved attention that's achieved from formal practice and translated into everyday situations. This involves directing full and non-judgemental attention to an activity being undertaken at a particular moment – it might be washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, chatting with a friend, patting an animal or studying stock prices.
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Justin Langer on meditation and mental toughness in sport
Smiling Mind
Resources
Click the icon to watch, read or listen
How Dusty and the Tigers use mindfulness to elevate their games
womens.afl
Brandon Lee on all things life and wellness
qrl.com.au
How mindfulness and meditation helped Richmond break their AFL premiership
theage.com.au
10 Mindfulness YouTube Channels To Help Calm Your Mind
theculturetrip.com
Roll on to the other 'tractor wheels'
Congratulations on working through the Mind focus area of the Marcus Minds Project 'Tractor Wheel'. Remember, these resources are not going anywhere. Feel free to return to them time and time again, especially should a moment in life present that needs more clarity or extra guidance.
Here are four more areas that can support a healthier, wealthier, happier and wiser rural lifestyle.
Click any of the 'tractor wheels' above to learn how to better manage the ins and outs of rural life, work and living based on each topic. These insights can assist to get people rolling in a better direction, avoid getting bogged and steer towards greater wellbeing and emotional intelligence.
