(Rural Roots Canada) – No one said farming was easy. But that doesn’t mean you should neglect your health and well-being amidst your busy farm life.

Regardless of what you have going on with your farm, everyone needs to find the time to take a break.

Michelle Cederberg, a health and productivity expert, speaker, and author, says you need to ask yourself, “how am I doing?”

“More often than not, especially for the caregivers, the tendency is to take care of everyone else and everything else before themselves,” she says.

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“When you think about the last two years and the pandemic roller coaster, a lot has changed since March 2020. What we need for ourselves now is very different than what we needed then. So, we need to stop and ask what’s different, what’s important to me, what do I need for myself?”

Cederberg recommends you use the acronym HALT to figure out what you need.

“If you’re feeling anxious or off in any way, ask, am I hungry, angry, lonely, or tired? Those four little words allow you to check in with your coping mechanisms. Because if you haven’t had enough to eat, or you’re holding on to resentment, or you’re feeling isolated or tired, your decision-making and coping mechanisms are going to go down,” she says.

Cederberg adds it’s vital to take care of your internal engine to remain focused, energized, and to achieve your full potential.

“If we don’t take care of the engine that drives the mission, our productivity will eventually go down. We’re not going to be as effective with the work that we’re doing. We’re not going to have as great a result as we could if we’d stopped long enough to fuel the body, get enough sleep, connect with people, and do all the things that energize us.”