How do you walk away to end an unpleasant or dangerous conversation when it is occurring in your head? One way to interrupt internal conversations is to take a break from your daily routine. Vacations can do wonders for morale, but respite can also be gleaned from shorter, more frequent intermissions to your daily life.

Our local farmers are under financial pressure, face unpredictable weather and market swings, and are under an overwhelming cultural expectation to “rub some dirt on it” or “cowboy up” and get through it regardless of how they feel. All of these things just compound the strain and lead to silence and, in some cases, tragedy.

Cowboys and farmers tend to emphasize the differences between pasture and range, but when we bring it back to the plant level, there are more similarities than differences.

Stress comes from the outside, strain comes from within.

The demands of life and the dynamics of society are increasing the mental and emotional strain on many of us. This is true in all walks of life, including Idaho’s rural agriculture communities.