Do you ever get caught up in the day to day grind of things and wonder “what in the world am I doing?” If you’re like me then you do this a lot. I constantly question myself about things I’m doing at home and in the barn and constantly feel inadequate. It’s easy to get distracted and forget what we, as women in agriculture (wives, moms, partners, lamb pullers, etc.), do every day. There’s not a notepad in this world that can truly encompass what we do on a daily basis. The list is that long and it can leave most of us feeling like failures when the opposite is true. My list caused me to feel frustrated last night while working sheep. I was worried about everything I had to do before the next day. I was also worried about dinner and how late bedtime would be because of the work we needed to do to get our lambs prepared for upcoming shows. It’s easy to let this feeling take control and make us feel inadequate, but I made myself think of a different perspective and chose a different mindset.
You see, my daughter was standing in the barn watching and helping me. She watches every move I make and hears every word I say. I could have easily voiced my worries and complaints for her to hear. I try to never complain in front of her. I’m far from perfect and sometimes things slip out. But my voice is like her window to the outside world and I am aware of that. My mindset influences her mindset. If I complain about something then I expect that she will start doing that as well. So instead of complaining I thought about how blessed we both were to be in the barn working together after a long day at work and school, and I explained this to her. We talked about why we were working the lambs, how well they were doing, how crazy one still was, etc. Daddy was caring for someone else in our family and knew we could get the job done. We had a good time! It was a nice reminder for me about how blessed I am to be able to raise my child in a barn with these lambs. Her daddy and I are thankful that she sees what we do on a daily basis, and we are hopeful that the sheep teach her responsibility, work ethic, determination, and a whole other host of life skills. With any luck I turned a hot, muggy evening in the barn into a learning opportunity!
Life in any facet of agriculture is difficult. Add kids to the equation and it becomes downright crazy at times, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, our kids are the future of agriculture. They will be the farm kids that carry on this way of life. So don’t worry about how fancy dinner will be when you are trying your best to get everything done at work, the barn and at home (and all the other pesky items on your list!). Don’t worry if bedtime is a few minutes behind because someone needed to sit with their chickens a little while longer. We actually had a great dinner, got to watch some Disney+ together, and made it to bed on time 🙂 But even on those nights when that doesn’t happen it’s OK! I have to constantly remind myself of this. Showing ourselves some grace goes a long way, especially in this crazy world we live in. Now it’s time to go mark some more items off my list! Thank you for reading 🙂
-Jessy
Shanks Genetics 