Musings and lessons
May Monthly Trailmarker
May Monthly Trailmarker: Steph Schmidt - Farm Life Psych
Watch out for the comparison competition
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March Monthly Trailmarker
Your Permission Slip
What do you need permission to do? (or not do?)
Hi dear reader,
Let's just say I was feeling a tad overwhelmed on Friday night. I reached out to some special friends, and one had me in tears with a beautiful voice message where she let me know, "Even if you can't give yourself permission, we give you permission".
*You definitely don't need anyone's permission to do what you need to do (as long as it's legal) but sometimes, we do have to pause and make sure we are giving ourselves permis…
Little Rocks - Getting Present
This week's Reminder:
Be Present
Being present is not always about "feeling good". Rather, cultivating our ability to be present, in this moment right now can help us to step out of the stories in our mind which amplify pain and struggle. Getting present helps us to just be - even if that present moment does involve pain or discomfort.
Growing present moment awareness helps reduce the suffering and pain cycle by turning the volume switch down when our mind tries to deafen us with stories…
February Trailmarker
Monthly Trailmarker: Steph Schmidt Farm Life Psych
Gone are my days at the beach, and here are the days of office work, crutching, being on time for school pickups, and grocery shopping. It takes a bit of time to click back into the routine, but then again, routine gets thrown out the window frequently anyway. One day at a time, one moment at a time!
TL;DR (The important stuff if you don't read the rest)
- February Livestock SA Wellbeing Sessions for Livestock Agents & Producers in South Au…
Put yourself in the Picture
Put Yourself in the Picture - Take Care of YOU in 2024
Righto, so we are already halfway through the first month of 2024! Some of you may have enjoyed a break over Christmas/New Years. Others (like my family and I), have been continuing to work through the ongoing farm jobs to be tackled. We had a soft finish to harvest around the New Year, went straight into a few hot weeks of crutching and shearing, thankfully we are finished (for now) and doing final prep to head away for our annual week at …
November - Monthly Trailmarker
Monthly Trailmarker: Steph Schmidt Farm Life Psych
TL;DR (The important stuff if you don't read the rest)
- Coming up in 2…
What is Psychological Flexibility, and why is it the #1 tool every farmer needs?
For me, it is about creating space for regular daily practices – e.g., mindful breathing or just bringing awareness to my daily habits (having a shower with awareness); being more open and learning to skillfully relate to challenging feelings – anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, disappointment – they are all going to show up whether I want them there…
Lessons from the Shearing Shed
Shearing Wisdom: Life lessons from the shearing shed
It's the eve of our final day of shearing, and it feels like we have been shearing forever, even if it's just been a month (with a week and a few days off here and there). For us, shearing is all hands on deck. My roles vary from getting sheep in, helping drafting (my 9 year old is a gun drafter), roustabouting, and probably the most important one - making sure everyone is fed. When I was working full time as a psychologist, I used to daydrea…