Doctor Toby Ford for Queensland Farmer Today | December, 2021
Ah Christmas at last we all will say.
It’s a very special time for most of us every year. Ironically some families and groups would argue differently . But lets go with the idea its a great and wonderful celebration of life and living in Australia .
Over the years of looking after people of a working age, and ensuring that they are well and manage to asset manage their health , two topics come up around this time of year on the land .
What use are holidays and what do I promise to do differently for next year?
Holidays – we drew a population of 500 clients , people who run big business and organize others perhaps just like yourself and discovered those who take leave fare much better than those who don’t.
So if you can get off your land or your place of work , its like getting off the playing field and going and sitting in the grandstand. The longer the break you take , the higher up the grandstand you can get and therefore the bigger picture of the playing field of life. Its reshaping perspectives that sometimes have become to narrow.
But think of the idea to tap yourself off the paddock is better than to be sent off , although I daresay many men will argue that why do they need to get off their land , when they are perfectly happy staying just where they are. I would remind them if they have been in a relationship with someone else for a long time perhaps they should respect the need for the other persons need to get off the place . So this step is a step of being generous to your partners. That is the spirit of Christmas.
In recent times a lot of farming families have suffered droughts and fires and even floods and pestilence ( mice plagues). It has exhausted them due to the constant nature of the daily pressures that can sap the best of us and try out the worst of us . However, nothing beats getting off the regular playing field of the farm and doing something different.
A few years ago I was doing some drought talks in NSW and I made a rather throw away comment to an older couple who had been hand feeding for over two years. They were absolutely had it . So I said you have to get off your property, no , no one to do the feeding . I said do you have neighbors . Yes they said . Good I said, so ring them up and offer to hand feed their stock for two days while they go away, and then assume reciprocal generosity. It happened.
About two weeks later I got a photograph in the mail of the couple camped in a dry river bed about 50 miles away from their property . Message read . Got off land thanks Toby. PS this spot is where we met forty years ago . Haven’t been back until now , but guess what the earth moved again! Thank you !
So use this idea to get off the land and get away and sit in the grandstand and the next part is try hard to claim what’s right in your life , not see what’s wrong . It can help with a change of perspective .
The other promise we always hear is , next year Im going to be good and go straight and do wonderful things , eat vegetables , exercise , loose weight etc. Well it pays to have hope is all I say , but it pays better to have action.
So over Christmas have a think about what you might call are the important things in life . One of those is to think of your own health as an asset to doing life , not a corroding liability. So pick things you reckon you could achieve , not set the impossible and fail .
A young couple from the bush on a small hard part of western Queensland were talking to me about promises for next year . I said to him “ date your wife “ . He said how can I am about 150 miles from the closest restaurant .
This is not the message . The message is what I would call the action. See as I explained to him , I said what is the most favorite spot on your new place . He described that it was the place they sat together when they decided to take the plunge and buy the property. I said when did you last go there . He said about 12 months ago . I said get a blanket , two drinks , your favorite food and drive their with your bride. Sit together and look out at what you have achieved in the time you’ve been on the property, smile and ask yourselves if you still prefer to be here and that is another chance for generosity. That is going on a date. It stops time gets us off the playing field and allows us to be nice to each other . So that is the action of dating I think. Celebrating what we have not what we don’t have .
So if you have stayed this long with this story , you’ve got two jobs now , take a break and do something really nice with someone you are very fond of . This might just be Christmas without realizing what you have done!
