Finding Your Window: Managing Stress on the Sheep Farm

By Lamb-scape columnist, rural counsellor and sheep producer Louise O'Neill

I often get asked how to manage stress and overwhelm in a realistic and sustainable way on farm. It’s a great question. If we can manage things for ourselves, it becomes prevention rather than cure and it gives us a sense of control, which is one of the most important factors for good mental health.

But before we talk about managing, there’s a more important step: noticing. Quite often, it’s because we don’t notice our emotions or physical state that we find ourselves feeling out of control.

Learning to notice gives us a chance to pause and reset before things boil over.

The Window of Tolerance is one of my favourite tools to help us notice how we are physically and emotionally feeling at any given time of the day. So perhaps for this month’s article let’s start with trying to notice first?

Here’s one way to picture the Window of Tolerance: On a rough day in the sheep yards - dogs barking, dust flying, tempers flaring - we’re in hyperarousal. We’re running on adrenaline, reacting fast, but not thinking clearly. At the other end is hypoarousal; like being stuck in the shed after yet another breakdown, only this time it’s us with nothing left in the tank. Motivation’s gone, and even small tasks feel impossible.

Between these two extremes is the window of tolerance. This is the sweet spot where we think clearer, manage pressure better, and get more done without tipping into burnout. The goal isn’t to stay there all the time, that’s unrealistic, but to notice when we’re drifting out of it and use small tools to bring ourselves back.

A good tool to bring us back is the fencepost pause: stop for 30 seconds, take three slow breaths, and drop your shoulders. It’s a great, quick way to reset our brains, and helps ground us in the moment. It may not solve the stressor, but it will give us a chance to think more clearly and cope better with the task at hand.

Noticing when we’re in hyperarousal or the “yards” or hypoarousal the “shed” and attempting to steer ourselves back into the window more often will help us become more proactive and less reactive.