Homesteading: When You Feel Like Quitting

I know many homesteaders are guilty of painting a very rosy picture of our homesteading lifestyle.  

I’ll admit that I can be guilty of this at times too.  You just don’t want to be that person who complains all the time about the path you chose for yourself.  But to be completely honest, some days on the homestead are better than others.  Some days are downright hard.  Some days you don’t want to go on leading this life you have chosen.  

I’m here to tell you that all those feelings are normal!  

In fact, I would probably question your sanity if you told me that you don’t occasionally feel like you are doing everything wrong when it comes to leading a homesteading lifestyle.  

The character trait that separates us from mere mortals, however is our indomitable spirit and our willingness to soldier on through the hard days.  

So how do we do it?  

How do we move past the day when our favorite goat dies out of the blue, or a fox takes out half of our chicken flock?  Well, it won’t be easy, but the first thing you have to do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Just go through the motions of your day.  Your cow doesn’t mind if you cry on her shoulder, um . . .well actually, rump, while you milk her.  The important thing is that it gets done one way or the other.  

Here’s a solution that is hard for a lot of people.  

Don’t be too proud to accept help when you need it.  I recently sprained my ankle.  I knew I needed to rest it in order to be able to walk the next day, but it was so hard to accept help even from my husband when it came to our nightly chores.  I didn’t want him to have to do them by himself.  (Of course, looking back, I’m sure he much preferred doing the milking himself than listening to me complain about my ankle the whole time!)  Sometimes we just have to get by with a little help from our friends.  

Sorry.  I couldn’t resist that one.

This is advice your mama probably gave you, but it bears repeating:

When in doubt, count your blessings.  This seems so simple, but on a day when nothing is going your way, it can be such a help to think of all the good things in your life.  Your health.  Your crop of tomatoes that is coming in.  The connection you have with your food.  Baby goats.  Animals who get excited to see you in the morning.  List anything and everything that is going right in your life will help keep you from dwelling on the things that are going wrong.  

And if all else fails, take a break.  If chickens aren’t working out for you, sell the bloody chickens!  If you kill every plant you go near, maybe your should give gardening a rest for the time being.  If the whole homesteading lifestyle has just become too much for you, find a farm-sitter and take a little vacation.  Clear your head and decide what your next move should be.  

Remind yourself that you are awesome and that you are doing the best you can.  No one can demand more than that from you, not even you.  

And on a related note, sometimes we have to remember that this homesteading life we have chosen is rarely the “simple life” at all.  Jill at the Prairie Homestead has a nice reminder about that on her blog.  

Homesteading Update:

I actually wrote this post awhile back, but for whatever reason, I never published it.  I mentioned a sprained ankle that is now a distant memory.  More recently, I had a little mishap with Beulah and she accidentally ripped my big toenail off.  I was in a lot of pain for days. Shoes other than flip-flops were a complete no-go for several weeks.  I really couldn’t do my chores in those, especially because wearing improper footwear (running shoes) is what got me injured in the first place.  

I finally learned to let go of my pride and my “I can do it all” attitude.  

I simply couldn’t do it all.  

Eric was left doing all the nightly chores. Our three kids were in charge of letting everyone out in the morning and feeding.  I tried to find more things to do in the house to make up for my lack of homesteading helpfulness, but really, I learned that other people are perfectly capable and willing to help me when I need it.  I just have to let them.  

Speaking of Beulah.  She would puffy heart love it if you signed up for her newsletter!  You’ll get all the farm news from the cow’s point of view, plus you will be able to download Frugal Kitchen Tips, a FREE sample chapter of my upcoming book, The Homestead Kitchen!