Happy 2022, friends. I hope everyone had a relaxing and stress-free holiday. For the first time in a while, I really relaxed and had some destressed down time. It was great and I needed it. I am thankful I had this time to think about 2022 and what is really important to me as we move into this year.

I’ve been blogging long enough that I am sure everyone knows my topic today. It’s the beginning of the year and it’s time for “the word”. Y’all know I don’t do resolutions; instead, I choose a word that will follow me through the rest of the year. It is easier for me to make one word happen versus many small resolutions I may or may not keep. This year my word is “health”. I know you’re probably thinking about a diet (yes, I could lose some weight) or an exercise program (yep, I could use that too). But for me this word is about more than physical health.

I travel and meet with people in the poultry industry almost every week. And almost everyone I meet is stressed beyond measure. There are too many things happening and too much stress. Some people may say, "Well, this is the poultry industry." But I have seen a change for the worse in the last few years. The “do more with less” attitude was happening before COVID and now I feel like we are at the point of “do most with least”. This concept is not sustainable. We are burning people out and they are leaving our industry.

I don’t know if I can solve the world’s problems with this one blog (OK, I am sure I am not going to do that), but what I can do is ingrain a word into everyone’s mind: healthy. My friend and I started a Facebook group — “We are the IncrEdibles” — and we encourage healthy lifestyles. We give tips and advice and motivation to become a better and healthier you. It is a great way to message encouragement and accountability.

Healthy can mean different things to different people. My challenge to everyone in 2022 is to figure out what “healthy” means to you and make an accountability plan. Maybe healthy is reading a book once a month. Maybe it’s getting a babysitter every other week so you can sleep or go out with friends. Maybe it’s changing your bedtime to before midnight or drinking more water or playing more golf. Maybe its volunteering once a month at the food bank or reading kids books at the library. And — my favorite – maybe it’s adding yoga to your weekly routine.

I realize we can all give many reasons why we are too busy. I do it, too. One of my good friends once told me, “If it’s important to you, you’ll make it happen.” Ugh — sometimes I hate that phrase. But, it's true. You are important to your family and friends and to this industry. Taking care of you will help take care of us as an industry collectively. We are all in this together.

Labor shortages: We have no time to take care of ourselves. COVID: Aagh! Regulatory fires: UGH! Managers, listen up: We need this to happen for you and your employees. We cannot continue to fight fires and not do any reflection or self-care. This is when big mistakes happen. Good personal health is critical for good industry health. We feed people and to do that effectively and safely, we must be healthy. It starts with us as individuals.

Here is my 2022 challenge: How will you define healthy for yourself? Chew on that for a bit and decide on a plan. One word is easier to achieve than a bunch of resolutions we give up on after three or four weeks. Healthy. Think about it: It's mission critical for our indsutry.

2022's mission critical word

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