After a sabbatical from the north, studying down in Geelong, my plans for a slower-paced gap year to let myself catch up after a whirlwind two years went somewhere out the proverbial window and after two weeks of the gap year, I was back in the workforce.
The first day back on the tools reminded me how lucky we are to work in agriculture - or if nothing else, an industry that's highly dynamic and offers extreme diversity in day-to-day activities.
Like a junkie getting a fix, I was able to slip into a trancelike state, toiling away, often getting distracted and stretching myself to complete another task begging for attention, before completing the one at hand.
It seems to be common for Australians to flippantly diagnose each other with various conditions. I was in one of my little trances when a friend suggested I may have ADHD - not the first time someone had suggested this, but for whatever reason this time I actually thought about it.
The environment we find ourselves in from day-to-day in agriculture is far more conducive to a disposition where a partial or comprehensive attention deficit could occur, masquerading as hyperfocus.
This is an opinion piece after all, but the notion can be supported by research conducted in 2008 by anthropologist Dr Dan Eisenberg, PhD, who found successful herders of cattle and goats in Kenya were two times more likely to exhibit ADHD than less successful herders.
Additional studies confirmed the hypothesis that successful agricultural producers of livestock and crops have a propensity to possess a mutated gene, labeled DRD4, which predisposes them to ADHD.
The biological explanation is that people with the DRD4 variant seek stimulation because it boosts the brain's dopamine output, which increases satisfaction. Increasingly, research supports ADHD behaviours can contribute to many positive outcomes, but awareness remains the crucial factor.
In ag, we speak about 'living to work' and 'doing it for the lifestyle', controversially akin to our junkie friend, living from one high to the next.
To an outsider, the writing is clearly on the wall, that an eventual demise is imminent but for the hyper-focused, maybe not?
A gentle reminder to find the time to pause and reflect, think about the why that sits behind what we do, and check in with those around us who can't see themselves burning from both ends.
- Hugh Dawson, agriculture student
