A year filled with learning, growth and leadership opportunities

The Illinois Agri-Women organization provides a lot of opportunities to promote women in agriculture within the state and on a national level.

“Last year was an exciting year filled with learning, growth and leadership opportunities for many members,” said Anjie Erbsen, president of IAW during her president’s report at the group’s annual meeting.

Along with tours of several agricultural facilities, members also attended events and meetings including the Agriculture Day at the Illinois State Fair, the Illinois Agriculture Legislative Day and the Illinois FFA State Convention.

On the national level, Vikkie Becker is currently the vice president of communications for American Agri-Women, and both Becker and Shelly Wintjen are participating in AAW’s Road to Influence leadership program.

Erbsen also serves on the AAW Finance Committee, and Ardath DeWall is a member of the AAW Foundation Board.

During the annual meeting, held at the Marquis facility in Hennepin in north-central Illinois, members elected two new officers. Danielle Martin is the vice president of advocacy, and Sawyer Johnson was selected as the group’s secretary.

Kristen Strom, the featured speaker at the event, explained to the members that they do not have to choose between success and well-being.

“What I have learned is to lead effectively in life and work, it is essential that you prioritize your wellness as a nonnegotiable,” said Strom, a published author and life coach. “When you pull back and start to focus on your wellness, your energy and patience changes and you can get things done so much faster than when multitasking.”

When people multitask, it actually takes away from how productive they are in the day, Strom said.

“When we switch from one thing to the next thing to the next thing, research says it takes you over 20 minutes to get back into the task that you were in,” she said.

It is important for everyone to do things that fill up their mind, body and spirit.

“You do that through intentional small steps that can lead us on a path to wellness,” Strom said.

“It’s small moments — like in the morning when you are brushing your teeth, do three gratitudes,” she said. “Create habits that you can stack throughout the day that are healthy habits to limit stress and help you with time management.”

Strom, a former university professor, talked about the wellness wheel that consists of eight components of wellness.

“Physical, emotional and intellectual are the ones I believe you can truly take action on and control,” she said.

According to the Rural Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease.

Wellness, however, is an active process through which people become aware of and make choices toward a more successful existence.

For physical wellness, Strom explained, women should focus on physical activity, sleep and nutrition.

“Oftentimes, focusing on hydration and protein are the first things I suggest,” Strom said.

“Women are famous for not eating enough protein,” she said. “Recommendations for protein in the morning for women is at least 30 grams when you wake up which could be a Greek yogurt, some eggs or cottage cheese.”

Sleep is also extremely important.

“Try to get seven hours of sleep or more and manage your stress,” said Strom, who is a mom and married to a farmer. “Create moments of joy throughout the day and build in quiet moments that are the rest and rejuvenation that your body and brain need.”

For emotional wellness, Strom listens to podcasts when she works out.

“Our brains don’t like things that are uncomfortable for us,” she said. “So, we have to pair them with a reward so we can look forward to them.”

Strom encourages women to celebrate wins along the way.

“To create new neural pathways for positive mindsets, use positive affirmations, identify wins and refrain from negative self-talk,” she said. “Changing our mindset is not going to happen in a month, but it can happen in six to nine weeks.”

Time management is really helpful with intellectual wellness, Strom said.

“Find time to do things where you are growing and learning, like listening to a podcast when you are commuting,” she said. “Try new things like hobbies.”

About 90% of daily actions are driven by our subconscious, the life coach said.

“That subconscious is a lot of thoughts and emotions that we have experienced or were told all the way from the time that we were a child,” Strom said. “The idea is to pay attention to your self talk to determine if it is actually bringing you down.”

“The better we can take care of ourselves, the better we will be for all the groups that we are part of and for our families,” she said. “We are not here to just survive, we are here to thrive.”