‘Focus on what you can control – and become empowered’

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer and the winter months are coming. It’s a time when farmers and their families can face uncertainty and extra challenges.

Health and performance coach Gerry Hussey has a solution – whenever people are focusing on a point of pain or a point of power, he tries to get them to think about ‘what’s important now’ (WIN).

Gerry says farmers should be asking themselves, “For you to lead this farm, for you to navigate your farm over the next five years, with everything that’s going to be changing and the stresses and pressures, who do you need to be? What type of leader does this farm and this family deserve?”

Having an empowering mindset helps people accept that life isn’t always certain or fair.

“We live in a world whereby we either focus on everything we can’t control, which is a point of pain, and we become terrified, or we focus on what we can control, and we become empowered,” says Gerry, who will be a speaker at Irish Country Living’s Women & Agriculture conference on 24 October.

The award-winning author believes we can all work on becoming someone who is able to navigate challenges quickly, who can be mentally and emotionally agile and who can focus on the now.

“I think a lot of farmers feel under massive pressure because they’ve inherited the farm,” he says. “You could easily spend your life living somebody else’s dream, and I think you have to ask those big questions of is this really for me? And if it is, then in what capacity?”

Surrounded by nature

Gerry grew up in Glenamaddy, Co Galway on a mixed drystock and dairy farm.

“If anyone knows single chop silage, my job in the morning before school was to go out with a fork and lift it out from the base, then put out silage into the wheelbarrow and feed the cows,” he says.

Gerry emphasises the importance of growing up surrounded by nature. “The more we look at the earth as an extension of ourselves and we look at sustainable farming, I just think you can’t separate human beings from the land.”

At home with his wife, Miriam, and their two young children – Elijah (4) and two-year-old Betty – the family like to go out into the garden, take off their shoes and socks and spend time in nature.

When Gerry went to the bog as a child and collected turf, that experience and access to hard work stood out to him. “It is one of those things that teaches you to understand nature, understand the seasons and cycles.

This idea of there is a season for everything, and in the winter it’s time to slow down. It’s time to light the fire,” he says.

According to Gerry, we have forgotten that and we’re trying to live the same life and do the same routine all year round. “Chinese medicine says we shouldn’t push a body in the winter. But we still eat the same foods all year round and tend to live the same life in winter and summer.

“What farming gave me was a real understanding of the importance of seasons. There’s a season for everything in life and to eat with the seasons, to live with the seasons, to be part of that seasonal change is so important.”

Dealing with anxiety and mental health issues himself when growing up, Gerry read a lot of books on gut-brain access.

“That probably was 20 years ahead of the knowledge we have now,” he says. “But I was getting in books from America. I was only doing that to help myself. I understood because I had to understand, and I got an ability where I could control my mental health.”

Making the move to Dublin, he studied psychology and theology at All Hallows College. During his first day, a lecturer, Anne Power, challenged his way of thinking when she asked students to look at what the meaning of their life was.

“Up to that point I was studying other people and it was all about doing stuff outside of me,” says Gerry. “This was the first time an educator said to me, you’re meant to be studying yourself. I realised that meaning and happiness aren’t external things.”

From a young age, Gerry always had the hunger of curiosity and that continued to grow. What he developed was a ferocious appetite and a willingness to challenge everything in himself.

I understood because I had to understand, and I got an ability where I could control my mental health

Becoming a sports psychologist, Gerry worked with the Irish boxing team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 games in London. That led him to working with Munster Rugby and individual athletes.

“The more science and the more research I did into how to give an athlete the best possible chance to perform, I realised the importance of rest, meditation and visualisation,” he says.

He began to realise that the corporate world is relentless and never stops and that many companies don’t focus on the importance of sleep, nutrition and fitness.

He then began doing workshops around empowerment and training leaders to have a more focused, and balanced, nervous system.

Gerry started speaking at more events and in 2021 he published his first book, Awaken Your Power Within and things ‘exploded’. His second book, The Freedom Within, was released in 2023.

When a client comes to Gerry with issues relating to stress, anxiety, and high blood pressure, he doesn’t ask them what their issue is. To begin with, he gives them a 12-week programme.

“I give them time and space to stop and to breathe, and to ask themselves: ‘What am I doing? What goals am I chasing? Why am I pushing myself so hard? Where is my anxiety coming from’?” he says.

Then he brings that person into a state of coherence by getting them engaged in things like regular exercise, meditation, cold water immersion, and he cuts out processed food. He also teaches his clients about forgiveness and works on trauma and letting go.

Gerry believes the nervous system is the greatest pharmacist. For every moment that a person is in the sympathetic nervous state, which is fight or flight, their immune system is switched off.

“No matter what illness or what challenge you have, if you can come at it from a place of calm and love and focus and coherence, where your microbiome is healthy and strong, your gut health is good, your brain is clear... suddenly your ability to deal with that illness or deal with that challenge is magnificently increased,” he says.

Family man

Creating a work-life balance and setting boundaries is essential for Gerry, and he has turned down many opportunities as he prioritises family time.

“Particularly in the first eight years of a child’s life, that’s where attachment is so important. The challenge for us all is to provide for a family financially and be there for a family,” he says.

There’s a saying that he lives by that is, ‘the tragedy of life is not death, the tragedy of life is arriving at the end and realising we never lived’.

Gerry credits his wife with reminding him of what’s important. “I am lucky to be married to Miriam, who is a pharmacist, but probably one of the brightest minds I’ve ever met.

“She holds me accountable, she brings love, fun and joy into our family. She challenges me, but also reminds me what’s important.”

He advises people to regularly sit down and ask themselves: “Is there enough love in my life? Is there enough laughter in my life? Why am I chasing these goals? If I were to die tomorrow, what are the regrets I have? Then go and address those.”

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