MAYBE THIS CAN HELP?

Beekeeping as a hobby

Beekeeping is a direct path back to nature, it gets people back in touch with their love for living things and gives them a sense of accomplishment when their start to grow. A lot of people would be sceptical about it being peaceful and they would be correct. Sometimes when the bees are angry it is not peaceful. But here’s the trick.. don’t beekeep when their angry.

So putting bees on a bad day aside, beekeeping allows you to shut the brain off for a while. For the hour or so that you dedicate yourself to your bees, they are all you think about. The focus you need to put into them fills up your attention and enables you to feel relaxed.

For people with busy minds that wonder, beekeeping could be a better alternative to shutting off than watching tv or your phone. It is also a social hobby, to everyones surprise. Local clubs are all around Ireland and beekeepers as a species that just love some bee chat.

Potential aid for farmers

The majority of Ireland is made up of small beef farms and so many of these farmers are a bit lost for something to do at times. Potentially beekeeping could be a great option for farmers to get social and join a local club. It could get them out and about but also creating biodiversity on their land.

Beekeeping and anxiety

Anxiety is a global issue at the moment and so many of us are suffereing. If you feel that you still don’t have your anxiety under control, beekeeping could be an option for you. Within beekeeping there are times when you want to panic, with bees buzzing around you threatening to sting it can cause your fight or flight to kick in. Especially if a sting could potentially send you into a panic attack. However, something interesting that I learnt from beekeeping is having the ability to calm yourself down or self sooth.

Calming yourself is a skill that people with anxiety struggle to learn right away, but a skill you will be forced into learning when you start beekeeping. It personally helped me to just STOP.. think through the situation, and bring myself back to a safe state of mind where I know staying calm will help me through the panic. If this sounds like something you have difficulty with, then give it a go. It might just help. Nevertheless, everyone has their individual ways of dealing with their mental health but maybe beekeeping could be one of many options for you to try.