Eventually, all of us will end up in a caregiving or care-receiving situation. Apprehension is understandable. But how do we balance our own families, careers, and retirement dreams with the demands of caregiving? How will the emotional toll affect our families and ourselves? Typically families do not address these complex issues until the crisis is upon them—and before you know it such strong feelings as anger, anxiety, and helplessness can overwhelm you. When you find yourself caregiving a loved one, not only you as the caregiver become stressed, but family members also need more support.
In the early stages of caregiving there are so many decisions to be made. Often people try to avoid stress and become isolated from their friends. During caregiving all of us need a network of people to support us. Caregiving will create many changes in your life and it is very important to take time out for yourself. Go to the gym, walk, join a group like Caregivers.com. The most important thing is to take care of yourself and know when to ask for help.
Caregiving puts us under great strain—and when we are under strain, we are more apt to lose our temper and become irritable. The caregivers I worked with reported having periods of forgetfulness, withdrawal from friends and partners, and had childish patterns of thinking.
We cannot avoid stress or eliminate it altogether, and for that matter some stress is good. But we can recognize that often our own thoughts are the very thing that lead to stress during caretaking. After all, if your father is home with help and support and you get a call from him, he may just want to talk to you. Until you determine what his need is at that particular moment don’t panic.
Open Communication
Though caregiving is a multifaceted challenge, it can also offer profound emotional and psychological rewards. With the right perspective, caregiving a loved one needs not be confronted with unalloyed dread and anxiety. The key lies in going beyond these anxieties related to caregiving. This means that you must start talking
