What’s Fun for a Caregiver?
Have you ever stopped to wonder what’s fun for a caregiver? How do you find joy in the middle of illness and suffering? How can you have a good time when you can no longer do the any of the things that used to bring you pleasure?
When we’re young and healthy it’s easy to have fun. Even if we don’t have money, there are countless ways to have a good time. When a loved one loses his/her physical or cognitive abilities, a lot of the fun things we used to do are no longer possible, and finding pleasure in our daily life can become quite challenging.
My mother wrote about this when a friend said she just wasn’t having much fun anymore. Mom’s response was, “You ought to trade places with me!”
For a while she could only think about the activities she and Dad used to enjoy and could no longer do together. As usual, she adjusted her attitude and decided to redefine fun.
I think she was surprised when she started thinking about all of the things that were still fun in spite of the drudgery that came with being a caregiver. I still smile every time I think about the tabloid photo of Elizabeth Taylor that she describes in this episode of “Letters from Madelyn”.
If you’ve ever wondered what’s fun about caregiving, I hope you’ll find the time to listen to this episode of Letters from Madelyn to see how she had fun redefining fun.
