Uncategorized – Caregiver Help

20 01, 2019

Three Steps to Overcoming Caregiver Fear

Overcoming Caregiver Fear

How Awareness, Acceptance & Taking Action Can Help You Overcome Caregiver Fear

Most caregivers fear how bad it’s going to get, how long it’s going to last, and how much it’s going to cost. We worry about what will happen if our care receiver’s condition worsens and we can no longer care for them ourselves. We worry about finding help or having to move out of our homes. We fear what our life will be like when our loved one dies, and sometimes we worry that we will die before they do. These are all legitimate fears, and if thoughts like these are keeping you awake at night, here are three steps that might help you feel more […]

17 08, 2018

Coping with Caregiver Anger

Coping with Caregiver Anger & the 3 F’s of Flipping Out

If you are caring for someone who is aging, disabled, or living with a cognitive disorder, you already know that caregiver anger is part of the journey. You are well aware that the physical aspect of caregiving is demanding, dreary, and sometimes downright disgusting. As difficult as that is, though, it doesn’t even begin to compare to the emotional stress of caring for someone who can no longer take care of him/herself.

It may help to know that anger is a normal and predictable response to situations over which we have little or no control. As a caregiver, the number of situations over which you have no control are practically limitless—starting with the progression of […]

6 08, 2018

What’s Funny About Caregiver Fatigue

One Woman’s Whacky Plan to Overcome Caregiver Fatigue & Get Free Long-Term Care

What’s funny about caregiver fatigue? Absolutely NOTHING! Having a sense of humor can be an effective coping tool, as demonstrated in this hilarious video, but it can’t compensate for a chronic lack of sleep.

If your care receiver isn’t sleeping at night, chances are good that you aren’t sleeping either. You may be intimately familiar with caregiver fatigue and that horrible feeling of waking up each morning feeling even more exhausted than when you went to bed. If you are starting each day wondering how you will find the physical, mental, and emotional energy to get through the day, it will be critically important for you […]

10 05, 2018

Remembering Mom on Mother’s Day

For many years, I went back to Kansas on Mother’s Day weekend. My annual gift to Mom was purchasing and planting flowers. One year I gave her a spindly little flowering pear tree. Every spring after that she wrote to let me know when it had started to bloom.

Mom died in 2002, and I haven’t been back to the farm since her funeral. Recently, my brother Larry sent me a photo of Mom’s tree.

Seeing how it had grown and flourished made my heart swell. I recalled how much fun we had each year selecting plants. I remember the feel of the hard earth under my knees and the relaxed and happy conversations we had as […]

14 11, 2016

When Life Happens All at Once – Part 1

A few weeks ago, our priest stopped by the hospital to make a pastoral call on my Aunt Jean. When we talked about all of the things that were happening in my family, she said, “Life sometimes happens all at once.”

I think that’s true. We don’t get to choose when our challenges arrive. The good news is that we don’t have to negotiate great difficulties alone. Family, friends, and sometimes total strangers show up to provide comfort, compassion, and support.

I’m going to be posting a series of blogs about my recent experiences in hopes of encouraging others who might be struggling with “life happening all at once.”

At the beginning of September, I thought my biggest challenge was going to […]

4 08, 2016

Keeping Your Emotional Bubble Level – Managing the Stress of Caregiving

Unless you have cared for someone who is aged, ill, or living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia-related disease, it’s hard to imagine how difficult it is to be a caregiver. Caregiver stress can cause a variety of physical and emotional ailments.

Developing a strategy for coping with the stress associated with caregiving may help you maintain the physical, mental, and emotional strength you will need to do this over an extended period of time.

For the first few years my mother cared for my dad following his debilitating stroke, she worked hard to maintain what she called a “detached” attitude. She said finding her own happiness and peace from within allowed her stay detached from her physical existence and still do […]

3 08, 2015

Acceptance: The Greatest Emotional Struggle of Caregiving?

Learning to Accept the Things We Cannot Change

I believe acceptance may be one of the most difficult emotional challenges caregivers face as we witness a loved one’s ongoing losses and changes due to age and/or illness. I have written about this numerous times, but my perspective shifted a bit when my husband and I took two of our grandsons on a trip to the East Coast to look at colleges.

Early one morning my grandson William and I went on a walk-about in New York so we could witness the city coming to life. We talked a lot about future plans and accepting the fact that even though there are many things we cannot control, we still have the power […]