14 11, 2020

Bah Humbug: Caregiving During the Holidays

Reduce Holiday Stress––FREE Virtual Event

I am going to be presenting a FREE live 90-minute holiday event for caregivers on November 18, 2020 at 9:00 a.m PST . The event is sponsored by WACOG – The Western Arizona Council of Governments. It is free and open to family and professional caregivers. You will laugh more than you cry, and you’ll come away with strategies that will help you:

Manage Expectations
Set Boundaries
Reduce guilt and holiday-related stress

I hope you will join me!

Click on this link to register: Bah Humbug: Caregiving During the Holidays

15 06, 2019

Find a Caregiving Buddy

Find a Caregiving Buddy to Lighten the Load

Caregiving can be a lonely journey. Having a caregiving buddy––someone who understands and will laugh and cry with you can make the burden feel a little lighter.

Last fall I met Hannah, a wiry little woman who appeared to be in her late 70’s. She came up to me on a break and said, “I want to tell you my story.”

Hannah’s husband has dementia, and she has been taking care of him and their small farm for over ten years. Earlier in the week, a storm had toppled an enormous pecan tree on their property.

She said, “It blocked the path to my chickens, so I went out to the shop and got […]

14 01, 2018

Gratitude

Gratitude Changes Everything

After Christmas, my husband and I like to escape the cold, rainy Oregon weather and go someplace warm and sunny for a few weeks.

I’m embarrassed to admit that this morning, while staying at a lovely resort close to Cancun, Mexico I was feeling a little grumbly because our ground-floor condo smelled musty and moldy. With a large bag of laundry in each hand, I walked up the stairs to the laundry facility and was disappointed to see that there was only one washer and dryer.

As I started putting a load in the washing machine, a tall, black, bald woman entered the room. She explained that as they were packing […]

22 06, 2017

Feeling ANTSY

Complete a Project to Reduce Stress

I am a project person, and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to complete tasks once I start them. I don’t wait well, and when I have to rely on other people to move forward on a project, I get antsy. Earlier in the week, my feelings went beyond antsy. I was feeling agitated, irritated, and tense.

I woke up feeling grumbly yesterday morning, so I went for a vigorous walk, which helped release my tension and redirect my thinking. As I was walking, I decided I needed to do something that would help me feel empowered rather than hamstrung.

I thought about several projects that I could do that would not require help from anyone else. […]

3 01, 2017

Caregiver Help Word of the Day – RESOLUTION

I Will Not Drink the Poison

A few days ago as I was listening to the news, I wondered once again why it has been impossible for Israel and Palestine to find a path to a peaceful two-state solution. The next thing I questioned is why I am harboring hard feelings toward some of my own family members.

There were some recent events that made me feel like I had been cheated and mistreated. From my perspective, I was completely justified in feeling hurt and angry. I will probably never know how my family members could possibly think their behavior was appropriate or fair, but obviously, they justified it in their own minds.

I have no way of knowing if they had difficulty […]

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 […]

21 07, 2016

Finding Humor in Caregiving

What’s funny about caring for someone who is aged, chronically ill, or living with dementia? Absolutely nothing!

But anyone who has ever done it for an extended period of time will tell you that it is entirely too difficult to take seriously all of the time.

I recently wrote an article for ZestNow.com, an online publication “For Women 50 and Forward’ about using humor as a tool to cope with the stress associated with caring for a loved one who is living with a long-term progressive and degenerative disease.

If you have ever considered doing something desperate to get a little rest, please click on the link to my article, and be sure to watch the short animated clip, “Claudia Robs a […]

6 07, 2016

The Life of a Caregiver is No Life at All!

We had an incredible scare a few months ago when we learned our daughter-in-law had a brain tumor. When my son told me, I did not react in a cool, calm, and collected manner. I cried out, “Oh, God no! I am so sorry!”

All I could think of was my friend Sally who had died a year ago from a Glioblastoma brain tumor. I took a couple deep breaths, and then I asked him if they knew what kind of a tumor.

He said, “It’s a meningioma.” He went on to say that if you are going to have a brain tumor, a meningioma is the best kind.

A few weeks into the process of adapting to the news, waiting for […]

27 06, 2016

Five Steps for Managing the Stress, Losses, and Challenges of Caregiving

There are a tremendous number of stressful situations and heartbreaking losses that caregivers have to deal with as a loved one’s physical and cognitive abilities decline. You grieve the loss of who that person used to be and the relationship you once had with them. You fear how bad it’s going to get, how long it’s going to last and how much it’s going to cost. You struggle with feelings of anger, guilt, depression and grief.

In short, it is an incredibly difficult journey. In order to survive it, you must learn to take care of yourself emotionally as well as physically.

I recently wrote an article for RewireMe.com in which I list five strategies that can help you maintain your emotional […]

27 04, 2016

Caring for a Spouse

Living Well Under Difficult Circumstances

Caring for a spouse is difficult under the best of circumstances. But if your spouse has made irresponsible decisions that have put you in financial peril, is in failing health, and refuses to take care of him/herself, how do you avoid slipping into an abyss of despair or living in a state of perpetual anger?

I recently reconnected with a dear friend recently whose life is not going well right now. We spent a lot of time talking, and she decided that she just needs to learn how to live well within her circumstances.

How do you do that? It isn’t easy. It takes a tremendous amount of mental and emotional energy, and if you decide to do it, you won’t […]

Reduce Holiday Stress––FREE Virtual Event

Find a Caregiving Buddy to Lighten the Load

Gratitude Changes Everything

Complete a Project to Reduce Stress

I Will Not Drink the Poison

Living Well Under Difficult Circumstances

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