Taking Care of Yourself as a Caregiver
By Brenda Enright
Owner of Home Instead Etobicoke / North York
As you were raising your children, you may have thought that you would be done caring for others once they were grown. It is becoming more and more common for adults to raise their adolescent children and care for their aging parents. This is the Sandwich Generation, and it is wearing people out quickly. Even if you don’t have children at home, you may still be in the odd role-reversal relationship of taking care of the senior citizens in your life.
A startling phenomenon is occurring across the country, and caregivers are burning out. If you are a caregiver, you know you wear many hats. One moment, you are an employee. The next instant, you are a mother, then you are a child tending to a cranky father with dementia. In all cases, you serve others whilst putting your health and sanity on the backburner. Without the support of a trained home health aide, you may find your stress levels elevated, or worse, you become seriously ill.
4 Steps to Help You Put Your Health First
To be the best parent, employee, and caregiver possible, you need to put your health front and centre. Then, you can serve and love others with more patience and enthusiasm. Here are four steps to stop letting caregiving duties deplete you, and start taking charge of your health:
- Stop the negative self-talk. You may feel guilty and tell yourself you do not deserve a nice long bath and a good book or a lunch out with your friend. Instead, be realistic about what will happen if you cannot catch a break – you will crash and burn. Once this happens, you are of no use as a caregiver for your senior. Determine to kick guilt to the curb and place your wellbeing first. You will find you are much better able to handle your duties as a caregiver when you do this.
- Learn to manage your stress. Have you noticed that you have been short-tempered lately? Are you having trouble sleeping or remembering things? Your stress levels may be elevated as you look after the day to day needs of your senior living at home. Find ways to reduce your stress through exercise, gardening, meditation, prayer, or coffee with a friend.
- Find new ways of seeking solutions. As a caregiver for your senior loved one, you will find new problems popping up. Some will be easier to solve than others, but they will always come up when you least expect them. Learning how to handle them when they appear begins by listing possible solutions with an open mind. Think outside the box or ask a third party for their perspective. Try each solution until you find the one that fixes the problem. It is good to keep in mind that some issues may not have an answer right away.
- Ask for and accept help. You may find this as one of the most challenging suggestions to follow. Few of us like asking for help for many different reasons. Support with senior care can come in many forms. For instance, your brother may be able to take Mom to her hair appointment on Saturday afternoon. You might engage the services of a professional personal care worker to stay with Dad on Tuesdays while you run errands. The biggest takeaway is to ask for help when you need it. You may think you have everything under control until you don’t, and you find yourself run down and exhausted. Respite care services are a boon for many primary caregivers. Give it a try!
Get the Support You Need with Home Instead
Take the needed steps to ensure your health remains at the top of your to-do list. Enlist the services of Home Instead Etobicoke / North York. Our well-trained caregivers provide the home care support you and your family needs, allowing you to care for your parent, your children, and fulfill all your responsibilities in a relatively stress-free manner.
Call us at (416) 239-2200 to schedule a no-obligation, in-home consultation. Learn more about the compassionate, quality senior care we deliver, each day, to families in All Etobicoke including: Kingsway, Mimico, Long Branch, Islington, Richview, The Community of Humber Heights, Rexdale, Markland Woods North York West including: Willowdale, Rexdale, Downsview, Humberwood, Weston, York University Heights, Humber Summit and areas in between.