Posted 4-20-19
Just a quick caregiver thought this holiday weekend:
Be careful to watch your entertainment diet. I love reading and contributing to caregiver forums, studying cures and treatments and serving up digital cornbread for you. I really do. It helps me vent. It gives me a forum to cry, safely. It helps me see that others are paddling upstream and downstream on the same dementia river that we are. Don’t stop doing these things and I won’t either. However, if all you do is read sad stories, you will wear down.
How about this:
Take a break.
Smell the spring flowers.
Throw rocks in a creek.
Take a walk.
Read some Scripture.
Write a haiku.
Catch a ballgame.
Catch a spoonbill.
Create.
Repair.
Revive.
Don’t let the guilt of recharging your batteries (the right way) cause you to wear out or give up. To be the best caregiver you can be you need to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. Think of a little time to yourself as an investment in your caregiving that I am certain your loved one would approve of if he or she was not stricken.
If you have no ability to do these things due to circumstance, call your local senior center/area agency on aging or your local Alzheimer’s Association office to see if respite help is available. You deserve it and they do to.
Thank you for letting me be a tad tough on you..and me.
Happy Easter weekend!
#EndALZ