Stories That We Tell Ourselves
Thankfully, there is good news. We can slowly move the marker from mostly negative thoughts to fewer negative thoughts.
What Does Community Mean?
As we all know, caregiving doesn’t discriminate against age, race, religion or sexual orientation. Therefore, there are lots of opinions, ideas, experiences and perspectives that come to the caregiver table.
Managing Emotions & the Role of Forgiveness
When I’m wearing my caregiver cape, I somehow convince myself that I need to be perfect (which is impossible, by the way….) and part of that includes believing that I shouldn’t have any negative emotions related to caring for my daughter.
Anger and Caregiving
I am always looking for solutions, so I have started to safely release my anger. By doing this, it’s like I’ve given myself permission to be angry - which is so liberating.
Why is Accepting Help so Hard?
I share this because I find it fascinating that even though I want help, I didn’t know how to accept it or articulate what I needed in terms of unpaid support when people offered.
Caregiving and the Invisible Cape
It is quite the double-edged sword. I want people to understand; yet deep down I know that they can never truly understand until they’re living it.
Caregiving and Relationships
Simply a knowing that how I saw the world had changed; how I saw myself had changed and how I saw my future had changed, yet how I looked to the outside world - family, friends and colleagues - had not changed at all.
The Power of Love
Love is a basic need – we all need it and we all crave it. With everything going on in the world, the power of love is being demonstrated now more than ever. We’re witnessing how love can really overshadow hate.
Setting Boundaries
It’s my small way of showing him that everything cannot be on his schedule. That I do want to spend time with him. That there needs to be a little give-and-take.
Grace & Compassion
The biggest culprit for me has been the word “should” and the two thoughts, “I should do more with Summer” and “I should exercise more”.
Support Systems
I’m starting to notice a difference, an improvement of sorts in how I feel. Part of this, is because I’m focusing on what I can control - me, my action and my reactions.
The Fine Line
The fact that one Mom is crushing self-isolation and I feel like self-isolation is crushing me, doesn’t mean that I’m a bad parent or that the other Mom is a better Mom.