Understanding Emotions in Caregiving

One of the reasons I love coaching so much is that it reminds me of how far I’ve come over the last 10 years. (Let’s be honest—I’m often so focused on my current challenges that I wonder whether anything has truly improved.) Yet, when clients share their experiences and the words they use, I’m often transported back to moments when I felt exactly the same way.

This past month, many discussions with clients have focused on how to manage emotions. These were the key takeaways:

• I often feel many emotions at once.
• I don’t know what I’m feeling.
• The emotions that come to mind don’t fully capture how I’m truly feeling.

If you’ve spent time in survival mode, suppressing or ignoring emotions, then trying to acknowledge them can feel overwhelming—like drinking from a firehose. It’s ironic, isn’t it? You want to move forward, but you end up feeling just as overwhelmed as when you started.

Emotional Awareness for Caregivers: Building Vocabulary

To help clients navigate this, I’ve revisited the wheel of emotional words in my activities and worksheets. The response has been incredible. Caregiving is challenging, and it’s common to experience multiple emotions at the same time. However, if you’re someone who often suppresses your emotions, you may find it difficult to describe your feelings. This limited emotional vocabulary can make it even harder to process and release those emotions, especially negative ones.

Research shows that clearly identifying how we feel can help reduce the intensity of those emotions by re-engaging our rational mind. This is why I encourage focusing on developing an emotional vocabulary, even starting with negative emotions and experiences. Naming our feelings can help us understand and process them more effectively.

Why Patience Matters in Emotional Growth for Caregivers

The baseline is this: caregiving is hard. Challenges will arise, and emotions will surface. But having the words to name and acknowledge those emotions allows us to separate and process them. Once we accept the paradox of emotions that caregivers often feel, we resist them less. For example:

• We can feel love and grief simultaneously.
• We can feel gratitude and sadness simultaneously.
• We can feel pride and exhaustion simultaneously.

No one said this would be simple or easy. But knowing you’re not alone can be incredibly validating.

Emotional Intelligence for Caregivers: Using Emotions as a Guide

Emotions are our GPS, letting us know in real-time how we’re feeling. After years of ignoring them, recognizing emotions can feel liberating and empowering. Being honest with ourselves builds self-awareness—a foundation for growth and resilience.

Unpacking emotions is a key part of my self-care work because emotions unite us as human beings. We all experience a wide range of feelings. Understanding and naming these emotions helps us connect with ourselves and others, fostering greater resilience and emotional well-being.

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