Caregiving doesn’t seem to have a lot of room in it for calm, but there is far more possibility for that than you might realize. A lot of the solution involves changing your approach to the emotional aspects of caregiving. When you can change how you look at caregiving and offer yourself some solid solutions, that gives you a fighting chance.

How Do You Refer to What You Do?

When you talk about yourself and your activities as a caregiver, are you using negative terminology? You probably are without realizing it. If you’re getting frustrated with yourself and expressing that in both external and internal conversations, that’s something that you’re training yourself to believe. It’s vital that you pay attention to how you refer to yourself and your abilities.

Stop Criticizing and Comparing

One of the biggest issues is criticizing and comparing. The criticism happens when you’re sure you’ve done something incorrectly or when you tell yourself you’re never doing anything right. Comparison is another thief of joy because it causes you to look at your situation and someone else’s and use that other person’s situation as the benchmark for your own. That is rarely accurate, fair, or reasonable. Avoiding both comparisons and criticisms is vital.

Make an Effort to Note What You’re Doing that Works

When you’re working diligently to figure out how to create more calm in caregiving, it’s important to start paying attention to what is working. That’s something you’re going to have to actively do, because it’s a lot easier to find the mistakes and the errors. Go out of your way to give yourself compliments and to notice what you’re doing right. Keep it in a journal if you have to, so that you can refer back to those details later.

Give Yourself Space and Time Away

Delegating tasks that are too much for you is also important. As is taking time away from caregiving and giving yourself some physical and emotional space from the situation. The best way to accomplish all of that is to hire elder care providers. They can take over for you while you’re away and give you a chance to re-center yourself.

You won’t necessarily master these changes overnight. But they will get easier the more that you practice them. It’s all about progress, never perfection, as a caregiver, especially when you’re looking out for your mental health as a caregiver.

For Elder Care Services in Oakland TN, please contact the caring staff at Personal Care Services MidSouth today!