12 Sustainable Caregiving Strategies
Strategy 1: Embrace the Routine
A routine is a sequence of actions regularly followed, a fixed program. As our caregiving experience intensifies, developing and adhering to routines becomes increasingly more important.
Strategy 2: Re-Define Self-Care
As the experience intensifies, self-care opportunities may come in minutes rather than hours. We can make the most of those minutes by redefining self-care as often as necessary to fit within our day and within our routines.
Strategy 3: Let It Out
Regular practice of venting, worked into your routine, will help prevent the stressors from creating layers of trauma that will add to the overwhelm.
Strategy 4: Plan for the Worries
In caregiving, the worries are real and often become reality. Worrying about the what-ifs causes stress. If we aren’t prepared, managing the new reality intensifies the stress.
Strategy 5: Acceptance ~ The Role
Resistance to either the caregiving role or responsibilities can cause a great deal of stress. It is stressful to think that we have taken a wrong turn in life’s journey. It is empowering to know that we are on the right path and that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
Strategy 6: Acceptance ~ Help
Accepting that we need help can be difficult. We might think, I don’t need help. I can handle it if I just give up one more “unnecessary” activity. Before we know it, our trench is deep, and we are planted firmly in the middle.
Strategy 7: Acceptance ~ When Winning is Losing
The conflicts that accompany caring for an aging parent can be unsettling. It may feel like we have been plopped back into the nest, and our inner child has emerged to go into battle.
Strategy 8: Acceptance ~ When Losing is Winning
One reason that caregiving is stressful is due to obstacles. Obstacles make us emotional, and emotion clouds our thinking and our clear view of the obstacle. Emotions magnify the obstacle’s power and, in doing so, can minimize our own power.
Strategy 9: Setting Boundaries
Caregiving changes our relationships and our responsibilities. Changing responsibilities requires that we reassess our boundaries. It is important to reevaluate roles, relationships, and limits so that you and those traveling with you on your caregiving journey feel respected and supported.
Strategy 10: Mindfulness
When we become skilled at being present, we counter the effects of stress and develop strong, permanent coping skills that will serve us well in the years beyond this caregiving experience. When mindful, we are present; we act rather than react, which will minimize regret.
Strategy 11: Compassion
Whether we are experiencing burnout, empathic distress, or compassion fatigue, a type of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, we may look into the mirror and wonder who we have become. Returning to our compassionate selves requires that we identify the path that led us to our current state and then change direction.
Strategy 12: Forgiveness
As caregivers, we often have a legitimate list of people, events, systems, and services that have failed us. The problem with resentment is that it eats away at us from the inside. When we forgive, we release guilt and resentment. We are no longer defined by the wrongs that have been committed.
Navigating the Caregiver River: A Journey to Sustainable Caregiving is available on Amazon. Also, check out the Self-Caregiving Strategies Podcast.
Schedule Theresa Wilbanks to speak on caregiving and empower the caregivers in your workplace or community with the 12 Sustainable Caregiving Strategies.