When is it never stressful as a caregiver?

Everyone is depending on you to take care of them. Of course, it can get overwhelming!

According to the National Alliance on Care Giving and the AARP, in 2015, 43.5 million American were unpaid caregivers for their loved ones.

Sixty percent of these people were female.

Older caregivers were more likely to be retired or unemployed.

Additionally, they were actively involved in communicating with the medical and nursing teams regarding the care of their loved one.

The responsibility of care-giving including financial responsibility impacts your physical health and mental health greatly as a caregiver.

Throw in the holidays and you have a perfect “stress” storm.

You don’t have navigate these waters alone.

Moreover, it is important that you realize that you are not alone in your situation.

Taking care of yourself as a caregiver is important because try as you may, you simply cannot give people clean water to drink if you’re constantly drawing out of a well that is dry.

The best caregivers take care of themselves.

In this post, we’ll talk about 7 ways you can bust through stress during this season.

7 ways to bust through caregiver stress during the holidays

Give yourself permission to enjoy the season

You have worked hard this year.

As a caregiver, it can be easy to forget to enjoy the season because you are trying to attend everyone else’s happiness. Give yourself permission to stop, take stock of how amazing you are and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Leave it to the professionals

Need help during this season? Request a free consultation with us at Green Tree Home Care and we would be more than happy to step in!

We now serve clients in the Orange County area as well!

If you’re reading this and don’t live anywhere within our service areas, find out if a local home care agency in your area will be able to help out.

Ask for help

If you don’t ask, people will hardly ever volunteer.

If you need to take an afternoon off just so you can gather your thoughts, ask available friends or family to help out.

And if you need to prepare family meals and have a lot of gatherings you’re responsible for, ask for help here as well!

Get a good night’s sleep

A lack of sleep will cause your body to be tired and ultimately makes stress and anxiety worse.

Make sure you’re getting as much sleep as you can so you can be rested enough to provide the best care to your loved one.

Be patient with yourself

Nobody gets it right all the time.

Be patient with yourself. If you’ve made mistakes in your care-giving journey, forgive yourself, make a note of those mistakes and develop solutions that will ensure you don’t make them again.

Journal

Researchers from the University of Iowa showed that journaling about stressful events helped people cope more than if they didn’t.

Writing down how you’re feeling can help you think through solutions that might be helpful. So may for a gift this year, you could buy yourself a journal?

Talk to a therapist

Talking to a therapist does not have to always be the last resort. Just like you would go to your doctor regularly for check ups, routine checks for your mental health is important as well.

Don’t have a therapist? Here’s how you could find one.

• It is likely your city has a local mental health department. Call them and ask them what programs they have available or how they could put you in touch with a therapist.
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance will help you locate local support groups for people struggling with these mental health issues.
• Are you a veteran? The Veteran’s Administration has mental health resources for veterans to help them cope with mental health issues. They might be able to help with a therapist too.

Caregiver stress is real. Holiday stress is real. Combine the two and you definitely have a recipe for disaster.

You don’t have to bear the burden all by yourself.

Seek the right help and give yourself a chance to enjoy your holidays to the fullest.

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