Feeling Caregiver Burnout? Home & Hearth’s Senior Care Experts Can Help.
Let’s be honest: providing care for a senior loved one, in spite of its many rewards, can be stressful. Trying to meet the ongoing, 24/7 needs of another while managing the intricacies of your own life (career, family, home, volunteering, pets, just to name a few) takes more energy and patience than most of us possess. And yet, in tandem with the stress often comes the feeling of guilt for even considering your own needs when your loved one depends on you so completely.
While it’s common among family caregivers to try to handle the provision of care alone, it’s also extremely unhealthy. If left unchecked, caregiver stress can quickly lead to burnout, with serious physical and emotional effects such as:
- Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, irritability, and impatience
- Increased sicknesses and health problems
- Decreased energy and joy in life
- Difficulty relaxing and sleeping
Not only does burnout affect the caregiver, but can also become dangerous for the senior being cared for. There is help, however! Home & Hearth Caregivers offers the following tips to minimize stress and avoid burnout:
- Let go of the idea that you’re powerless. Feeling empowered and in control of the situation as much as possible can provide much-needed encouragement. Keep in mind that providing care is a conscious decision, and there are always alternatives that you can explore if you’d like to make some changes.
- Let go of blame. It’s normal to feel sorry for your senior loved one’s circumstances, as well as your own, and to fall into the “Why me?” trap. Rather than searching for someone or something to blame, focusing on acceptance and finding the silver lining in your situation can be freeing.
- Let others help. Perhaps the most difficult part of providing senior care is allowing others to step in and assist, setting aside feelings of guilt or pride. Whether that help comes from trusted family, friends, or a professional home care agency, like Home & Hearth Caregivers, realizing that it’s in the senior’s best interest can help overcome any feelings of reluctance.
At Home & Hearth Caregivers, we provide safe, reliable, compassionate senior care services to offer respite to family caregivers, allowing them the opportunity to recharge and in turn provide a higher quality level of care to the senior they love. Serving Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will and the surrounding counties, we invite you to call us at 800-349-0663, and take the first step towards enhancing peace of mind for both yourself and your senior loved one.