Family Caregiving Brings a Mix of Emotions

Family caregiving is a complex role and can bring feelings of uncertainty.

If you are feeling somewhat disheartened in your family caregiving role, take heart; you are in good company. Providing care for a senior loved one is probably the most complex role we can hold: highly fulfilling on the one hand, while at the same time discouraging and ever-evolving, often leading to feelings of uncertainty about whether we are up to the challenge and providing the best care.

It is why a number of family caregivers battle against some or all of these types of feelings:

• Guilt: You may feel as though you are not doing as much as you really need to in order to help your senior loved one, that you’re self-centered for wanting time away for yourself, or that you’re inadequate to provide the assistance your parent needs.
• Helplessness: There are circumstances when you simply can’t solve the challenges your senior loved one is dealing with.
• Anger or frustration: This can be directed at yourself, other family members who seem as though they are not doing their fair share, or even at your older family member for causing you to be in this situation.
• Resentment: Especially typical when taking care of a person who hurt or betrayed you in the past, it’s easy for those feelings to resurface when that person is now in your care.
• Hopelessness: When a senior faces a challenging diagnosis such as a chronic or terminal condition, feelings of despair can settle in, which could bring on despondency or depression.

Recognizing these feelings, and accepting that they are absolutely normal, is an effective starting point. These guidelines can also help:

• Share how you feel. Find a trustworthy friend, family member, or professional therapist to vent to, someone who can offer an alternative perspective and help you to shift your thinking to a much more positive slant.
• Give some thought to the advice you’d offer a good friend. Sometimes, stepping out of your circumstances and picturing how you would react to somebody else going through these feelings can offer important insight. Provide the same encouragement you would offer to another to yourself.
• Find a care partner. Working with a professional care provider, like Hired Hands Homecare, allows you to achieve a healthy life balance – an element that is paramount to every caregiver.

Make contact with our expertly trained, experienced, and compassionate care team by calling (866) 940-4343 and let us walk alongside you with the high quality, customized care services your loved one deserves – enabling you to take much-needed time for self-care. We are always available to answer any questions you have, to provide beneficial resources specific to the issues you’re facing, and to provide a complimentary in-home consultation to share how our respite care in Santa Rosa, CA and the surrounding communities can help.