Lots of people are really good at celebrating their own accomplishments. If you’re not in that group just yet, you need to learn how to get there. As a caregiver, tooting your own horn when you experience a win, even a small one, might be the only opportunity you have to hear those celebratory sounds.
Celebrating Yourself and What You Do Reduces Stress
A huge cause of stress for caregivers is often that they do so much and it doesn’t seem to matter to anyone. But when you’re celebrating what you do and what you accomplish, you’re acknowledging all that you have done. This can be one of the single best things that you do to reduce your own stress levels.
This Takes Practice
This doesn’t happen overnight. You’re going to need to practice looking at what you’re doing and recognizing those things as accomplishments. Noticing what you do wrong is a lot easier, of course. Did you convince your elderly family member to eat breakfast this morning? That’s a win. If you’ve gotten even one thing on your massive “to do” list done, that’s a win.
Check How You Talk to Yourself
One of the things you need to start noticing is how you talk to yourself. If you’re using negative self-talk, that’s going to hinder your progress at noticing all that you do right. Pretend like you’re talking to someone else that you love and remove negative self-talk from the equation.
Keep Track in a Journal
The human brain is funny when it comes to things like this. It’s more difficult to notice all that you do right and you’ll forget about it quickly. Keep track of these wins in a journal. You’ll feel silly at first, but that’s okay. Keep going. You’re going to start noticing more opportunities to make notes in your accomplishment journal and you’ll be able to remember these wins more readily.
Review Your Caregiver Notes
When you’re feeling down or when you think you’re not doing enough, take a look through your journal. You’re going to start noticing that you’re accomplishing a lot more than you ever thought you were. You’re also going to realize that you’re not nearly so bad at being a caregiver as you keep telling yourself you are.
One of the best ways that you can come to appreciate what you do on a daily basis as a caregiver is to celebrate your big and your small wins. They might not be celebrations you might have had at other parts of your life, but doing this now can help you to remember that what you do is important.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Caregiver Services in Duncan SC, please contact the caring staff at Upstate Home Care Solutions today. Call (864) 527-0455.