Asking for help in caring for an elderly parent or disabled adult often feels like defeat to family caregivers. It seems as if they failed in either duty or love or both if they are unable to rise to the occasion of providing the care that a loved one needs. Sometimes those feelings are completely internal; other times they come from outside sources, such as a boss or a neighbor, who fail to understand how stressful caring for another adult can be. It’s even more difficult to ask for help in providing care when it is your parents who are unwilling or unable to recognize just how much caring for them is taking a toll on you. It is not uncommon for parents to be resistant to outside help.
What is often overlooked is the slow increase in stress as your loved one needs more intensive and frequent care. While you try to take care of your home, their home, go to work, and attend your kids’ events, somewhere along the line you begin to sacrifice time with your friends, yourself, other people who are important to you, and even your how health care. This is stressful and takes a silent toll on you that slowly chips away at your longevity. Below is an infographic on the 17 Reasons to Avoid Stress. We can’t testify to the book this advertises as we have not read it, but the sources backing up the infographic are sound. Stress has been proven time and again to be a killer, and it needs to be taken more seriously and dealt with.
The original 17 Reasons To Avoid Stress infographic can be found at http://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/17-reasons-avoid-stress/.
So how do you deal with stress and keep it from killing you? There’s only one way: Time. You must find time for you: Downtime. Whatever that may mean to you. To some it is a Spa day. To others it is time in meditation, reading, playtime with their kids, or getting away for a few days. But you must find “downtime for you” and use it on a regular basis. This isn’t a luxury or frivolous activity nor can it be abated by drugs or alcohol. It is necessary time where you are just (for the moment) taking care of you. It is what is needed to enhance your longevity. And your longevity is important to every person you care for in this life, including you.
In your search for answers you may have come across this article. You may have even looked at the services we provide, but the true service we provide is TIME. When our employees are helping your loved one those are hours that you can spend at work, with your husband, kids, or friends and taking care of yourself, knowing that your parent or special needs adult is in good hands. They are hours you can spend in any way they are needed and they are flexible hours that you choose. Whether that is two, four, or more hours they are hours that cannot be created in any other way. Let us help you reduce the stress in your life today. In addition to the services we provide, we have many resources that can help that you may not be aware of, so call us 757-356-0342 and ask how we can help.