Guilt and shame are significant, yet often overlooked, emotions in the caregiving experience. As a caregiver, I frequently encountered feelings of inadequacy and guilt when I didn’t meet my own, or societal, expectations. This often led to feelings of shame.
Understanding Guilt and Shame in Caregiving Read More »
I recently watched the movie All the Light We Cannot See. It is a story about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II. It was a most moving movie but the thing that stuck with me was the theme and title of the movie. My interpretation of the title of the movie is just because you can’t see or imagine something good in a situation, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
All the Light We Cannot See Read More »
I am not a researcher, but I am an observer of people. What I have observed in my personal and professional life is there are phases we go through with grief. They aren’t linear because grief isn’t neat and orderly. I refer to these phases as grief, growth, and grit.
Grief, Growth, and Grit Read More »
It doesn’t matter whether you are a caregiver by choice, by default, or by profession; my guess is that all of you – most of you – have hit that point. It’s a point you were sure you’d never get to because you were finding ways to balance your life, or so you thought. Meanwhile, underneath was a ‘live’ gopher hole undermining your existence. You felt yourself crumbling under the right circumstances or among the group of people you could usually talk to. Yet you somehow managed to mask the real emotions that were happening.
Unseen Sacrifices and the Importance of Acknowledging Our Feelings Read More »
We talk so much about caring for our beloved elders, our extremely young family members, and our loved ones who have special needs, that sometimes we forget about one of the most common variations of family caregiver: those who are caring for our partners. I like to think of this kind of care as a different dialect within the language of love.
Intimacy and Caregiving: A Different Dialect Within the Language of Love Read More »
