From Gloom To Gratitude: 8 Skills To Cultivate Joy
You can be taught to have a more positive attitude. And — if you work at it — a positive outlook can lead to less anxiety and depression. The latest evidence comes from a new study of caregivers — all of whom had the stressful job of taking care of a loved one with...
What I learned from being a caregiver
One day I was busy driving my mom to a radiation oncology doctor’s appointment and we were running 15 minutes late. I was stressing out because it took my dad 30 minutes to put on his shirt and he literally thought he was the King of England. He had just been released...
Reviving My Caregiving Happiness Jar
For more than a year, I kept a caregiving happiness jar. At the end of my caregiving day, I wrote a note about something good that happened, and put it in a jar. Every so often, I withdrew random notes from the jar, and read them. The notes were revealing. First, the...
What living with food intolerance taught me about dependence
For the last eight months, I haven’t had a job. But my husband continues to do his share of the housework. We don’t have a schedule or count pennies. I do some cooking and most of the laundry when I’m feeling well; when I’m not, I stay in bed and become depressed and...
What does it feel like to be me?
What does it feel like to be me? The first word to come to mind is “full”. Frustrated is a close second. My 91yr. old mother has lived with me for six years. Her dementia has stolen her reasoning, memory, logic and ability to track what I’m saying....
I was my husband’s caregiver as he was dying of cancer. It was the best seven months of my life.
Ten years ago this month, my world as I knew it ended. My husband of 19 years, the father of my two sons, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the course of seven months, Bill went from beating me silly on the tennis court to needing my help to go to the bathroom...
Sometimes the best thing to do is NOT be there
Since we started the #100happydays challenge on our Instagram today, it got me thinking: how can I truly make an effort to be more positive everyday? What I’ve discovered after only a few hours is that it is indeed a challenge, especially if some people in our...
A Moment of Awe
As I watched them, it was hard to say who was demonstrating more patience, and who seemed more inspiring. Certainly, it was impossible for me to understand the depth and complexity of their relationship.
Meet Lisa
Tell us about yourself I’m a 46 year old female who worked as a former secretary. I moved from Florida back to South Carolina as my parents started aging, eventually, I had to move in with them. I did have the opportunity to take an online medical transcription... Meet Jeanie: Caring for a son with TBI
I’ve been a single parent since 1993 at which time I went back to school to get my Bachelor’s degree in Education. I taught math for about 8 years and then went into full time ministry. I founded Dove’s Fire Ministries and was bound for Africa before my son’s...
Your caregiving happiness jar
The idea of keeping a happiness jar has been bouncing around the Internet for months. I first encountered the idea on Facebook. Other posts supported the idea. “I’ll do it,” I said to myself. “Documenting happiness will be fun.” On January 2, 2015 I put my first piece... Caregiver Profiles: Lisa’s Story
Lisa is a 46 year old woman who formerly worked as a secretary. She moved from Florida back to South Carolina as her parents started aging, eventually moving in with them. She had the opportunity to take an online medical transcription course and worked briefly. She...
Celebrate new years by celebrating you
With New Years Eve around the corner, you might be thinking about how you want to reign in the new year. While other people in your neighborhood in your community may be going out for an evening of late night heroics, there are plenty of other meaningful ways to...
Counting our blessings as we get ready for a new year
Join Adrienne this week for an exercise in counting your blessings as we reflect on the past year and our caregiving journeys. The lives of caregivers can be especially difficult but each of our daily lives include things that make us smile. The simple act of...
A Memorial for the Living: Don’t Wait to Celebrate Your Loved One’s Life
How many times have you sat in a memorial service and thought, “I only wish that he (or she) could be here to take all of this in”?
Finding Hope in Pink Slippers
Amy Bovaird suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a progressive vision disorder. Yet she is the primary caregiver for her aging mother.
A Caregiver’s Thanksgiving
To fully appreciate the enormity of gratitude is to walk in the life of a caregiver.
Giving Away for National Family Caregiver Month
To celebrate National Family Caregiver Month, we’re giving away gifts to caregivers!
The Art of Offering Blessings
In his book, “To Bless the Space Between Us,” John O’Donohue describes an experience he had when he was a young priest visiting a group of nuns.
Basic caregiver self-care: Creating your #ListOf3
Ever hear that gratitude changes attitude? Although it’s natural for many of us to reject adages as cliché, their truth still holds.
Gratitude Heard Around the World
Our survival network’s gratitude list
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