How Caregivers Can Build Community (Even During Isolation)
Caregivers are one of the most socially isolated groups in the United States. According to studies by AARP, NIH, and The Family Caregiver Alliance, 40%-70% of caregivers report depression and loneliness. Because our free time is such a precious commodity, it’s...
Caregiving and Maintaining Your Friendships
Providing care for a parent or senior loved one can be all-consuming. The average family caregiver spends 24.4 hours per week providing care for loved ones and “nearly 1 in 4 caregivers spend 41 hours or more per week providing care,” according to the Family Caregiver...
Ideas we should steal: Men’s sheds
Phil Johnson, now 70, was living in Minnesota, recently retired from a career in software development and looking online for activities for older men. He thought often of his own father, who had struggled with getting out of the house for the last 20 years of his...
One more day
I thought it’d be a relief when it was over. Not that I wanted it to end, but I wanted the suffering to stop. I was tired, he was tired. But that’s not how I feel now. I wish we could go back, even to the worst parts. I miss every moment. I just want him...
Combatting the Effects of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Seniors
Social interaction is often considered a component for living a longer, healthier life. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President of the AARP Foundation said research demonstrates “people have increased risk of death due to loneliness.”...
Moving on without me
This is not how I expected to spend my early 30s. My parents had hardly had a minute to enjoy their “empty nest” before I needed to move back in to help my parents take care of my brother. Right after his accident it was like the world stopped and...
Getting out of the house has an impact on your life expectancy
Today Wiley Research made an interesting announcement about the importance of getting out of the house: In a Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study of community-dwelling individuals aged 70 to 90 years who were participating in the Jerusalem Longitudinal...
Loneliness
I believe that one of life’s greatest tragedies, now, and perhaps from the beginning of time is, loneliness. I doubt that there are many people that can say they haven’t been lonely at some point in their life. Sometimes we’re simply victims of...
The One Word That Can Change Your Caregiving Experience
As family caregivers, it can feel as though there are more losses than gains in our lives. Our loved one loses their health and independence, and we can lose our time, identity, patience, and even careers. Change and loss become dependable constants in our caregiving...
5 ways to deal with a friend who’s always busy
Quarterlife comes with a ton of obligations – from our day jobs, to work events, engagement parties, weddings, and family occasions that fill up our calendars. If you have a friend who’s overwhelmed with these responsibilities, and has been too busy to set a time to...
For Friends and Family of Caregivers
Dear Friends and Family of Caregivers, First off, thank you for the love and support you have shown the caregiver in your life this far. You want to help– that’s great! Caregivers could use some support. What to Say and How to Help The caregiving role can...
At 25, I Became My Mother’s Caretaker
Her voice sounded strained and disconnected, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it — the spot wasn’t just a cyst. It was a brain tumor. Two hours later, I was on a plane back to Colorado. Four hours later, standing at baggage claim with my cell...
The Caregiver’s Minefield: Tricky Relationships Makes for Even Trickier Caregiving
Many caregivers are caring for people with whom they have a difficult and complicated relationship with.
The Debt
What do we owe our tormentors? It’s a question that haunts those who had childhoods marked by years of neglect and deprivation, or of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of one or both parents. Despite this terrible beginning, many people make it...Top Posts
Recent Comments