Caring for the Caregiver

In times of stress, our personal needs tend to go on the back burner.  For caregivers, this happens when someone else’s needs have to come first – and this can be over an extended period of time.  Without the luxury of time or space, how do we meet our own needs?  Is there a way to confront and manage our emotions that doesn’t feel selfish, that doesn’t cost our loved ones the time and attention they deserve?

Paula Swenson says there is, and shows us the way by sharing her own journey.  In a beautifully-written guest blog article – “Creativity as Self Care in Times of Extreme Need” – the author and artist shares how she turned to creativity to handle the stress of unexpected caregiving, and then to manage grief at her ultimate loss of a partner.

“Years ago I encountered a quote, ‘The only antidote to destruction is creation’ [which] until this point in my life I had always seen…as an external battle:  to put creativity into the world to balance the destruction of war, of prejudice, or injustice.  Now as I work, I realize that I am using my creativity to rebuild my destroyed identity, my sense of self that had been shredded by the unexpected loss of my best friend and anchor, my calm port, my home.”

Through an almost instinctive need to create, she reached first for ink and paper – then shifted to other materials – and found that she could express feelings through art that she wasn’t able to express in words.  Her meditative creations, some sketched in the long hours of doctor’s visits and surgeries, became a way through.

“With a pocketable notebook and a waterproof-ink pen, I was able to shift my mind out of the frantic cycle of worry and stress that threatened to engulf me,” she writes. “I was able to focus on something tangible, something creative, and in so doing create a calm, ordered space in my mind.  That calm and order allowed me to approach the horrifying challenges in something closer to a state of balance.”

You can read more about her journey (and see some of her creations) in this article, “Creativity as Self Care in Times of Extreme Need”.  She also offers a free copy of her ebook on self care, “Care and Feeding of the Creative Self“.   As for us those of us here at TotalHomeCareSupplies, we’ll be taking some of her tips ourselves.  Because as caregivers, sometimes all we need to avoid burnout is a little help finding our way through.

Are you concerned about Caregiver Burnout?  Read this article on warning signs and symptoms, as well as tips to help you recover.  For more health information and useful tools, please visit our Resources Blog on TotalHomeCareSupplies.com.

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