Strategies for Dealing with Stress

After you begin to express and understand the emotions and stresses that affect you while caregiving, be proactive and consistent in your efforts to manage the negatives and accentuate the positives:

Create a schedule: While it may seem like one more thing to worry about, setting out a schedule for the day, the week, or the month can be both a help and an eye-opener. You quickly will be able to reference all the various chores, events, and appointments that need to be accomplished for your loved one and yourself. You will also be able to more easily find those empty blocks of time where you can plan in advance to create time for yourself. Finally, you will be able to recognize what activities or chores another friend or family member can manage to be able to ask them in advance.

Create personal time away from the home: It is important that you find time to get away from the house if your loved one lives with you. Whether you go out to dinner with a spouse, take your grandchildren or children to a movie, or go for a solitary run in the park, time away from your loved one can give you the breath of fresh air you need to keep going. If you do not have friends, family, or neighbors that can see to your loved one while you are away, seriously consider using some form of respite care (link to section).

Create personal time at home: If you live at home with your loved one, it is important that you can find personal, private time away from him or her. If need be, find time before your loved one awakes or after he or she goes to sleep to sit down and enjoy a book, pursue a craft, play a musical instrument, pray or meditate. You may also want to use a relaxation technique. Remember that your home should be a caring place for you as well.

Create meaningful together time: Finally, it is important to create moments during the day or week when you can have meaningful and positive experiences with your loved one. These special events, need not be special or extraordinary. Choose an activity that you enjoyed together before the diagnosis such as baking, going to the beach, or singing to the radio. Remember these positive peaks when you are feeling burnt out.