Caring for the Care Giver this Holiday Season
Tips from Denise Rembert, LSW, Social Worker at Eliza Bryant Village
Be aware of your feelings.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, lonely, depressed, or stressed out, search for methods to communicate with loved ones and share your feelings during this period of isolation. It can be tough to manage not seeing friends and family friends and trying to remain safe while caring for someone who may or may not live with you. So one of the best ways to communicate and actually be able to see their faces during these times is to become familiar with technology that provides the opportunity for you to see and speak with your loved ones virtually. There are many ways to do so. If you have a smart device you can video chat by zoom, duo, Facebook messenger, or many more platforms. You can also play games with them on these platforms. You have the ability to start a book club with friends or do any other event virtually like maybe something that you typically do with your family and friends in person. To care for yourself it is important to invent new ways to communicate and stay active.
Begin to focus within in order to become spiritually grounded through this tough time.
Meditation is one way to do so. Once you do it enough, meditation becomes easy and you become capable of canceling out the stress in your everyday life. You will also gain some clarity as you become use to sitting in silence. There are many ways to develop and grow spiritually some you can find online, others you may find in a book. Have fun researching to improve your state of mind.
Learn a New Skill.
If you’re unable to work during this time find ways to improve your skillset. If possible take some online courses or just self-educate yourself on ways to develop new skills. Take care to only do things in small bites in the beginning so you don’t add to your stress. Build a program for yourself and time to implement your new found strategies by writing them down and setting goals to complete them. As you master new skills add them to your resume where it fits so as you apply for jobs you become more marketable in various areas.
Manage Screen Time.
We are spending much more time at home during this season so there will be an urge to watch TV more or increase the amount of time we are on social media with no true purpose taking in all of the negativity of it but not finding the positives. Here you should consider making better use of your time by limiting the amount of time you watch television and utilize the time to educate yourselves on the facts of not only Covid-19 but anything else you find interesting.
Be intentional in how you utilize social media. Use it to create a more positive influence in your space by finding groups that speak specifically to your interest and blocking the things you do not care to see. If you watch the news both at night and in the morning then choose one to eliminate immediately and then limit yourself from watching the other one every day. If possible during the time you would normally watch the news build some activities around that time slot like reading, meditating, learning a new skill, like knitting, cooking, writing, or start a blog/vlog discussing what life is like as a caregiver to help others, the more you assist others the better you feel.
Rewind Your Mind.
Although we take seriously the time we are in we must always find a way to have fun and even go back to being a kid if only for a few moments. Remember some of the things you enjoyed as a kid and then recreate them in your life as it stands now. Play games, write letters, learn something new, think about the first thing you will do when Covid-19 is under better control and you’re able to move around a little more freely. Remember everything is temporary and this too shall pass!