Turning a Bad Day Into a Great One as a Family Caregiver

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family caregivers“What a crazy day,” we sometimes bemoan, shrugging our shoulders despondently. Naturally, sometimes things happen that are totally out of your control, plus some days they seem to happen at the same time – making us wish we’d chose to simply remain in bed! But the truth is, there actually are steps we can all take to turn those tough days around, and even find purpose and meaning in our challenging experiences.

The next time you find yourself spiraling in pessimism on the circumstances of your day, try these techniques:

  • Take it step by step. Multitasking is highly overrated! Often the feeling of having a terrible day arises from being overwhelmed, from dealing with way too much at once. Setting some boundaries to concentrate on only one task at a time can in fact improve productivity and provide a feeling of accomplishment.
  • Try distancing. The art of distancing takes practice, but can be extremely helpful in keeping things in the proper perspective. To start with, think about the impact a particular frustration you’re experiencing may have one month from now – or a year from now. Then, consider the advice you’d offer to a pal in the same situation to create a target solution.
  • Be grateful. It’s difficult to hold onto negative thinking when making a conscious effort to acknowledge the positives, regardless of how seemingly unimportant they might be. End every single day with a self-reminder of the top five things you experienced during the day. And keeping a log is an excellent solution to bring positives back into the forefront of your mind on particularly strenuous days.
  • Dedicate “me” time. Although it can seem impractical to actually take time for self-care with many other priorities vying for our attention, it is vital to both our mental and physical health. Schedule blocks of uninterrupted time for you to enjoy a relaxing activity, and stick to those times like you would every other important to-do in your agenda.

Still feeling stressed? CareWorks Health Services can help tremendously by partnering with busy family members to deliver safe, expert senior care services that allow for a healthy life balance. No matter if the need is for just a few hours of respite care to offer some breathing room for family caregivers, full-time, around-the-clock care to provide maximum safety, or anything in the middle, contact us at (949) 859-4700 to learn more.