What Can You Do about Fear as a Caregiver?

By Julie McCormick, Co-Owner | July 16, 2019 | Comments Off on What Can You Do about Fear as a Caregiver?

When you’re a caregiver, experiencing fear can be paralyzing for you.
There’s so much that you’re managing for your elderly family member and it can all get incredibly overwhelming. Once you realize that you’re experiencing fear, you need to look at how you can get rid of it before you completely talk yourself out of caregiving.

Home Health Care in Warren County VA: Caregiving Tips

Home Health Care in Warren County VA: Caregiving Tips

 

Your Path Is Your Path

It’s so tempting as a caregiver to compare yourself to other caregivers and to other situations. But when you do that, you do yourself a disservice. Your caregiving path is your own. Your situation is unique, as is your senior’s. If you’re afraid of what’s happening, that might be your cue to gather more information and to make sure that you’ve got the tools you need.

 

You’re Doing the Best that You Can

Something else to remember is that you’re not your senior’s caregiver so that you can deliberately mess up. You’re doing the best that you can with the situation that is in front of you. Instead of worrying or giving in to fear, it’s much better to assess what happened and what you can do better.

 

Avoid “Shoulds” and “What If”

One sign that you might be letting fear be in charge is that you’re using words like “should” and “what if” more than usual. These phrases imply that what you are doing is either wrong or not enough, and that’s not necessarily the case. Use these phrases as another cue to get you into a mode of self-reflection. If there’s something you can change, do so, but don’t beat yourself up over it.

 

“It Is What it Is”

Ultimately, there are lots of things about your senior’s health and your caregiving situation that you can’t change at all, no matter what you do. These are situations that are not under your control in any way, so worrying about them or wasting energy being afraid of them can do you no good at all. Practice letting go of what you cannot do anything about. This is more difficult than it sounds, so you really do need to practice.

 

You’re a normal caregiver if you’re experiencing a certain degree of fear. The problem is that you don’t want to let that fear take over and be what drives your decisions. Get a handle on your fear so that you can make the right choices for your senior’s best good.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Health Care in Warren County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care. Call Us Today at (703) 634-9991.

Julie McCormick, Co-Owner
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