How to Work Through a Negative Emotion
Home Care in Loudoun County VA
If you’ve ever felt negative emotions when you’re in the midst of your family caregiver duties, it’s important for you to know that you’re not the only one. As a human being, you’re going to have all 
sorts of emotions from across the board. Dealing with them appropriately is the key.
Identify the Emotion
Sometimes when you’ve spent a long time pushing emotions away, you might not be able to recognize them for what they are. Anger might feel like frustration because you can justify a slightly friendlier emotion. Step back for a second and really touch base with the feeling to make sure you know what it is.
Acknowledge the Emotion
Once you know what emotions you’re feeling, acknowledge that you have a right to your feelings. Feelings aren’t right or wrong, they just are. Once you acknowledge how you’re feeling, you can work through it and move along. You don’t have to solve anything right now, simply accept that the feeling is yours.
Take a Breather and Analyze the Feeling
Remove yourself from the situation if you can. Turn everything over to a home care provider for the afternoon, for example, but give yourself some time and some space. It might even help to have a journal handy. Work through what the triggers are for the negative feeling and why you might be experiencing that feeling.
Talk Through the Feeling
If it helps, find a friend or someone else that you can trust with whom you can talk through the feeling. That person might even have insights that help you to understand what triggers could be at play. This is where you’re going to really start the problem-solving process because you’re getting deeper into the why of the emotion.
Put a Plan in Place, if Necessary
Some negative emotions and situations don’t need a plan to solve them. What you do need, however, is a plan for dealing with the emotion. Maybe you get angry when your loved one declines your help. If that’s the case, walk into another room and breathe deeply until the feeling passes. You can’t force your help on anyone and you don’t need to cause yourself pain. If you’re frustrated because you never have time to yourself, your plan is going to be establishing a way to get time to yourself. At any point when you find that there is something concrete that you can do, start doing it.
Being a family caregiver isn’t all roses and moonbeams, sadly. But you can learn to cope positively with the negative emotions.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring a professional home care in Loudoun County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care. Call Us Today at (703) 369-6677. Serving Northern Virginia, The Valley, and Surrounding Communities
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