Updated: May 1, 2020
Elderly Care in Plano, TX
Gratitude is one of your most powerful tools in handling the challenges of your elderly care journey. Facing the demands of your care responsibilities, coping with the emotions of watching your parents deal with their struggles, and experiencing the stress, anxiety, and other challenges of your role as a caregiver can put a strain on your physical, mental, and emotional health. Embracing each day with gratitude and putting yourself in the position of feeling this gratitude even when facing tremendous challenges protects your health, boosts your spirits, and empowers you to be the best caregiver you can possibly be for your aging loved ones.
While feeling gratitude is something you can do anytime, in any place with absolutely no special supplies or tools, having a gratitude journal can be a major help in this process. The journal acts as a repository for your thoughts and enables you to not only express the gratitude you feel on a daily basis, but look back through thoughts from other days when you are having more difficulty finding things to feel grateful for and need some reminders. This journal can also be a meaningful record of your elderly care journey with your seniors that you can read through years down the line and feel more connected to your parents.
Use these tips to help you start and maintain a beneficial gratitude journal during your care journey:
Dedicate yourself to it. Think of your gratitude journal as something that you do for yourself on a regular basis. Rather than just going through the motions of writing something down to write it down, take your time to really think about what you are going to write. Recognize the meaning behind your gratitude and let thinking about your choices be an exercise in feeling stronger and more motivated.
Go deep. Rather than spending your time trying to make long lists of many things for which you are grateful, take the time to really go deep into why you are grateful for those things. Showing deeper, fully realized gratitude for fewer things has a stronger emotional effect than long, superficial lists.
Focus on the negative, positively. Rather than always writing about why you are happy to have certain things, people, and gifts in your life, try thinking about them in terms of what your life would be like without those things. For example, rather than stating that you are grateful to have your husband, state that you are grateful because if you did not have your husband you would be lonely and not have the love and support he offers you, which would make fulfilling your care responsibilities much more difficult.
Cherish the unexpected. You should definitely express your gratitude for major, ongoing things in your life, such as your marriage, your children, and your health, but do not overlook the unexpected in life. Record special surprises or wonderful moments in your days, as these are powerful sources of gratitude and offer an immediate boost in your happiness. For example, write about the joy of running into a friend you have not seen in a long time, or a butterfly fluttering by the window just as you looked up. It is these moments that will carry you through the hardest challenges.
If You Or An Aging Loved One Are Considering Hiring Elderly Care in Denton, TX, Please Call The Caring Staff At Second Family Home Care At (972) 846-HOME (4663).