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Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver

Balancing work, home and private life with the demands of being a caregiver can be a frustrating juggling act. Just around the time you may get a good balance, the demands of your elderly parent might change and you are again pulled back into that stressful situation.

How can you offset the worry, the anxiety, the anger and the resentment? Be thankful!

If you can find ways to be thankful that you are the caregiver for your parent, that positive emotion can do wonders to drive out those negative emotions in your heart. And when you think about it, there are quite a few great things you can be thankful for BECAUSE you are the primary caregiver for your aging parent.

You are able to give back a bit of the sacrifices they made to raise you. The amount of time and money and emotional effort your parents gave you as a child is something that can never be repaid. However, you are giving a little bit back in caring for them when they are old, which conveys, “Thank you for raising me and never giving up on me. And now I am not going to give up on you.”

You can celebrate those little times of laughter and joy. Celebrate when you enjoy a movie together or laugh at those “insider” family jokes that always bring a smile.

There is something deep inside us that feels like a sense of completion when we are able to stay with someone we love through a very tough time. Your love for your parent will deepen and grow stronger in a way that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

You are needed and you are important to your elderly mom or dad!