“It’s just been one of those days,” we sometimes mourn, shrugging our shoulders gloomily. Let’s be honest, sometimes things happen that are entirely out of your control, plus some days all of them seemingly happen at precisely the same time – making us wish we had made the decision to simply stay in bed! Nevertheless, there really are steps we can all decide to try to turn those difficult days around, and even find purpose and meaning in our challenging experiences, particularly for family members experiencing caregiver stress and burnout.
Next time you feel you are spiraling in pessimism over the circumstances of the day, try these guidelines from the Texas home care professionals at Heaven at Home Senior Care:
Take it one step at a time. Multitasking is highly overrated! Usually the sense of having a bad day develops from being overloaded, from dealing with far too much at once. Establishing some boundaries to focus on only one task at a time can actually improve productivity and provide a sense of achievement.
Try distancing. The art of distancing takes practice to develop, but can be extremely helpful in keeping things in the proper perspective. First, consider the impact a specific frustration you are experiencing could have four weeks from now – or one year from now. Then, consider the advice you’d offer to a pal in a similar situation to come up with an objective solution.
Be gracious. It’s hard to hold onto negative thinking when making a conscious effort to realize the positives, regardless of how seemingly trivial they may be. End each 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 challenging days.
Dedicate “me” time. While it can seem impractical to actually take some time for self-care with so many other priorities vying for our attention, it’s essential to both our mental and physical health. Schedule blocks of uninterrupted time for you to enjoy a soothing activity, and stick to those times as you would every other important to-do on your own agenda.
Still feeling overwhelmed? Heaven at Home Senior Care’s Texas home care team can help tremendously by partnering with busy family members to provide safe, expert senior care services that allow for a healthy life balance and significantly reduced caregiver stress. No matter if the need is for just a couple of hours of respite care to give some breathing room for family caregivers, full-time, around-the-clock care to incorporate maximum safety, or anything in between, contact us online or call us at 866-381-0500 to learn more.