Looking After You While Looking After Others

There is a lot of joy to be found in looking after others. It is something that millions of us enjoy doing. In fact, many people become a carer for friends or family, or as a career option. However, when you are a carer, there is the typical thing you are so busy taking care of everyone else, you forget to take care of yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so it is important that you find ways to nourish yourself too. 

It becomes so easy to burn out, and it can happen when you aren’t paying attention. Travelling between work, school runs nursing duties and eventually getting home. It can all be the norm.

But here are a few things that you can do to help you take care of yourself when you really need it. 

Decisions

Sometimes you will need to make tough decisions on behalf of your family member or loved one. And when that happens, it is important that you have as much information as possible. You can talk to doctors, nurses, hospice services to get professional opinions and advice. Depending on the condition, with things like certain types of cancer, for example, you might need to have specialist advice from somewhere like the Oklahoma Proton Center. It pays to get the best advice that you can, this will put your mind at ease over those big decisions. 

Walk

Sometimes the supporting part will be cooking, cleaning and sitting with your loved one to keep them company. It is really important to take some time out to just walk. Getting out and getting some fresh air is not only great for you mentally, but it is great for you physically too. It isn’t always easy to fit in a 30-minute walk per day, but even a walk to the local grocery store is better than nothing at all. 

Walking will give you some time to clear your mind and process what is going on. If you feel like you need some more exercise, then you can try walking up and down the stairs a bit more often while you are on your errands, or just in the house. But if you can squeeze in at least 30 minutes at the weekend, you will feel the benefit pretty quickly. 

Keep In Touch

It is important that you keep in touch with other friends and family. They will be able to take your mind off things, and in some cases support you while you deal with the issues too. Getting out for a tea or a coffee with friends when you have the chance, or a long text or Whatsapp chat session can be a great way to remember that there is a life outside of the current caring duties. 

If you have a cafe nearby where you usually take care of your loved one, then invite a friend there to join you for a short while and take a break from the task at hand. It would be better if you made sure that you scheduled time for yourself, and in some cases, if you need to you can talk with a professional too.