3 Ways To Lessen The Stress Of Being A Caregiver

Being a caregiver can be really demanding and even stressful at times. If you are starting to feel stressed, try implementing at least one of the suggestions below to lessen your stress level.

Accept Help

The first thing you need to do is accept help. It is so easy to brush-off offers of help when they come your way. If you want to reduce your stress levels though, you need to accept help and let others know how they can help you.

When a friend says, "Let me know what I can do to help," take them up on their offer; don't just brush it off. Tell them a specific way that they can help you, such as by watching the person you take care of for a few hours, or by taking them to an appointment for you.

Or, if your friend who volunteers to help you doesn't know the relative that you are taking care of, you can let them know a specific way they can help you, such as watching your kids, helping you with something around the house, or just hanging out with you and listening to you vent.

Don't Try To Do Everything

Next, you need to give yourself a break and not try to do everything. You can't be a caregiver, keep a spotless house, make dinner every night, be there for all of your kid's events and keep up with a full-time job.

A big part of relieving your stress is admitting that you can't do everything, and delegating what you can't get done. This week, order take-out for your family at least one night during the week. Plan a crock-pot freezer party with your friends and prepare forty meals in four hours that can provide your family with plenty of affordable home-cooked meals for over a month without any extra effort.

Ask your family to help you around the house. Create a chart to divide up household responsibilities. Hire a housekeeper to come in at least once a month and help with cleaning. Drop your laundry off at the laundry mat and have them clean and fold it for you. Don't feel like you need to do everything to keep your house running.

Reach out to friends and family members to support your children. Ask them to come to your children's events so that someone is there even when you can't be there.

You can't do everything but you can delegate important responsibilities to other family members, friends and service providers so that everything is taken care of without having to do it all yourself.

Join A Support Group

Finally, you need to feel comfortable talking about what is going on with your life. If you don't want to vent to your family and friends all the time, join a local support group of caregivers.

This will give you a healthy place that you can depend on where you can vent every week, and talk to people who really understand the struggles that you are facing and the things that you are dealing with. Being able to express what is happening to you can go a long way in relieving your stress levels.

Don't just talk about reducing your stress levels; start actually doing it today. Start by implementing one suggestion listed above per week. Reducing your stress levels will help you be a better caregiver and a happier person. Talk to a home health care professional like Argus Home Health Care for more tips.