Some weeks the topic for this newsletter just shows up and other weeks my brain is scrambled eggs and nothing is bubbling to the top… I had a great night’s sleep (9 amazing hours!) and have been practicing massive self care and trying to balance; work, joyful movement, sleep, sorting and organizing all the stuff for the road trip, seeing friends and saying LOADS of goodbyes, spending quality time alone to recharge my batteries, being grateful for moments of joy, balancing plates on sticks and dropping some. My brain still cannot focus and I’m doing the typical writer things like; laundry, adjusting the window blinds, texting loved ones, adjusting the blinds again, getting an eye mask, random fb searches, etc. It all could be due to the deadline of hitting the road next Sunday morning at 7am to drive straight through to Denver (about 14 hours from the Minne-apple) and being on an extended travel journey (aka: being nomads) for two years.
As we are all trying in our own ways to keep the joy in the journey it’s good to go back to our priorities. And then prioritizing them. LOL.
For family caregivers the case is often that their own needs don’t even make the list much less get moved up to TOP PRIORITY. Finding joy in the journey is often not on a caregiver’s radar.
One piece of my role is to help shine the light on how a caregiver’s needs being met can actually help a loved one keep moving toward recovery.
This concept of a caregiver being supported to fill their own cup, get their needs met, have their experiences acknowledged, being accompanied in their pain and fear is something our society seems to have lost sight of and is hopefully starting to realize is vital. In the meantime, it’s usually up to the caregiver to find and grab their own life ring and hang on tight while trying to care for their loved one. And in the meantime the loved one with the eating disorder and their team are wondering why they aren’t doing a better job of supporting their loved one in recovery.
It’s hard to be a lifeguard when you’re not trained to be one and you’re drowning with no life rings in sight.
Let’s throw some life rings to the family caregivers…maybe even show them where they are, how to use them and point the way back to safety. Helping family caregivers helps treatment outcomes improve.
Here are 3 life rings to share with family caregivers:
Research on new options for treating depression and anxiety. (message me for PDF’s of the research – thank you M. Plotkin, librarian from ERC for your help with these.)
Recovery Roadmaps 3 part Webinar Series.– Going From Panic to Plan
Now to get grounded, centered and ready to have a little bon voyage gathering 
with MN peeps. A titch overwhelming for this non-big crowd person…I will focus on the gratitude that we have so many people in our lives who care about us. And it’s only 3 hours. LOL. 😉
With gratitude for you my dear readers.
Seize the day in your own way.
