Caregiver in Greensburg PA
If you’re a family caregiver for longer than a few days, you’re likely to experience feelings of guilt. But what happens when you just can’t get it to leave? You may have to dig a little deeper and come up with some better solutions.
Be Honest about the Guilt
If you’re trying to ignore the guilt or downplay it as another emotion, you’re going to keep experiencing it. In fact, it will probably keep reasserting itself with more force, meaning you’ll feel even more guilty. This is one emotion that you want to acknowledge quickly and then get on with resolving.
Step Back to Get a Bigger View
Another big reason that you can keep guilt around much too long is that you’re hyper focused on the tiniest aspect of a situation. Take a step back for a minute and look at the bigger picture. If you’re feeling guilty because you had to tell your loved one “no,” for example, look at the big picture. Odds are good that in the wider view, everything is much better than you’re giving yourself credit for.
Are You Human?
All too often family caregivers expect superhuman responses and abilities from themselves. This doesn’t account for the fact that you are indeed human and that you do, in fact, make mistakes. Chances are extremely high that you will make more than one mistake at some point during your time as a family caregiver. You cannot continue to obsess over each one that you make, however. Acknowledge mistakes and determine that you want to use that experience to be better next time.
Revisit Your Self-care Plan
Another reason that guilt can stick around after you thought you got rid of it is that you only resolved part of the problem or you resolved it haphazardly. For example, you may have started talking to people at your support group more often but you don’t attend regularly. Intermittent support won’t do as much for you as consistent support will. So look at your self-care plan and examine what you could be doing better or more often.
As you learn to recognize, acknowledge, and resolve guilt more effectively, you’ll find that it doesn’t show up nearly as often anymore.
If you or an aging loved one are considering caregiver services in Greensburg, PA, please call and talk to the caring staff at Extended Family Care of Pittsburgh at (412) 693-6009. We will answer all of your questions.
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