Family Caregivers Like You Need Tips and Tricks To Recharge, Rest, and Be Your Best Self
When your main focus is on your loved one’s care, it may seem strange to think about yourself.
However, family caregivers need care, too.
Even when feeling the sense of purpose and responsibility that comes with caregiving, family caregivers often report:
- High stress
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Irritability
- Resentment
This can be hard to admit, but it’s completely okay to say that caregiving is hard. Admitting this gives you an opportunity to consider what actions you might take next, and there’s one option in particular that can provide relief. Caregiver services like respite care allow family caregivers to return to their role with more energy, positivity, and a healthier outlook.
To help you learn about respite care, Phoenix Home Care & Hospice has compiled a list of ways you can take advantage of caregiver support services so you can manage the challenges of caregiving.
Understanding Self-Care for Family Caregivers
Self-care isn’t just a buzzword for influencers and people who go to luxury spas. Self-care is also for hard-working people like you who have committed themselves to the day-in, day-out work of caregiving.
Team Phoenix knows how hard this work is from our own experiences with loved ones. Many family caregivers have to balance their own careers, families, and responsibilities, while meeting their loved one’s needs.
That’s why it’s important to find ways to care for yourself. That’s all that self-care really is: making time to rest, recharge, and feel ready to continue caring for your family member
Ways That Professional Caregiver Services Provide Relief
Caregiver support services from an excellent home care agency assist your loved one with the many tasks associated with daily living. You may be performing these tasks right now.
Services include:
- Meal preparation.
- Personal care.
- Light housekeeping.
- Medication reminders.
- Transportation for appointments and social outings.
- Companionship and conversation.
In Missouri and Kansas, these caregiver services are called private duty care. Available in flexible blocks of time, starting at two hours up to 24/7 care, private duty care does the heavy lifting while reassuring family members that their loved one is in good hands.
Although some families choose 24/7 care, those who wish to continue as a family caregiver can still use professional care services to take a break. This caregiver service is called respite care, and it is available through private duty care.
What Is Respite Care for Caregivers?
Respite care allows a family caregiver to take a break for a certain amount of time, whether that’s two hours, several days, or even weeks at a time.
Family caregivers use respite care when they:
- Need a few days to recharge and rest.
- Become ill and want time to recover.
- Have to travel for an important event.
- Must deal with an urgent matter.
- Show signs of burnout and exhaustion.
How You Know It’s Time to Care For Yourself With Respite Caregiver Services
You don’t have to wait until you’re completely drained and exhausted to ask for help. Family caregivers often make respite care a part of their routine, so there’s never a point when they’re desperate for a break.
Consider how you’ve been feeling lately. You may benefit from respite caregiver services if you:
- Feel tired even after getting a full night’s sleep.
- Find yourself becoming more impatient or frustrated than usual.
- Have stopped doing activities you normally enjoy.
- Rarely have time to see friends or other family members.
- Have difficulty keeping up with your own appointments or responsibilities.
- Are losing sleep because you’re worried about your loved one.
- Feel guilty whenever you spend time away from caregiving.
- Realize that you haven’t had a meaningful, quality break in a long time.
You don’t need to experience every one of these signs to seek support. Sometimes, recognizing that you could use a few uninterrupted hours to yourself is a good enough reason to talk to a caregiving service support team.
What Can You Do While a Professional Caregiver Provides Respite Care?
One of the biggest benefits of respite care services for caregivers is that how you use your time is entirely up to you.
For some caregivers, self-care means doing something relaxing or doing nothing at all. For others, self-care is all about getting around to responsibilities you’ve been putting off.
Your break could be an opportunity to:
- Take a nap or catch up on sleep.
- Exercise or go for a walk.
- Have lunch or coffee with a friend.
- Attend your own doctor or dentist appointment.
- Spend uninterrupted time with other family members.
- Go grocery shopping or complete errands.
- Attend a religious service or community event.
- Work on a hobby.
- Try a support group for caregivers.
- Take a weekend trip.
There is no requirement to be productive. Take a nap if you’d like, because that counts as self-care, too. Your only goal is to give yourself time away from the physical and emotional challenges of caregiving, so you can feel more like yourself. Your caregiver services team will handle the rest.
Making Self-Care Part of Your Routine With Caregiver Services
Building breaks into your schedule gives you personal self-care time that you can depend on whenever you need it. You’ll find that instead of shifting between exhaustion and rest, you can maintain a more balanced life, while still honoring your responsibilities to your loved one.
An excellent caregiver services team isn’t there to take over your role. When they offer this service, their goal is to help you come back better than ever.
