Caregiver Health...

Caregiver health is quickly fading. Agreed? I'm hard pressed to find a caregiver these days who is not overwhelmed by the demanding and exhausting daily grind of caring for an aging parent or family member while managing the home and raising little ones. Often called the sandwich generation, caregivers are stretched thin in todays society. Mostly because we must pursue the American Dream at all costs. And to do that we must work 4 jobs (you're lucky if you have one now!) and fill each waking moment with a blur of multitasking activity.

I've been working as a home health care physical therapist since 1993-ish. I've seen the stress of caregivers. I've seen the exhaustion, the bewildered looks, the emptiness, the "no light at the end of this tunnel" despair. I've cried with them, I've prayed with them. I've helped them understand that when their health is gone, no one gets cared for. I've seen caregivers become the second patient. To find more help in avoiding caregiver burnout, please visit: aginghomehealthcare.com .

It's real, it's here, it's awful! And it feels never ending. And it will be never ending until 2030 as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day now (as of January 1, 2011) for the next 19 years.

Unless we get a handle on our own stuff/baggage/emotions - whatever you want to call it, we will continue to burn ourselves out as caregivers at in the name of lack of boundaries, guilt, shame, anxiety, manipulation - all of which can be resolved through deep soul searching on The Journey, and through simplifying life enough to feel and hear the voice of God calling us to "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28.

Little by little can make a huge difference. A difference essential to your health, your life, your future, your happiness, your peace.

I'm sure your can identify with these issues the directly affect caregiver health:

• The enormous physical demands of caregiving out numbering the hours in a day.


• Working all day only to come home and work more.


• Highly physically demanding work. Transferring, lifting, pushing, pulling, wheelchair management.


• Lack of deep, health restoring sleep.


• Fitness levels slowly slipping out of your grasp.


• The mental strain and stress of dwindling finances, time and ability.


• You could name a million more.

There is a light in that tunnel and it is a light of hope, of healing, of peace and help...a light that beckon to start putting small lifestyle changes in your bank of health so that you can watch the dividends of your health grow.

You may be overwhelmed, you may be just starting your caregiving journey as a career or due to an unfortunate twist of fate in your family. There is a reason why you are here on this page of this website - because your caregiver health must come first. This page offers you resourceful and practical hope for -

• your body


• your mind


• your soul

Your caregiver health is vital to you, to those your love and nurture, to humanity... don't make the same mistake that millions are making... We offer a 5.5 pound resource that explains in detail the necessity and benefit of the 8 free natural resources: Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance, Fresh Air and Trust in Divine Power.

They are all free! When I implemented them in my life, one at a time, I couldn't believe the difference in my peace of mind, my contentedness, my happiness, in my health, my energy level, and my disposition.

I began to simplify my life so that I could value these principles about caregiver health above the rush and run of the demands of life. My priorities became taking care of me so I could take care of you. And, in this economy, the cost savings on living life plummeted! Changes like:

• cutting out Starbucks (high cost and nutritionally unsound as well as a sleep robber)


• quit smoking (I never smoked but a pack of cigs these days will make my car payment!)


• plugging into resources that could help me grow (like Al-Anon - you don't have to have alcohol in your family!, small groups, weekly meeting with uplifting friends. When I filled myself up with support, the expensive things began to get less and less expensive - since I was filling myself up with them less and less!


• a daily walk with the dogs or even to the mailbox


• eating more from the produce section and less from the fast food, bakery section of the grocery store

There are so many, many, many ways that other caregivers have changed their lives first before impacting those around them... But that is the most important point - beginning with you - a very difficult thing to do in a world of giving but remember - we can not give what we do not already have. When we try, we face burnout.

Start with you - the rest will follow.