At Franklin Park® Senior Living, we take extra efforts to protect the state of our caregivers to ensure our residents receive the best care and support. In all of our communities, we take measures to avoid caregiver burnout.
If you are taking care of an elderly parent by yourself, it can be hard to remember to nurture yourself. It is just like that saying, to helps someone, you first must help yourself. Fortunately, we also know 6 ways to stay positive in caregiving actively.
1. Add Positive Things
This is a simple step we love to incorporate around our Franklin Park® communities. It is also very simple to add to your everyday life. If you include things you love, that are positive to everyone in the situation, it will bring a certain significant light to the room. Sometimes if you and your loved one both enjoy a specific type of music, then play it when you are doing daily tasks together.
Another way to incorporate positive things is to make time to read to your loved one. Also, plan to do something you both enjoy like creative hobbies to watching sports.
2. Surround Yourself with Positive People
If you surround yourself with positive people it will help you reflect on your own life in a more positive light. If you’re around people who you enjoy, it is much easier to be happier and keep a positive outlook. You can also develop positive affirmations for each other by acknowledging the things you do for each other. To incorporate friends into caregiving, invite someone you enjoy being around to help you cook dinner for your loved one.
3. Make Goals
When you make attainable goals and achieve them, it spurs the feeling of success. This can be applied in senior living in many ways. For example, at Franklin Park® Round Rock, we have high response times, rewarding the staff member who volunteers for leading an activity the most, and the employee who receives the most resident compliments per week. You can set personal goals for yourself or a group goal with the loved one you are caring for.
4. Exercise Your Body and Soul
Exercise is always a great way to be happier. Mentally, you feel better for making an effort for your health. Physically, you feel better from exercising because it releases endorphins in your brain to produce happier feelings. Within our senior living communities, we offer group exercise classes and events. You can lightly exercise with your loved one by signing up for one of those courses or walking around the neighborhood together. You should also “exercise your soul.” You can do this by attending caregiver support groups or participating in therapy to talk about your feelings and learn positive ways to deal with negative factors.
5. Don’t Sweat the Small Things
Everyone’s heard this before in their life, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” It simply means stop worrying about every little issue that pops up. If you are alive in good health and surrounded by those you love, then being late on rent or locking your keys in your car is not all that detrimental. If you take a calm, respective approach like this in caregiving, it will help things go more smoothly.
6. Find Your Way
There are various ways someone can tell you how to be happier. You will only be happier if you find your best way to get there. To find your own way, you can practice positive affirmations. It may sound silly, but if you repeat out loud to yourself, “I am a good caregiver,” it will make you feel more like one. Other affirmations may be more suited to your personality, but you have to find one that makes you feel better. You can also try having a positive quote or poster around where you spend most of your time care-taking. Little positive reminders go a long way!
Whether you incorporate one way or all six ways, the goal is just to be more positive about caregiving. Franklin Park® Senior Living asks its employees to integrate all these and implements these practices into the workplace. If you are interested in working with Franklin Park®, visit our Careers Page.