Caring for Care-givers

Care-giving takes many forms, and, whilst rewarding, it can take it’s toll too.  I often think of care-givers as being energy banks, who give their precious energy to others who need it, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional.  But all too often the care-giver can find themselves in a position of crisis with nothing left for themselves, running on empty and devoid of energy. So it’s important to recognise this and act before crisis occurs.  Re-charging can take many forms; a walk outdoors, a coffee and chat with a friend, a long bath, a weekend away or maybe just re-engaging with yourself.   Our thinking patterns have a huge impact on how we feel and can either energise us or sap vital resources.  For instance, if you ‘feel guilty’ for taking some time for yourself where does that come from?  Maybe you grew up believing that taking time for yourself is ‘selfish’ and being selfish is a really bad thing/trait?   How would it feel if you re-thought the concept of ‘selfish’ and thought of it as something everyone needs to be, from time-to-time, to keep themselves healthy?  So rather than saying ‘Yes’ to everything you can say ‘No’ and give yourself time to re-charge. Let’s face it, your phone would be useless if you didn’t re-charge it and so would your car if it wasn’t re-fuelled….   So why would we expect ourselves to keep going without a re-charge?