Tips for Managing Your Caregiver Guilt

Caregiver guilt can be extremely difficult to face. Often accompanying stress, guilt stems from not feeling as though you aren’t doing enough for your parent, that you are making the wrong decisions for them, or that you are disappointing others in your life.

Home Care Services in Reston VA: Caregiver Guilt

This can leave you feeling stressed, burned out, and hopeless, which can result in serious mental, emotional, and even physical consequences. Finding ways to manage caregiver guilt can help you to preserve your well-being, and be the best caregiver possible for your senior as they age in place.

Use these tips to help you manage your caregiver guilt:

-Evaluate why you are feeling guilty.
You feel guilt, but why? Take the time to evaluate what is really making you feel guilty, and then use that to resolve the situation. Are you actually feeling guilty because you aren’t devoting enough time to your care efforts for your parent? Or are you actually feeling guilty because your parent is telling you they want to spend more time with you, and you aren’t able to?
These are two different situations. If you have a busy schedule, remind yourself you have other things you need to do, and that you spend as much time as you can with your parent. Focus on making the time you have with them as meaningful as possible.

-Remind yourself of why you had to make a hard decision.
Sometimes you will make decisions that are very difficult and may leave you feeling guilty. For example, you may need to transition your senior out of their home to a smaller home, or even into your home. You may feel guilty they aren’t able to be in the home they love any longer and feel like you have negatively impacted their life. Remind yourself that you had them move so they are safer, more comfortable, have more comfortable finances, and are closer to you to receive more care.

-Take a break from your care.
When you are deeply invested in something, it is easy to no longer have perspective. When you feel guilty about everything you do in your caregiver experience, take a step back. Have other members of your care network step in to take care of your aging parent, or take advantage of respite care to ensure your parent has access to all the care they need. You can then take a break and allow your mind to heal. When you return, you can see your parent’s needs, and your efforts, with a clearer perspective that can ease your guilt.

How can home care services help?

There’s a common misconception that starting senior care is about a caregiver not wanting to care for their parent, or not caring about their parent’s quality of life. This is absolutely not the case. Starting a senior care routine is an exceptional way to show your parent how much you care about their health and well-being, and your dedication to supporting it at the highest quality of life as they age in place.

Making a senior home care services provider a part of your care routine enables you to utilize your energy and resources in the most effective ways, gives your parent opportunities for independence and engagement with the world around them they wouldn’t otherwise have, and also eases stress and tension that can be detrimental to your relationship with your parent, and the quality of care you give. With the customized care of a senior care provider, both of you can enjoy a higher quality of life, while still knowing their health, safety, and overall well-being are being managed in the ways that are right for them.

Are you or a loved-one considering Home Care Services in Reston, VA?  Please call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today. Contact: 703-273-8818

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Michelle DeFilippis

I graduated with a BS degree and had been selling medical equipment to hospitals, clinics and technicians. More recently, a family member was diagnosed with dementia and we, as a family, realized we were not prepared t care for her. We were thrown into that whirlpool of hospital stays, 24/7 live-in care, skilled care, caring for mom ourselves and finally, now daily home care. This was such a stressful time that I started thinking there had to be other people, other families as overwhelmed and unprepared as we were.

Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.

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