CAREGIVERS’ STRATEGIES FOR SELF-CARE

 

• Attend to your inner work. Develop your relationship with God.
• Listen to your hurts by paying attention to your body, emotions and dreams.
• Get in touch with what you want and need. (It’s O.K.. for you to have needs, too! You are as much a child of God as those you serve.)
• Ask the Holy Spirit to help you acknowledge the damage you have done to others.
• Learn to accept love, nurturance, and forgiveness.
• Set your priorities and stick to them.
• Plan your work and work your plan.
• Learn a stress reduction technique. (Walking, nature, hobbies, deep breathing, prayer, journal-writing, creative arts, yell in a room or car by yourself, physical exercise, beating on a pillow, chi gong or tai-chi, etc.)
• Know your limitations, and respect them.
• Don’t confuse your activity or caring for others with your identity.
• Block out time for yourself. (Steven Covey calls this "sharpening the saw".)
• When in doubt, check it out.
• That was then; this is now. (Don’t live in the past and hang on to hurts.)
• Keep the doorknob on the inside of your door. (You have a right to set
• "boundaries" on your time and energy and to keep some things private.)
• Pay attention to your body and its needs.
• Do what you love, and love what you do.
• Stay close to those who give you life.
• Maintain at least one creative outlet.
• Find a mentor or supervisor if you are volunteering in a "counseling" situation.
• When you need help, admit it and get it.