By Kathy Birth
The podcast currently has 9 episodes available.
In this episode, Anne shares two very funny caregiver experiences that she has recently had while caring for her mom. These stories lead us to determine the two most important qualities every caregiver must have or can develop, to do a good job, and survive the experience.
This is a fun episode we think any caregiver could relate to and we also give practical tips to help make your caregiving days more enjoyable.
We hope you enjoyed and related to these caregiving stories! If you are giving care to a spouse or parent and haven’t asked the hard questions, things like wills, final wishes, and more, grab your free copy of my Ebook The Playbook To Asking Your Aging Spouse Or Parent The Hard Questions.
To continue the conversation of this episode of the podcast, head on over to our free Facebook group, Caregiving Kinda Sucks. We would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy
Website
Kathy & Anne
Caregiving kinda sucks Facebook Group
In this episode Anne and I discuss what it’s been like to be caregiving during a pandemic. It’s funny how this works in the sense that caregiving is fairly isolating at any given time. However, to be told you can’t go anywhere and suddenly, you feel confined!
Anne and I are on opposite sides of a caregiving spectrum. She is caring for her 77 year old mom who has had a stroke and is also dealing with Alzheimers. I am caregiving for my 25 year old son who is unable to walk or speak. But truly, it’s all the same in many ways!
We chat about our collective experiences with tele-appointments and the downside of not being able to have outpatient procedures. We also touch on what it’s been like to get back to being seen by doctors in person.
And finally, we talk a bit about how caregiving could have a much better landscape for future generations. It’s a wishlist or a dream list of sorts!
We hope you were able to navigate through this pandemic without any issues! If you are giving care to a spouse or parent and haven’t asked the hard questions, things like wills, final wishes and more, grab your free copy of my Ebook The Playbook To Asking Your Aging Spouse Or Parent The Hard Questions.
To see the items and setups we discuss in this episode of the podcast, head on over to our free Facebook group, Caregiving Kinda Sucks. We would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy
Website
Kathy & Anne
Caregiving kinda sucks Facebook Group
This week Anne and I discuss tips and tricks we’ve learned over the course of our caregiving days. We’ve broken down into Morning, Day and Evening suggestions. You will find helpful ideas from supporting mood to helping dry mouth and coated tongue! Tips to be more organized along with some hidden causes of agitation and headaches!
We hope you find ideas that will give you some much needed help and also some peace of mind. If you are giving care to a spouse or parent and haven’t asked the hard questions, things like wills, final wishes and more, grab your free copy of my Ebook The Playbook To Asking Your Aging Spouse Or Parent The Hard Questions.
To see the items and setups we discuss in this episode of the podcast, head on over to our free Facebook group, Caregiving Kinda Sucks. We would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy
Website
Kathy & Anne
Caregiving kinda sucks Facebook Group
Welcome Home. In this episode Anne and I are talking about gaining control over our fears. We discuss some of the most common fears that come up for caregivers and give solid tips on how to overcome them. It’s not uncommon for caregivers to have fears around the future, their own health and endurance, or watching their loved ones suffer. Throw a pandemic in the mix and we have to say enough is enough!
We hope you find these tips helpful and that you begin to see, with the right tools on hand, you can begin to feel comforted and empowered.
Utilizing tools such as essential oils, prayer, music and more, helps you to overcome those overwhelming fears that pop into one's mind. They help to ground and calm these fears allowing for you to deepen your connections with your loved one, God and yourself. If you haven't gotten your free copy of my ebook, Bible and oils, A Seven Day Devotion be sure and grab a copy today.
Thanks for listening! I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode, till the next time you follow us home, so long.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to my free Facebook group, Caregiving Kinda Sucks. I would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy:
Website
Caregiving kinda sucks Facebook Group
“ It’s about taking a moment for yourself and inviting God in. What I like about the oils is they reach every sense. I watch the steam rise up from my diffuser and it’s as if my prayers are being sent up to God.”
In this episode of Caregiving Kinda Sucks, Anne and I talk about Caregiver Guilt and the impact it has on our physical and mental well being. We tackle the top 5 areas we find guilt and share tips on how to not only overcome this guilt, but also how to reframe it in order to have it not hurt us. We also share which essential oils are most helpful in this area and exactly how to use them.
We hope you find these tips helpful and that you feel equipped with new ways to start bringing more joy into your everyday life.
Utilizing tools such as essential oils, prayer, music and more, not only helps you to find hope, they help to fill you with hope and allow for you to deepen your connections with your loved one, God and yourself. If you haven't gotten your free copy of my ebook, Bible and oils, A Seven Day Devotion be sure and grab a copy today.
Thanks for listening! I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode, till the next time you follow us home, so long.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to my free Facebook group, Caregiving Kinda Sucks. I would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy:
Website
Caregiving kinda sucks Facebook Group
Quote: “But, here’s the thing, you know God, too. The truth of the matter is this, everyone knows God, it’s just a matter of shifting our vision to notice Him. Today, more than ever, we can use God to help us in finding hope.”
You’ve been learning about essential oils and just how easily they can be incorporated into what you are already doing with your loved one and how powerful a transition, you can expect to have when you do. Which leads us into today's episode, which is all about hope. Every caregiver deserves to have hope. And in this episode, I have my good friend, Anne Birth joining me. We talk about Faith, oils and so much more.
“But, here’s the thing, you know God, too.
The truth of the matter is this, everyone knows God, it's just a matter of shifting our vision to notice Him. Today more than ever, we can use God to help us in finding hope.”
I was hopeless for a long time in my caregiving duties. What I didn't realize, at the time, was that I was pushing away, instead of leaning into. I felt abandoned by God. If only I had just leaned in to listen and to realize that he was there the whole time, it would have made my caregiving a lot easier in the earlier days.
This can happen often with caregivers because we get so overwhelmed with the next step. And the next step. And the next step that we lose sight of who's with us. And, sometimes we're only going to have enough light from God to see the next step. One step at a time. We often want to see the whole picture. And life doesn’t offer that to anyone.
But there's always a little bit of light. So there is always hope. That is, if we don't focus so much on the task or so much on the darkness. We must look for that little bit of light because every day. There's a little bit of light, even when you're in the thick of it, of caregiving. We can miss this opportunity. We can overlook it. The hardest part of caregiving is watching your loved one decline. And the second hardest is everything else. There is nothing easy about it, which is why we tend to lose our hope.
In this episode we teach ways to keep hope alive. Not just for the caregiver but for the patient too. After all, life has changed for them, also. We need to remember how hard it is for them as their lives have changed profoundly, too.
Utilizing tools such as essential oils, prayer, music and more, not only helps you to find hope, they help to fill you with hope and allow for you to deepen your connections with your loved one, God and yourself.
Thanks for listening! I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and I will see you next week.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to my free Facebook group, At Home Oils. I would LOVE to connect with you and help support you along your caregiving journey.
Connect with Kathy:
Website
At Home Oils Facebook Group
“The idea is to first release trapped negative emotions before we can receive what we really want positive feelings.”
In this week's episode of Caregiving Kinda Sucks, we are breaking down specifically healing your heart. This process can be broken down into two steps:
This work is not easy. But it is so worth it, and utilizIng essential oils to help release what you don’t want to hold on to has created such amazing results for people. That is why this episode focuses on the two step process mentioned above and incorporating essential oils into the process to have the most transformational results.
Thanks for listening! I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and I will see you next week.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, take a screenshot, head on over to Instagram and share it your IG stories and tag me, @caregiving_kinda_sucks
Connect with Kathy:
Website
At Home Oils Facebook Group
“What you might not be aware of in regards to your own health as a caregiver is this. … I have a feeling that these stats might be a bit higher now, but [a study from 1999] found that caregivers have a 63 percent higher mortality rate than non caregivers.”
On this episode of Caregiving Kinda Sucks, I want to talk about caregiver burnout and the toll caregiving takes on the caregiver, as well as tips to combat the burnout. I’m sure we’re all aware of the exhaustion, the stress, the overwhelm and even depression we experience, but I don’t think we always recognize the toll it takes on us, both physically and emotionally.
In order to combat this burnout, I want to share my top 5 tips for practicing realistic self-care for the busy caregiver. These tips include getting rid of the news to help eliminate negativity and getting outdoors to enjoy the fresh air, to name a few. I hope you find these tips helpful, and they equip you with new ways to start to bring more joy into your everyday life.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, take a screenshot, head on over to Instagram and share it your IG stories and tag me, @caregiving_kinda_sucks
Connect with Kathy:
Website
At Home Oils Facebook Group
Welcome to Caregiving Kinda Sucks. I am your host, Kathy Birth, and I really wanted to take the time in this first episode to share with you who I am and my background as a caregiver and an avid holistic health care researcher. I have been a caregiver for my son, Carter, for over two decades and it is my passion and mission to help fellow caregivers find comfort and joy in their daily caregiving duties.
In my experience, I’ve noticed that people become caregivers in one of two ways. The first, is they slowly take over the caregiving role as your loved one slowly gets sick or their condition worsens. The second, is very quickly due to a tragic accident, such as a stroke or car accident.
For me, it was a slow transition as my son’s condition worsened, and I slowly became absorbed with taking care of him and meeting his needs, while forgetting all of my passions and the things that brought me joy. When we started using essential oils for my son, and not only did his condition improve, but my stress and anxiety lessened and finally disappeared.
I hope to provide an outlet and avenue for other caregivers, such as myself, to learn, grow and change the way they provide care as well as their perspective on being a caregiver.
If you have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, take a screenshot, head on over to Instagram and share it your IG stories and tag me, @caregiving_kinda_sucks
Connect with Kathy:
Website
At Home Oils Facebook Group
The podcast currently has 9 episodes available.