Caregivers often experience emotions that they don't want to admit to.  Your role as a caregiver is unique to you and your loved one and you will experience your own versions of emotion.  In this episode, I discuss the emotion that I observe the most in my role as an OT working with caregivers and their loved ones and it is resentment.

Ways to recognize your emotion are discussed.  What to do when you encounter your main emotion.  Ways to minimize the power of the emotion over you and your loved one: 

• Minimizing the challenges of everyday activities 
• recognize what part of the day that is contributing to this emotion
• recognize your emotion, own it, down let it own your day
• Create a path to move through the emotion
• Pick one thing ( start with just 1) in your day that you can alter with your loved one, to allow for less contribution to this emotion
• Make more time for yourself
• talk to your loved one about your feeling and your goal
• avoid a task and/or strain of a task creating a wedge between you and your loved one

Make your needs known to your support team ( therapists, MDs, family, friends).  I have been guilty of minimizing the role of the caregiver and the strain that they experience as an OT until I started asking the right questions to figure out what aspects of daily life could be going better and what I could do to help.  Caregivers, speak up, and let us know what is hard for you to do or what scares you.  Ask for help.  It is okay for you to feel whatever feeling you are experiencing and you are not alone.  

I would really appreciate you leaving me a comment, sharing your needs with me so I can make an effort to address them in future episodes: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/658781718322974

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If you need more help/support on your caregiving journey, you can find it over at https://www.caregiverbydesign.com/coaching
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