The Sunday Question

We think about how to lengthen our lives, but what if we also thought about how to expand our days? In this episode, we explore how creating intentional moments with who and what we love can make even our most difficult days feel full and complete. When we expand a good moment, we find relief from our stress and a way to cope with heartache. Our life is up.

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Image by beasternchen from Pixabay

We may know so many struggling right now. We may be in our own awful struggle. In this week's Sunday Question, we explore the healing power of listening—both for those we care about and for ourselves. Listening requires just our time, attention and presence. We don't need to purchase supplies or secure resources. We just need to sit with another. Join us as we reflect on this question: "How can I hear and be heard?" and consider who in our lives needs to be heard and who can hear us.

Resources

• Tell us what weighs heavy on your heart; connect with a Volunteer Listening Artist during our Caregiving Listener Project on February 21.
• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

This week, we're taking a page from winter's beautiful snowflakes and exploring what it means to be fluffy. In this Sunday Question episode, discover three meaningful ways to add fluff to your life: by celebrating the good outcomes you've created through hard work, by deepening your time with those you love, and by enriching those precious few minutes you find for yourself each day. Learn how a simple daily question—"What can I fluff today?"—can become a gentle reminder that you have permission to soften, celebrate, and savor the moments that matter. Perfect for caregivers seeking small ways to bring more warmth and intention to their week.

Resources

• Track your daily positives with Denise on her community, Caring Our Way. Look for a prompt posted at 8:45 p.m. ET (7:45 p.m. CT, 5:45 p.m. PT) every evening.
• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.

When you're helping someone through their struggle, it can feel impossible to return to your own life—your work, your family, your routines. Witnessing another's pain changes us, and it makes sense that we struggle with moving forward when their life feels so tragic.

But here's the truth: we can do both. We can show up for others and tend to our own lives. In this episode, Denise explores the guilt and dissonance so many caregivers feel, and offers a powerful daily question to help you navigate this tension: "How will I do both?"

Because when we sacrifice too much of ourselves today, we sacrifice our ability to give enough tomorrow. Taking care of ourselves isn't selfish—it's how we become healthier, more impactful helpers.

Do you find yourself constantly managing, checking in, sending messages? This Sunday Question invites you to consider the freedom that comes from letting things—and people—be. What would change if you gave everyone (including yourself) a breather?

Be sure to share what you'll leave be.

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• If you'd like, check out my redesigned website: careyearsacademy.com.
• Image by elenaros from Pixabay

We spend so much energy thinking about how we arrive—the impression we make, the moment we step into a room. But what about how we leave?

This week, Denise explores the often-overlooked art of intentional endings. From the kind words that linger after we're gone to the painful memories we finally release, leaving behind is about so much more than closing the door.

Discover how being thoughtful about what we leave behind—both the good we offer others and the burdens we let go of—actually deepens our ability to show up fully in life.

Start your day this week asking yourself: "What will I leave behind?"

Be sure to share what you'll leave behind. 

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay.

We often worry about what others think—will they like it? Will they approve? But what about you? In this week's Sunday Question, Denise explores why your own approval matters most, and shares how she intentionally built her programs around what she loves rather than trying to please everyone. Discover four practical ways to make yourself your most important audience member and start your week with a question that shifts everything: "How will I keep my audience of one content?"

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Image by Mizter_X94 from Pixabay
• Join our community, CaringOurWay.com.

We can change. We can change our habits, our routines, our priorities and our values—without seeking permission and without offering detailed explanations. In this week's Sunday Question, Denise explores what it means to claim your own authority to be different in the way that works for you. Discover how to make meaningful changes with simple, honest statements that honor what you need right now. What will you change so you can be and feel better?

Stop by our community, CaringOurWay.com, and share your better change.

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Adjusting to life after caregiving ends? Check out Denise's book, After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again.
• Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay

About Denise 

Denise supports individuals managing difficult life experiences with coaching, planning and training. Through her work, Denise helps clients find hope, possibilities and a path forward. Denise began helping individuals who care for a family member in 1990 and launched a business to help them in 1995. She created one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996 which she managed until its sale in 2020.

Denise now develops and delivers training programs for the workplace and for individuals who want to coach family caregivers. More than 400 individuals from eight different countries have enrolled in her training programs offered through her company, The Caregiving Years Training Academy. Her training programs have been approved to provide Continuing Education Units to health care professionals, including nurses, and human resource professionals.

Denise also hosts an online community, CaringOurWay.com, that supports individuals during and after their personal caregiving experience. Community members enjoy free workshops and special events like the Caregiving Listener Project and the 36-Hour Christmas Chat. Denise is the author of several books that provide insights, comfort and hope to those who care, including The Caregiving Guide, Your Go-To Reference and Companion During All Stages of Your Caregiving Experience, and After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again. Her free resource, A Workbook for Your Workplace Wellness, helps individuals who care, grieve and work.

Denise began helping her parents in 2004 after her father’s bladder cancer diagnosis. Her mom, who had Parkinson’s disease, died in August 2022, one year to the date after Denise’s brother died. Her father died in July 2023.

Next Avenue named Denise a 2017 Influencer in Aging, one of “50 advocates, researchers, thought leaders, innovators, writers and experts who continue to push beyond traditional boundaries and change our understanding of what it means to grow older.” Her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News & World Report, USA Today, SmartMoney.com, Time magazine and Chicago Tribune.

Before starting a new project or task, Denise considers what she's already created that can be duplicated. When you duplicate and then tweak, you save yourself tons of time—and often end up with better results.

In this episode, we explore the power of duplication across different areas of life: from recipes and weekly schedules to family systems and creative practices. You'll discover how repeating the same process can free you from decision fatigue while still allowing room for variety and creativity.

Whether you're managing a household, planning an event, or nurturing a creative practice, this question will help you work smarter: What can you duplicate?

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

About Denise 

Denise supports individuals managing difficult life experiences with coaching, planning and training. Through her work, Denise helps clients find hope, possibilities and a path forward. Denise began helping individuals who care for a family member in 1990 and launched a business to help them in 1995. She created one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996 which she managed until its sale in 2020.

Denise now develops and delivers training programs for the workplace and for individuals who want to coach family caregivers. More than 400 individuals from eight different countries have enrolled in her training programs offered through her company, The Caregiving Years Training Academy. Her training programs have been approved to provide Continuing Education Units to health care professionals, including nurses, and human resource professionals.

Denise also hosts an online community, CaringOurWay.com, that supports individuals during and after their personal caregiving experience. Community members enjoy free workshops and special events like the Caregiving Listener Project and the 36-Hour Christmas Chat. Denise is the author of several books that provide insights, comfort and hope to those who care, including The Caregiving Guide, Your Go-To Reference and Companion During All Stages of Your Caregiving Experience, and After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again. Her free resource, A Workbook for Your Workplace Wellness, helps individuals who care, grieve and work.

Denise began helping her parents in 2004 after her father’s bladder cancer diagnosis. Her mom, who had Parkinson’s disease, died in August 2022, one year to the date after Denise’s brother died. Her father died in July 2023.

Next Avenue named Denise a 2017 Influencer in Aging, one of “50 advocates, researchers, thought leaders, innovators, writers and experts who continue to push beyond traditional boundaries and change our understanding of what it means to grow older.” Her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News & World Report, USA Today, SmartMoney.com, Time magazine and Chicago Tribune.

The world can feel cold, especially to those of us committed to excellence. We pour our best efforts into our work, extend helping hands to those in need, and offer our brightest ideas—only to face criticism, doubt, and endless demands from those who seem to take more than they give. This week's Sunday Question explores why the world can be especially cruel to excellence-driven people, and more importantly, how we can create warmth for ourselves. Discover five concrete ways to stay snug, and reflect on the question that can anchor your entire week: How can I stay snug today?

Stop by our community, CaringOurWay.com, and share how you stay snug.

Resources

• The Sunday Question, Volume Two, is out on Kindle and paperback. The journal helps you track which questions work best for you. Add our A Good Morning for You journal to give yourself good starts.
• (Image by Alberto Antonio Peguero De Leon from Pixabay.)

About Denise 

Denise supports individuals managing difficult life experiences with coaching, planning and training. Through her work, Denise helps clients find hope, possibilities and a path forward. Denise began helping individuals who care for a family member in 1990 and launched a business to help them in 1995. She created one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996 which she managed until its sale in 2020.

Denise now develops and delivers training programs for the workplace and for individuals who want to coach family caregivers. More than 400 individuals from eight different countries have enrolled in her training programs offered through her company, The Caregiving Years Training Academy. Her training programs have been approved to provide Continuing Education Units to health care professionals, including nurses, and human resource professionals.

Denise also hosts an online community, CaringOurWay.com, that supports individuals during and after their personal caregiving experience. Community members enjoy free workshops and special events like the Caregiving Listener Project and the 36-Hour Christmas Chat. Denise is the author of several books that provide insights, comfort and hope to those who care, including The Caregiving Guide, Your Go-To Reference and Companion During All Stages of Your Caregiving Experience, and After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again. Her free resource, A Workbook for Your Workplace Wellness, helps individuals who care, grieve and work.

Denise began helping her parents in 2004 after her father’s bladder cancer diagnosis. Her mom, who had Parkinson’s disease, died in August 2022, one year to the date after Denise’s brother died. Her father died in July 2023.

Next Avenue named Denise a 2017 Influencer in Aging, one of “50 advocates, researchers, thought leaders, innovators, writers and experts who continue to push beyond traditional boundaries and change our understanding of what it means to grow older.” Her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News & World Report, USA Today, SmartMoney.com, Time magazine and Chicago Tribune.