Caregiving is not a time in your life to care what other people think.
Were you raised never to question a doctor?
Not to speak up?
To accept and not ask?
Welp, throw that all out the window.
When you become a caregiver, all the rules and etiquette NEED to go out the window. You are now driving down a highway going 100 mph and cannot remember the last time the breaks were checked.
Questioning everyone and everything is how you survive.
You are now the voice for not only yourself but for another person; Another person who may one day not be able to use their voice themselves and will rely on you to use yours to express their every need.
Caregiving is not a time in your life to care what other people think.
Remember the infamous Jersey Shore fight between Sammi Sweetheart and JWoww?! Sammi just wanted to know the truth and Jenni and Snooki hid behind a letter.
Don’t be Jwoww and Snooki.
If you know something, say something.
Being a caregiver means you know how to care best.
Ask questions.
If you are unsure of something, have them explain it.
Disagree with their plan? Have them make another.
This is the time in your life to throw out those childhood rules, to ask, question, and disagree.
Caregiving is NOT a time to care what others think.
Care for yourself.
Care for your loved ones.
Go to bed knowing that you asked; you spoke up, you TRIED. At the end of the day (and let’s face it, the days are long), all you can do is try your hardest.
Yes, people might be uncomfortable.
Yes, YOU might be uncomfortable.
Yes, people might be mad.
But aren’t people already mad? Aren’t we all already uncomfortable?
Go to bed knowing you tried.
Knowing you asked.
Knowing you cared about yourself and your loved one.
The rest of the people WILL GET OVER IT.
(and if there are people in your life that for some reason don’t… that shows you more about them than it does about you- remember that.)
Caregiving is not a time in your life to care what other people think.
It is a time to care for yourself and your loved ones and to survive another day.
Speak up, ask questions, be THAT person and sleep easier knowing you tried your damn hardest because as a caregiver, that feels like the only thing we can do some days.
