Can Your Thoughts Affect Your Stress Levels?
July 28, 2020
You may not realize how your own mental approach to caregiving and to the situations you encounter as a caregiver affect your stress levels. If you can make some shifts to those thought patterns and processes, you can see some amazing results very quickly.
Change Your Perspective
How are you looking at the situation? The angle from which you’re viewing things might allow you to only see the parts that are negative or more stressful. If you can adjust your perspective, that can do so much to not only reduce your stress levels, but also to improve your overall attitude. This isn’t about lying to yourself or making anything up. It’s about deliberately seeking out all of the facts.
What’s the Big Picture?
You might also want to ask yourself how the situation you’re facing fits into the big picture. If the situation that has you concerned or upset is really not a factor in the big picture, that might mean that your perspective is still a bit skewed. Make sure that you’ve got everything framed properly so that you’re assigning the proper importance to certain concerns.
Your Requirements Might Be Too High
It’s not unusual at all for a caregiver to have very high standards or requirements for a specific situation. When those standards aren’t met, that’s a stressor. It’s worth looking at those expectations, though. Are you expecting perfection or something close to perfect? If you are, that can be an indication that you’re actually asking too much of yourself or of the situation at large. You really can adjust your own standards to something that’s more realistic and not do harm.
You Need Time to Decompress
Another factor in stress and stress management is allowing yourself time to decompress regularly. As a caregiver, that’s a crucial step in the process. You have got to be able to focus on yourself and your own needs from time to time. If you’re not allowing yourself to do that, you’re likely to find that your stress levels continue to climb instead of reaching even a plateau. It’s time to give yourself time away so that you can recover and come back better than ever.
How you’re thinking and how you’re applying those thoughts to your caregiving journey have more of an impact than you might expect. The important part to remember is that your senior deserves for you to be the best caregiver you can be just as you deserve the best caregiving experience you can provide.
If you or your loved one is looking for a Caregiver in Saratoga, CA, please call Familiar Surroundings Home Care.
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