A friend recounted the other day why she fell in love. “He made me feel safe,” she said.
The relationships we love are the ones in which we feel safe, protected. We feel safe to be ourselves. We feel safe, knowing we have a partner who helps row the boat during difficult times and who wants us to be our best.
Sometimes, we also form relationships with situation. And, so it is with caregiving. It’s a tough relationship, the one with caregiving. It can be hard to love it. And, the uncertainty and unknowns of caregiving can unsettle you into a place of feeling quite unsafe.
When caregiving nudges you into feeling unsafe (unsure, unsteady, hesitant), how do you move into feeling safe (confident, sure-footed, tall)? Please share your thoughts in our comments section.
Resources
Decisions from the Head and Heart
When You Want to Walk, How to Stay
Program Note: Your Caregiving Journey airs today at 1 p.m. CT. Linda Rosen, a long-distance caregiver to her mom, will talk about her decision to move her mom to assisted living and working well with her brother. Listen here.
Finding support here and with Denise’s coaching has been such a wonderful feeling of safety netting for me. Since my brothers and other family members are not in agreement with what we are doing, I have never felt how supported my responsibilities as caregiver could be, before this site.
I think as we grow up, our parents help us to feel safe and then when they show such dependance on us, that feeling of safety slowly subsides. This afternoon, my mother and I were looking at old pictures. For a few moments, reminiscing with her, helped me to feel that safety that I felt years ago.