Does Sharing Make You a Better Caregiver?
Jul 18 2011 in Denise's Blog, What Do You Think? by Denise
On Saturday, Jennifer, who cares for her husband, Paul, joined me for Table Talk. You can listen to our show via the player at the bottom of the post.
During our conversation, Jennifer spoke about the feeling of camaraderie she feels from reading and sharing with fellow family caregivers. Her comments, as well as a recent post from Kristin, gave me a deeper insight about the power of sharing about a difficult life experience. Both Jennifer and Kristin spoke about taking inspiration from other family caregivers, that knowing others persevere inspires them to do the same.
So, I wonder: Do you think sharing about your experiences makes you a better family caregiver? Does sharing give you the energy (and, perhaps, faith) to keep going? Please share your thoughts in our comments section, below.
Updates
- Congrats to Brenda, who won autographed copies of Take Comfort, Too, Reflections of Hope for Caregivers and The Caregiving Years, Six Stages to a Meaningful Journey for sharing a six-word caregiving tip.
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Trish said on July 18, 2011
I enjoyed listening to you and Jennifer on Saturday (I couldn’t listen live as I had hoped but listened that morning). As Jennifer said, it is fun to get to know the “whole” person (their voice as well as blog).
Without question, sharing experiences – particularly with a group that is going through different situations but absolutely the same experience – makes me a better caregiver.
However, it’s entirely possible sharing may not have the same effect if the group/person you’re sharing with doesn’t have any caregiving experience.
If you asked us to rank how important sharing with this group is to me on a scale of 1 – 10, you’d get a 100 from me!