As carers, we need to look after ourselves whilst looking after others.
We also need to be bright and breezy all the time to keep the mood as light as possible. That’s why it’s so important to include ourselves in the care plan wherever possible. This can be difficult once caught up in the day to day chores placed in front of us.
The more demanding the client is, the more you need to make sure you get your well-deserved break. By the time we get that break we can be feeling totally drained, and just want to go and lie down to recover ready for the next few hours ahead. This is where we need to heed the advice of Gillian Vanbiljon, a carer and friend of mine:
Scene is set 🌬🌧 it’s cold and wet and 2pm which means what I would love to do is get into bed and snooze but what I chose to do was walk to town 😊 on my way back, free Waitrose coffee in one hand, shopping bag in the other, no hand for my umbrella so I just enjoyed the gentle rain on my face when my world brightened and yeah this just made me smile from ear to ear 🌳🍁 I now have pretty photos, 7000 steps on my clock for today and feeling a whole lot better than I would have, had I gone to sleep😴😴😴
What a fabulous attitude and see how the feelings lifted as Gillian made use of her situation and started to appreciate the free coffee and that gentle rain on her face, I could almost feel it myself when reading the post. Not always easy to do but well worth the effort. I also know how great and invigorated I’ve felt after returning from a walking break!
Others have chosen exercise.
I joined a yoga class a couple of years ago …….. I was 68 and the only class I could join at that time of day was full of 20 – 30-year-olds!
The teacher did suggest that I join a yoga for beginners group but once he realised that I could only do this in my break time he welcomed me into the class. Then the fun began, when we needed blocks for certain moves, the rest of the class was told to take two blocks and Lorna was told to take 6 blocks!
It certainly added some entertainment and I left feeling a lot better. I did keep going twice a week for two months until I moved to another booking. It certainly helped with my mindset and my body wasn’t so stressed.
Another suggestion is to join a pilates exercise group on YouTube. You don’t have to leave the house and can do 20-30 minutes at whatever time suits you and your breaks. You can then put everything you’ve got into it as nobody else will be watching you!
So far, we’ve just covered some of the forms of exercise that can be used to help with our mental health.
We’ll chat about other ways in future posts.