March Interview with Denise Brown

In the March interview with Denise Brown of CareGiving.com, we talked about the stress of a working caregiver. I realized during our conversation there is a baseline of normal for my stress level and then there is a line that when I cross it, know I am under too much stress.

I feel it from my toes to the top of my head. I am tense and focused on plowing through the situation. My lips are pursed, my eyes are squinty and I forget to eat, drink and go to the bathroom.

Grumpy Cat - Always full of wisdom

Stress builds up and is manageable until it isn’t.  It can be one little thing that makes me cross that line (an unexpected work project; a deadline that has been moved up; a cluster of seizures Robert experiences or the question “why don’t you handle ‘insert project here’ this way?”).

I AM GOOD AT MY JOB SO LET ME DO IT!

There is a line and I know when I have crossed it.

I get cranky (see above) and need to indulge in self-care.  What if there isn’t time for that?  Then I postpone the self-care for a short-period of time (a day, a week) but I know that it will happen. For me, self-care is usually a manicure or pedicure (or if I am really indulgent, both). If my schedule is so packed that I cannot indulge in that block of time, I know that I have to do something to relax – maybe just watch a television show or have unproductive computer time (you know, watching cute cat or dog videos).

Where is your line?  What do you do when you have crossed from the manageable stress level to the “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” level?

I invite you to share what pushes you over that line in the comment section below.  

Also, please join us the second Saturday of each month to listen live so you can participate and ask questions or comment in the chatroom during the show.  I look forward to the show with Denise and as we also discussed this month, the shows are a great collection of the ups and downs of caregiving – each month is a new episode.

Denise asked what I hope to talk about in April. I told her I hope to have the house sold and have us well on the way to moving into a one-story house. That is an episode I would like to end soon!

I think I might actually yell, “That’s a wrap!” when we sign on a new house – someone get me a megaphone!  

Thank you for listening (and reading). 

The March show can be heard here.