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Practicing gratitude can help lighten even the most stressful days and deliver wonderful health benefits. 

Here are some gratitude suggestions for you to practice:

-Take time each night to write down something that happened today that made you grateful.

-When you are feeling negative about what is lacking in your life, consciously consider all that is positive in your life.

-Call a friend or family member and let them know how grateful you are for them being in your life.

Our perspectives are important influences on our thinking and can ultimately contribute to our actions. 

What is so important is not to blindly and quickly  agree to the meaning others place on their perceptions unless they are in alignment with your values and understanding of a situation and how it can positively influence your behavior. 

It is amazing how many times we can be in the throes of disruptive issues and as odd as it may sound not be fully aware of how we are emotionally being influenced by them until we have passed our tipping point. 

The opportunity is to become aware of how we are physically and emotionally reacting (notice I didn’t say responding) to the situation sooner than later and begin making adjustments in our response and behavior as early as possible with the specific event. 

Ever heard the urban myth about the frog slowly acclimating to a pot of boiling water? Turns out, taking on more and more responsibilities as a family caregiver can feel pretty similar.

As family caregivers, there are SO many things that happen in our daily lives that are out of our control. But what about the little things that we CAN control that can have an immediate positive result in our lives? 

Let’s dive into a few together.

Let’s talk about personal boundaries for family caregivers. 

Setting expectations for others around how you expect to be treated isn’t mean. It’s not you stiff-arming the people around you. 

It’s you giving yourself the opportunity to say “yes” to more things that bring you joy.

We are nothing without our support systems. The family caregiver community has always been an incredibly important source of knowledge and inspiration for me. Here are just a few things I’ve learned from them over the last 21+ years of my #caregiving experience.

In 2021, the estimated economic value of family caregivers’ unpaid contributions was approximately $600 billion.

Without family caregivers, that would fall on the public sector to subsidize in one way or another. 

We don’t need a “thank you,” or a pat on the back.  We need help – real help – through sustainable programs and support systems built to care for our country’s family caregivers. 

However, make sure self-care is at the center of all your caregiver support.