What Concrete Steps Can You Take to Cope with Feeling Unappreciated?
Feeling unappreciated is a downer for most everyone.
As a caregiver feeling unappreciated can sap all your energy and make an already challenging task even more so. But the good news is that there are some things that you can do for yourself that can really help.
Make Self-care Your Number One Priority
You’ve almost definitely heard about the airplane mask analogy and that’s because it’s accurate. If you’re not taking care of yourself it’s incredibly difficult to take care of anyone else, no matter how much you might want to do so. You have to make the time to meet your needs. Many caregivers find that hiring home care providers give them the space they need in order to do this effectively.
Keep Track of All the Great Things You Do
It might sound silly, but start keeping a list of all the cool stuff you do. Maybe you got through a phone call with your elderly family member’s insurance company without needing to scream afterward. Or maybe you remembered to make a grocery list this week and brought it with you. These little accomplishments sound like they are nothin, but think about how you feel when you don’t hit those marks. You probably get angry at yourself or express some other negative emotion. Give yourself kudos for every single little thing you do.
Watch How You Talk to Yourself
Meanwhile, even when things aren’t going your way, think carefully about how you talk to yourself. If you call yourself names when you forget the grocery list or forget to put an important item on the list, that’s not doing you any good. The world is negative enough to individual people. You can at least be kind to yourself.
Set up a Reward System for Yourself
It works for kids and pets, so why not try it for yourself? If you set up a reward system, you might find that you’re more likely to stick with things like your self-care plan or your positive self-talk. The rewards can be anything you want that makes you happy because this is about doing something nice just for you.
How you take care of yourself is going to be the key to backing out of this potential problem. You can’t make anyone else, even your aging adult, give you the appreciation that you need or want. But you can support yourself so that you’re in a better position to pat yourself on the back.