Get started with self care for dementia Care Partners
Are you a dementia Care Partner finding somedays more challenging to get through than others? What do you do for self care? In this article we are going to give you three quick self care tips to get you started. One and Two are going to be the easiest, and we want you to get to number THREE! So grab a piece of paper and answer our questions as we move along through the article.
Decide what time of day works best for you? Do you have more energy first thing in the morning or maybe at the end of the day? Knowing what time of day you can commit five to ten minutes of you time is the FIRST step. You get to decide to begin or end your day with a ritual you create for just YOU. There is no wrong time of day. Now you decide. Write down what time would work for you.
Let’s think about what you enjoy doing and how it feels after you finish. Is it doing a crossword, going for a run, or fooling around with art supplies? Knowing what you like to do and that afterwards you feel good is the SECOND step. It’s going to be something that supplies you with a benefit, refresh or centering. Write down all the self care strategies that came to mind. We want to create a bank of things you can do for yourself.
Here’s where we get stuck, the implementation. Now it’s time to implement ONE of those strategies and commit to doing them. We find that some clients work best when they schedule it into their weekly calendar. Is there a day this week that you can try one of your strategies? We bet you can, you will need to get out of your own way with this one. Go to your schedule and write or type a time into your schedule called “ME Time”. This where you commit to doing one thing for yourself.
Notice how it feels before and after you decide to implement your self care. Try to tell excuses in your head that you hear them, but it’s now time for you to focus on loving yourself and not critiquing. With continued awareness, we hope you can keep creating time for you to refresh, renew and re-establish time for you. You are worth it.
Let us know in the comments how you did!
If you’re looking for virtual Care Partner counseling, we are currently taking new clients. Contact us here and we’ll get back to you with one business day.