Four Steps for Assessing What You Need

By Jamie Shapiro | January 15, 2020 | Comments Off on Four Steps for Assessing What You Need

You might not feel as if what you need is important, but that’s not true. As your senior’s caregiver, it’s vital that you’re getting what you need in order to keep going for your elderly family member.

Pay Attention to Health Needs

Caregiver Evanston, IL: Four Steps for Assessing What You Need

It’s probably a given that if you’ve been neglecting yourself, health needs are at the top of the list of what you’ve been ignoring. So start there. If you haven’t been to your own doctor in a while, make an appointment. Get as full a picture as you can of what you’re dealing with in terms of your own health. Make any changes you can now, before you run into a situation in which your health takes over and you no longer have any choice.

Schedule Some Downtime

It’s also important that you take some time in which you can relax, especially if you haven’t done that in a while. Very often having some downtime, even if it’s just for a couple of hours or an entire afternoon, gives your brain a chance to sift through your needs and help you determine what’s most important. It’s vital that you make this a regular happening. Yes, there’s a lot to do as a caregiver, but ignoring your need for downtime isn’t going to help you.

Find Ways to Create More Spare Time for Yourself

The big problem with scheduling more downtime is that you think you have no spare time. You have to find ways to create additional time that you can spend taking care of yourself. One solution might be to learn to delegate more tasks to other people, either to family members or to elder care providers. Another solution might be to look at all you’re signing up to do, both for your senior and for other people, and determine what’s crucial and what isn’t.

Touch Base with Yourself Weekly

If you don’t stay on top of this, it’s really easy for you to fall back out of these habits. Touch base with yourself on a weekly basis to look at whether you’re getting time away, if there are any personal needs you’re overlooking, and what you can do to make yourself a more well-rested caregiver. Keeping up with all of this is going to help you to be able to push through when you truly do need to do so.

You may not need the same things every week. But if you’re ignoring your needs altogether, that’s going to shorten your time as a caregiver. You might not realize it as it happens, but you’ll be less and less effective.

 

If you or an aging loved one are considering a Caregiver in Evanston, IL, contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our home care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.

Jamie Shapiro
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