Where's the balance point between self-sacrifice and self-care in the challenges of caregiving?
How do we define the balance point? The balance point is when both side of a seesaw are at an equal level. The challenges of caregiving throws the balance point of the seesaw off point by dynamics that are often complicated and complex.
Some people respond to the seesaw losing its balance point by going into self-care to the point of being selfish on steroids.
Other people respond to the seesaw losing its balance by going into self-sacrifice so deeply to the point of being of being totally selflessness on steroids.
The challenges of caregiving are such that the balance point of the seesaw constantly requires being worked on. It is a continuing balancing act that is a ongoing process and not a static point of being.
What I'm asking for is what criteria have people used in defining that balance point that they seek for in their caregiving seesaw need for balance.
What of our balance point criteria comes from the experience of others or ourselves?
What of our balance point criteria comes from reason?
What of our balance point criteria comes from personal feelings?
What of our balance point criteria comes from society and culture?
What of our balance point criteria comes from religious, philosophical or personal values?
Which criteria might we tend to miss or dismiss in working on the balance point of our caregiving seesaws?
What can be the result of missing or dismissing a criteria for working on the balance point of our caregiving seesaws?
I look forward to our discussion.
3 Comments
Popular Questions
Related Questions
- How do I tell my siblings and parents I am not emotionally or mentally capable of providing care?
- Does Nassau County have a telephone-friendly reassurance program that makes calls periodically to isolated seniors?
- My Mom will be 99 and has been having bouts of "autistic behavior", yelling and being afraid out of the blue?
- What can be done when you find out a parent has been seen for mental illness all there life and no one told you?
It is so easy to spoil one's parent/spouse during the first year of whatever type of Caregiving, being hands-on or logistics. But burnt-out starts to appear. How to get some type of balance?
Even with boundaries now set to help with the balance, I myself still feel I need to sit by the phone in case it rings.