{"id":7272,"date":"2015-10-15T17:13:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T22:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.senioradvisor.com\/blog\/?p=7272"},"modified":"2020-10-14T08:13:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T13:13:30","slug":"caregiver-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d30braiqprupoq.cloudfront.net\/blog\/2015\/10\/caregiver-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Caregiver Guilt"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Letting Go of Caregiver Guilt:\u00a05 Tips for Family Caregivers<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7500 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/Caregiver-Guilt1-350x350.png\" alt=\"Caregiver Guilt\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/Caregiver-Guilt1-350x350.png 350w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/Caregiver-Guilt1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/Caregiver-Guilt1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/Caregiver-Guilt1.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Caregivers make up a huge and under-acknowledged portion of our population. <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/caregiver.org\/selected-caregiver-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">65.7 million adults<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the United States are currently tasked with providing care to a loved one that can\u2019t take care of themselves \u2013 that\u2019s <strong>29%<\/strong> of the adult population. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The millions of people in our country currently devoting a significant portion of their time and energy to caring for an ill or aging loved one are intimately familiar with the emotional toll it can take. Among the many other difficult and complicated emotions caregivers must deal with, many of them find themselves regularly plagued by guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Guilt of Being a Caregiver<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You love the person you\u2019re taking care of, but you work so hard to make sure they have everything they need that you end up feeling exhausted and resentful of the toll the work is taking on your life. Caregiver guilt can come from many causes, some of them contradictory:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for not spending enough time with the person you\u2019re taking care of.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for not spending more time with the rest of your family.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for the annoyance or resentment you feel at the work you must perform.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for not pulling your weight at work.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for thinking about other concerns like work, stress, and finances when your loved one needs you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You feel guilty for feeling guilty.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of these are natural feelings to have, but they\u2019re ones you need to address in order to keep from letting them weigh you down.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>How to Deal with Caregiver Guilt<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A feeling like guilt is complicated; so there\u2019s no one right way to address it. But each of these suggestions could help you with overcoming the guilt you feel now and possibly avoiding the feeling in days to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>1. Give yourself permission to feel upset about the situation.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Caregiving is tough. It can really complicate your relationship with the person you love and the feelings you have for them throughout the day. And that\u2019s ok. Let yourself be upset, but make a commitment not to revel in the disappointment or difficulty of the situation. The person you\u2019re taking care of is still someone important to you whose company you value. Make sure that doesn\u2019t get lost in all the rest. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2. Find a community.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Humans are social animals and that social need only becomes more pronounced when you\u2019re going through something difficult. If you don\u2019t have something like a large family or church group to lean on, look into a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.senioradvisor.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/caring-for-the-caregiver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">local caregiver support group<\/a><\/strong>. You need people to talk to about what you\u2019re dealing with, and that you can turn to for help when it all gets to be too much.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>3. Talk to a therapist.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pressures of caregiving can lead to levels of stress that are bad for your health, or can even plunge you into a depression. You have to take care of yourself as well as your loved one and for many people therapy is an important step in self-care. A therapist will help talk you through the difficult emotions you feel and develop coping mechanisms for dealing with the hardest parts of caregiving.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>4. Devote some time to enjoying each other\u2019s company.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When there are so many chores and healthcare tasks to be performed each day, it becomes easy to forget about taking a break to just enjoy being with the person you love. Make this something you commit to every day \u2013 just like helping them dress or making meals \u2013 make spending an hour or two watching TV, playing games, or doing something together that you\u2019ve always enjoyed in the past a required part of every day.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>5. Consider hiring someone.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don\u2019t have to do it all alone. And if it\u2019s taking a toll on your job and other relationships, you shouldn\u2019t. Look into the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.senioradvisor.com\/in-home-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">local options for in-home care<\/a><\/strong> and assisted living. You\u2019re not betraying your loved one by handing over some of their care to a professional. At a certain point, doing so is the best thing you can do for the both of you and your relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many caregivers just try to put too much on themselves. You can\u2019t do everything, and you can\u2019t even do most of everything without some help \u2013 whether from other family members, your community, hiring some in-home care, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senioradvisor.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/why-family-caregivers-need-respite-care\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using respite care<\/a>, or any other resources you find to tap into. Don\u2019t be ashamed to give up some of the caregiving duties and ask for help. It\u2019s often the most responsible choice a caregiver can make.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><em>Are you\u00a0a caregiver?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Enter our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SeniorAdvisorDotCom\/?sk=app_451684954848385\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Family Caregiver Photo Contest on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0this November and you could win an iPad!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Letting Go of Caregiver Guilt:\u00a05 Tips for Family Caregivers Caregivers make up a huge and under-acknowledged portion of our population. 65.7 million adults in the United States are currently tasked with providing care to a loved one that can\u2019t take care of themselves \u2013 that\u2019s 29% of the adult population. The millions of people in our country currently devoting a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,29,27],"tags":[30],"class_list":{"0":"post-7272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-families-caregivers","7":"category-caregiving","8":"category-in-home-care","9":"tag-caregiving-2"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Letting Go of Caregiver Guilt: 5 Tips for Family Caregivers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"29% of Americans are caring for an aging loved one. 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