Here are some sharing based on my full time experience as a caregiver for my mom for 7 years. I would try to add on more quotes based on my experience from time to time.
April 2024:
I gave up a successful job which provided material comforts and have to drastically scale down my life and expenses in order to become a caregiver. Yet, this is the most meaningful role that I’ve ever taken in my life to see the look of peace, comfort and that she feel contended and safe. More details in this blog post.
Being a caregiver can feel lonely as the only people who can relate would be others who have done the same thing or caregivers in the online support groups. Gradually people may start ghosting us or we would find ourselves drift apart with the social group that used to be close to us as we no longer have anything in common to talk to them about. But it is a worthwhile journey as in the process, we would learn a tonne of life skills.
It is easy for people to judge or criticize when they have not been in the other person’s shoes. In the beginning, some of the criticism used to get to me. But after witnessing some of them who were not capable of doing even a fraction of what I did when they encounter similar situation, I realized that talking and doing are two very separate matter. I do however consider their input as sometimes there are valuable advice but for those who are just being judgmental or nasty, their remarks and words no longer get to me. Read this blog post for more sharing on this….