A CAREGIVER’S CONUNDRUMS AND CARTWHEELS
If Only
“If only the elderly person receiving care accepted the fact that they need help,
If only they received the much-needed help Graciously,
If only they were then Grateful for that assistance,
Then surely things would be different.”
Things would not only be different for the Individual but also for the Caregiver.
A conundrum is a dilemma, a hard to solve puzzle, a situation where one feels that there is no easy answer. Voting can often be a conundrum when Voters determine to make decisions on political candidates. As my Mom’s Caregiver, I face conundrums daily whenever I encounter my Mother’s control and denial issues. And that is another story to be told soon.
Consistently throughout the day, I face the decision of whether to be brutally honest or sensitively illustrate the reality of the current situation.
I have tried to gently explain to her that life is a journey. And as you move forward on this journey there will be new things that you’ve never done before and there will be other things that you may never do again. The best thing but probably not the easiest thing to do is to accept this fact, acknowledge these changes and act accordingly. I even attempted to use myself as an example, to which my Mother quipped back,
“What can’t you do anymore that you used to do? What exactly?”
At that moment, all thoughts escaped my ever-witty quick responsive mind, and so I shrugged my shoulders (indicating, “I don’t know.”), lowered my head just a tad (in semi-defeat) and walked out of her room. Mommy—Winner Round 1!
Since then, however, a friend who had recently been fulfilling the position of Unpaid Relative Caregiver for her Dad, gave me an idea.
She said, “The next time this comes up and trust me it will come up again just say, ‘Cartwheels!’ I don’t do Cartwheels anymore!
If only things were different and my day were not full of conundrums, this Caregiver would be doing my Touchdown Happy Dance because, I no longer do Cartwheels!
https://www.caregiversconscience.com/a-caregivers-control/
“A CAREGIVER’S CONTROL & DENIAL”
I thought about trying to do one the other day and then decided against it!