Self Care

1. 

   "Be gentle with yourself.  You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here." Max Ehrmann
   
   

   My observation is that caregivers tend to not take good enough care of themselves.  So focused on the well-being of our loved one, we can become oblivious to our own self care.  We must take care of our own health.  We must not let this disease take both of us.  It is very sad that our loved one has a terminal illness, but we have an obligation to ourselves, the loved one with the terminal illness, and all the people who love us to defy the statistics and not allow this disease to make us a victim too.  The research says that 1/3 of us will die while caregiving, 1/3 will have their health badly damaged, and 1/3 will come out the other side of caregiving being better for having done it.  Let's consciously choose to be part of the 1/3 who survive and thrive from this experience of caregiving.