'What Caregiving Taught Me'

Our George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers, Inc., are all about caregiving. When we discover an article to aid caregivers of dementia patients, we like to pass it on. The same goes for authors like Carol O'Dell of the blog Mothering Mother and More. She's the author of a memoir about her time caring for a parent, and her insights are both accurate and encouraging for anyone who is or will be in her position.

Today she's written a particularly poignant post called What Caregiving Taught Me. We highly recommend you head over a view her list of lessons. Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

After a decade of caring for my mother who had Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and heart disease, then brought her into our home the last 2+ years of her life, this is the distilled version of what caregiving taught me. I am profoundly grateful for these lessons.

1.To stand up for myself, and caregiving will give me plenty of opportunities to do so.
2.There is a time in life in which you sacrifice for someone you love–and a time to stop sacrificing.
3.It takes humor to tackle the big scary things in life, like caregiving, disease, and death.
4.Caregiving will inevitably bring out the worst–and the best in me.
5.Caregiving will change me, but it’s up to me to determine how.

Now, head over to read the other 15 lessons included in the post.