Carers Hints and tips to Success

@KEY

Whilst in a crisis, things are a little different and we do need to step in and take more responsibility, you might find some tips throughout this discussion thread that may be of help to you.

I sent hubby a copy of those jpegs, can't believe it - he recognised himself in them! Then he said he didn't want to bother a counsellor at carers Australia & relationships Australia because 'they will be dealing with people with real issues like losing their jobs because of covid-19, worry for the future, worry about their disabled spouse or person they're caring for dying from the virus...'

Reminded him how worried he is of me dying from it etc. And also that his issues were important too. That he'd only be taking up a few hours per week. Will see... crossed fingers.

Hi and welcome @alwaysangry ..,, fingers crossed for you too.

Soooo..... a bunch of my usual self care thingys have disappeared due to the COVID-19 social distancing rules... Hmmm.

Church is closed. Garden Club is on hold until further notice. Going out for a cuppa is unadvisable. Some favourite annual events have been cancelled, more are likely to follow.

Online interaction has very suddenly become the main fallback.

Our church is getting assorted online stuff together, but a lot of it looks likely to be in the form of video material, and I really don't like watching sermons and study sessions online. I'm more a "read about it" person. Interestingly, they're planning on using a lot of material from a Christian mental health support and education service... but "flipping through" the group's online material, I'm not sure if we'll find some of it too raw. Ironically, part of the reason for that choice may be our Older Daughter's issues. Although everyone is going to have to be more conscious of their own mental health than usual.

There's lots of keen gardeners online, so I may want to make a point of dragging the camera out regularly to share my garden online, and encourage others to do likewise.

Social media has gotten... busy. A few funny tongue-in-cheek posts I've shared have had a much bigger response than usual. I can really only attribute that to more people being online than usual. So I'll be trying even more than usual to make sure that what I put up is helpful, or cheering, or encouraging. Social media is very prone to feedback loops. Put in negative, you get back negative. Put in positive, you generally get back positive. 🙂

We're usually homebodies, but are going to have to be even more so. I suggested to Hubby yesterday that it's a good time to work on a really big clean up and tidy together so that we can make some of our indoor spaces more pleasant and relaxing to be in. And that will also help give us mental and physical space to get into some delayed "wanna do" projects.

This is looking like being a long haul situation rather than a brief glitch. We're all likely to come out the other side of it with changed habits and attitudes. Now is the time to be thinking about how to tweak those changes towards being positive ones.

Agreed @Smc ❣️

Thanks @Faith-and-Hope - it is good to find you all!

@Myself1

You might pick up some hints in this discussion thread that might be of help to you.

Self care has changed for us too @Smc, have increased caring responsibilities at present which hopefully will settle once we establish a new routine. I am mindful of the 8 dimensions of wellness and am trying to ensure that I do something in relation to each of these.

hello @bundybird , this thread might be helpful