Today I begin a series of guest blog appearances that will continue every Monday for the next four weeks. The subject of course is Intentional vs unintentional caregiving and the cost and dynamics associated with both.

I am so honored to have this guest blog post from Holly Whiteside of Transforming Caregiving.

People avoid change until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of changing — Author Unknown

Part 1 – The cost of Unintentional Caregiving

For most of us most of the time, our ordinary mode of operating is unintentional. We run on automatic. We systematize, schedule, and routinize our days, trying to maximize effectiveness while minimizing insanity. We respond to others in habitual ways. We solve problems using familiar strategies.

Though these ways of operating seem to work in the early days of caregiving, over time they can undermine us and our best intentions. Over time, our habits carry costs to both the caregiver and their loved one, costs that may sound familiar: emotional and physical exhaustion, frustration, diminished self-worth, deflated spirit, and even the dis-empowerment for and loss of connection with the loved one.

But it’s not our fault that we fall into difficulties as caregiving intensifies.

There is an old proverb about frogs that explains how we can find ourselves in hot water. If you put a frog into boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put it in cool water and slowly heat it, the frog won’t jump—it will die. Like frogs, we can refuse to notice when the water we swim in has changed. Because our familiar ways of operating have kept us safe and in control in the past, we are very leery of changing our approach. But if we don’t learn to change and change to learn, we will end up in hot water.

There’s a saying that “You get what you focus on.” If caregiving isn’t all you would like it to be, where are you putting your focus? Focus on struggle, and you get struggle. But focus on challenge, and you get more energy.

Start observing how you habitually think and operate and begin to experiment with other ways. Less and less will you let your energy leak away through focus on past regrets or future fears. Bit by bit, over the coming days and weeks, intentionally refocus your attention on who you are being and how you are thinking. More and more you will nurture your presence to your loved one, as well as your connection with yourself.

Intentional Caregiving opens the way to greater ease, smoother relationships, and an increase in personal power. You can gradually learn how to build your resilience and move with the prevailing winds of caregiving.

In the next article we’ll dig deeper into this practice of intentional focus, looking at “The Power of Intentional Self-awareness“.

Check out “The Caregiver Hour” Radio Show

Throughout April, the topic of “The Caregiver Hour” weekly radio show* will be “The Intentional Caregiver”. Over a series of four shows, Holly will join host Kim Linder and her guests to empower and enlighten caregivers on approaching caregiving with mindful intentionality.

“The Caregiver Hour” airs every Monday at noon EST online at http://www.thecaregiverhour.com/ or on Tampa Bay radio WHNZ Station 1250 AM

About the Author:

Holly Whiteside, caregiver’s coach & advocate, is author of “The Caregiver’s Compass: How to Navigate with Balance and Effectiveness Using Mindful Caregiving” and “Exploring Hell and Other Warm Places: A Memoir of Redemptive Caregiving”. She invented Mindful Caregiving wellness tools by applying life coaching principles to herself during her caregiving decade. Holly is also an Eden Alternative Associate, Hospice Spiritual Care volunteer, and a Long-term Care Ombudsman. Connect with her and learn more about her work:

http://mindfulcaregiving.home.comcast.net

http://thecaregiversquest.home.comcast.net

MindfulCaregiving.Whiteside”at”gmail.com