Caregiver Burnout: What Actually Helps
Self-care advice fails caregivers because it assumes free time. What helps is smaller, more specific, and mostly about other people.
By Cindy Gerard
If you're reading this at 11 p.m. with a monitor on the nightstand, you don't need a bubble bath. You need two hours where nobody needs you, and someone else to arrange them.
Ask for tasks, not help
"Let me know if you need anything" produces nothing. "Can you take Tuesday afternoons through the end of the month?" produces Tuesdays. Keep a list of specific, bounded jobs and hand them out when people offer.
Signs to take seriously
- Snapping at the person you're caring for, then feeling sick about it
- Cancelling every appointment that's yours
- Sleeping poorly even when you have the chance
- Feeling relief followed immediately by guilt
None of these mean you're failing. They mean the load is too big for one person, which it has been for a while.
You cannot be the only plan. Build a second one before you need it.
- caregiver support
- burnout
- family caregiving
Keep reading
We All Love Them—So Why Can't We Agree?
For families where everyone wants what's best and no two people define it the same way.
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