Learning to Accept the Things We Cannot Change
I believe acceptance may be one of the most difficult emotional challenges caregivers face as we witness a loved one’s ongoing losses and changes due to age and/or illness. I have written about this numerous times, but my perspective shifted a bit when my husband and I took two of our grandsons on a trip to the East Coast to look at colleges.
Early one morning my grandson William and I went on a walk-about in New York so we could witness the city coming to life. We talked a lot about future plans and accepting the fact that even though there are many things we cannot control, we still have the power to adapt, adjust, and find joy in life, even when we know things may not work out the way we wish they would.
Please click on this link to read my article – Acceptance: The Greatest Emotional Struggle of Caregiving?
Hello Elaine,
Thank you for sharing this story. My granddaughter just started college and is having a hard time being away from her family. I forwarded your story to her and to her mother, my daughter, hoping that it will help in some small way. It did help me. I am a full time caregiver for my mother in law, who is 100, and has stage 4 dementia. My husband and I live with her in her home that she has been in since 1947, trying to keep her at home is her wish. Having your blog to read has been very helpful to me.
Thank you again,
Kathy Kelley