Caregivers : How To Keep Smiling
How to keep smiling in the midst of difficulties!
Around any holiday or special event, time really feels pressured, like Christmas or New Year’s or Easter or Birthdays even, there’s so much going on, it can be hard to keep a smile.
You are a caregiver and you can’t keep smiling?
When times feel pressured, such as they do at Christmas, for any big holiday but also when there’s too much going on in your day to day life, it can be hard to keep a smile. And yet, the more you tell yourself things are hard, the harder things feel, as a therapy client of mine very astutely observed in a recent session.
I know that it’s not always that easy. Recently I had something really scary happen in my life and I needed to cry all the tears that were coming and express my fear and process it, before I could jump back to my feet and be proactive about what needs to be done.
Step 1 to keep smiling
So Step 1 to keeping a smile when things are tough is to find a place to be really heard with what is difficult for you.
I offer that to both my therapy clients and also to the members of “Your Support Within Your Reach” the support community I lead for caregivers of loved ones who are losing autonomy.
And when you feel fully expressed and heard, there are several things you can do to find a smile already.
Watch “Caregivers: How to Keep Smiling!” on video HERE
A concrete exercise for caregivers who want to keep smiling
I’d like to show you something concrete you can do. Sit with your legs crossed and cross your arms in a way that you can interlock your fingers and then bring them back close to you.
This is something I learned from my friend Paula Oleska, I’ll link her YouTube Channel down below.
So you stay like this for a minute or two.
Then you uncross your arms and legs and you connect each finger to the corresponding finger on the other hand. You can rest your forearms on your lap if that’s more comfortable.
Each one of you has to find their own path
This really helps me find more inner peace, what about you ? Please let me know in the comments.
But whatever the effect of this particular exercise, there is no difficult situation that ever got better by thinking about it more.
So you need to engage your body.
I’ll give you a list of other things you could do to feel more at peace, please let me know in the comments which one appeals the most to you.
So, do you like to sing ? To draw or paint ? Or to hug trees ? Go running or exercise ? To meditate ?
All these are examples of things that some people find helpful to find more inner peace.
But the most important thing for YOU is to find what brings YOU inner peace. If you know already, you might somehow find yourself not doing it. If that’s the case, you might like what I have in the description to this video for you. I created a “Winning Mindset” Kit for you, with an ebook containing my 5-step process for a winning mindset together with 2 meditations, to go with 2 of the steps. It’s all free, all I need is your email address so I can send it to you. You can click on that link in the description.
How to keep smiling: 2 suggestions
And if you are needing support, keep in mind that I have a support community for caregivers like you. I created it with easy access, financially, logistically and timewise. The link is also in the description.
The most important thing to remember, is that you will not get anywhere if you look for all the solutions in your head. There is much more to be gained by engaging with your body or with other people. I’d love to help you with both.
To begin, with, I recommend you grab your free “Winning Mindset” Kit in the description box or at:
https://eudokima.com/winningmindset
Sonia Weyers
Gestalt-thérapist – Supporting Caregivers
Dare The Freedom To Be Yourself
PS: For more tips for caregivers of loved ones with a loss of autonomy you can check out my blog , from 2024, my YouTube Videos or my book “The Sundown of Life”.
Paula Oleska’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@paulaoleskaRRR