December 14, 2022
Caregiving patience can often run thin, but the good news is that some practice can strengthen your patience.
Does your blood pressure soar when you finally finish filling your cart with groceries, only to find just one checkout lane open and a line of annoyed shoppers ahead of you? Or when you arrive five minutes early for a doctor’s appointment, only to have to wait 30 minutes to be seen? Many people just seem to exude an inherent sense of patience, regardless of the circumstances. Wouldn’t you love to know their secret, especially when it comes to locating extra caregiving patience when caring for an older adult?
Thankfully, you can increase your level of patience in a similar manner in which you grow your endurance in exercising – through practice. Try these recommendations to bolster your caregiving patience muscles:
How Can I Become More Patient?
- Intentionally put yourself in circumstances that call for patience. Let someone go ahead of you next time you are standing in line. Make yourself wait a couple of minutes (or more!) before checking your phone. Initiate a conversation with an individual who tests your patience.
- Accept your current circumstances. Perhaps the person you’re caring for is taking considerably longer to get dressed than you’d like. Remind yourself that your job is to provide care but to also enable the loved one to remain as independent as possible. And oftentimes, that may necessitate allowing some additional time and a good measure of patience.
- Resist the desire to immediately fix issues or problem-solve. Allow something that is broken to remain broken for some time as opposed to pressuring yourself to quickly take care of it.
- Attempt to channel your inner child. Let yourself be silly, laugh more, and remind yourself not to allow the little things that annoy you to become big things. Just a little lightening up and letting go can go a considerable way toward eliminating stress.
- Make a concerted effort to really listen when others are talking. It’s easy to begin formulating your response before the person has finished, but strive to place all your concentration instead on everything they are saying.
- Take some time to simply concentrate on your breathing and to be in the moment. As soon as your thoughts start to wander, recognize the distraction, but gently guide your thinking back to your breathing.
When time is of the essence, however, caregiving patience can run thin. Let a caregiver from Continuum, a provider of home care and memory care in Clayton and the surrounding areas help. We are available to provide a comprehensive range of in-home care services that will help you free up the time you need. Call us at (314) 863-9912 or (636) 861-3336 to find out more information and to request a free in-home consultation.