Facing the silent battle that every caregiver endures, I had to confront the truth about stress and burnout, something my father knew all too well. It's a tale not just of struggle but of transformation, and I'm here to guide you through the turbulent yet hopeful journey of caregiving. My own story of job dissatisfaction and the demanding role of caring for another will provide a backdrop for this crucial conversation about choice, change, and the necessary tools to reclaim your well-being.
This week's episode is a candid exploration of the treacherous paths to caregiver burnout. We'll dissect those ten behaviors that stealthily lure caregivers into exhaustion and share personal reflections on the complex dance of setting boundaries. Discover how to recognize burnout's red flags and the pivotal moments where prioritizing your health can radically alter the caregiving experience. Trust me, this isn't just a discussion; it's a lifeline for those feeling the weight of their responsibilities.
Lastly, we'll unwrap the gift of self-care, discussing why it's essential and how to practice it amid the taxing duties of a caregiver. Tune in for practical tips on sleep, nutrition, and the power of maintaining connections. Plus, I'm thrilled to extend an invitation to a free training series that's waiting to arm you with strategies to keep stress at bay. This isn't just another episode—it's a stepping stone to a more sustainable way of living and caring.
Get my free resource: 17 SHIFTS TO TAKE CONTROL OF CAREGIVER STRESS that will take you to the best version of yourself.
Thank you for listening. If you know of another caregiver who could benefit from this podcast, please copy and share this episode.
Follow me by clicking on the links below:
Facing the silent battle that every caregiver endures, I had to confront the truth about stress and burnout, something my father knew all too well. It's a tale not just of struggle but of transformation, and I'm here to guide you through the turbulent yet hopeful journey of caregiving. My own story of job dissatisfaction and the demanding role of caring for another will provide a backdrop for this crucial conversation about choice, change, and the necessary tools to reclaim your well-being.
This week's episode is a candid exploration of the treacherous paths to caregiver burnout. We'll dissect those ten behaviors that stealthily lure caregivers into exhaustion and share personal reflections on the complex dance of setting boundaries. Discover how to recognize burnout's red flags and the pivotal moments where prioritizing your health can radically alter the caregiving experience. Trust me, this isn't just a discussion; it's a lifeline for those feeling the weight of their responsibilities.
Lastly, we'll unwrap the gift of self-care, discussing why it's essential and how to practice it amid the taxing duties of a caregiver. Tune in for practical tips on sleep, nutrition, and the power of maintaining connections. Plus, I'm thrilled to extend an invitation to a free training series that's waiting to arm you with strategies to keep stress at bay. This isn't just another episode—it's a stepping stone to a more sustainable way of living and caring.
Get my free resource: 17 SHIFTS TO TAKE CONTROL OF CAREGIVER STRESS that will take you to the best version of yourself.
Thank you for listening. If you know of another caregiver who could benefit from this podcast, please copy and share this episode.
Follow me by clicking on the links below:
Well, hello, my friend, and welcome to another episode of the Caregiver Cup podcast. As we move into the second week of New Year of 2024, I wanted to still wish you a happy New Year, especially if you're back listening to podcasts again. And thank you for listening to the Caregiver Cup podcast. Well, today I'm changing it up a little bit with some real talk and some honest talk about the downward spiral of stress and overwhelm as a caregiver and what it can have on you. If you leave it, be the stress and overwhelm or ignore it, it will continue to spiral and get worse. That's just the reality of our world. The only way to improve our stress or to de-stress and lower our stress is to acknowledge that it is stress and the way it's affecting us and look for ways to change it, maybe through habits, maybe look at your routine, maybe look at mindset and more. I told you I'm going to give you some real talk today and we're going to just dive right into it and talk about this topic of stress and burnout that happens. I want to start out with a quote that my dad always said, or saying that my dad always said to me, because if I would complain about something or talk about my struggles, he would listen really well. But he always said if you don't like the way something is going, you have to. You have a choice, kathy. You can either one live with it or, two, work on ways to change it or change yourself. And it is so true because we do have choices. We can either live with it or we can go ahead and look at things that can change.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of working my data entry job, and I used to work for a local insurance company that was really close to my house. And this way back in the 90s and in the 80s because I started this job in 1990, so that's how old I am I just wanted to get my foot in the door and figure out any way that I could get my foot in the door. And there was a data entry job. Yes, this is when medical claims came in semi truckloads to the back of this building and they all had to be entered into the system by keying in all of the information. I would tell you it was such a boring job. It was boring. You'd have to enter the patient's name and there at that time, their social security number and all of the information about the patient, all the information about the doctor, all of this stuff, all of the forms had to be filled out online and then we would take and put this coding number at the top of the claim so that we could go ahead and pass it on for further investigation or it would get to microfilm and it would be stored away and filed away. I wasn't challenged a bit, but I needed the money and, most importantly, I needed the health insurance for my family.
Speaker 1:I would go home after a long day of data entering everything in. You had to do at least 21 data entry claims an hour, and so I would tally and try not to get beyond a certain amount, because if you did too much and they expected you to do more, so I would work slow and just do it and I tally, but I was so bored I would go home just unhappy. I would be snapping at everything and not wanting to get back up in the morning and go back to work, because all you did there was sit and keyed in into the keyboard and went from one claim to the next claim, to the next claim, and at that time we didn't have the technology to listen to podcast or anything like that. We had the elevator, music and sitting in a cubicle and that's really all we had. So I had to figure out a way, like my dad always said, you can live with it or work on waste to change it or change yourself. So I had to work on waste to shift and figure out really what I wanted. And so, from a short-term, fixed perspective, I needed to engage and I needed to find some things to look forward to throughout the day, and so I had to build relationships with the people around me so then at break we could go off and have a chat. I met my very best friend, julie, and I met her, and we started taking walks every day, which really helped a lot of the boredom and stress and you know just that stuff. I was able, we were able we used to call them therapy walks and we would get outside and walk and do things and so we would have a distraction. But my long-term fix was I needed to go ahead and look at ways to improve my skills so I could find another job within the company, and so I met with my leader, looked at taking some courses inside of the company, and it took me about nine months to add my skills and finally I found a new role that was a bit more challenging, and that was what I did, and eventually I moved into many other positions there, but I could have just sat and lived with it, but I didn't.
Speaker 1:Most caregivers why I'm saying this is most caregivers find themselves in a state of stress, in a season of chaos and time where we are completely overwhelmed and burnt out. It is part of the job of caregiving, right? But you and I know we can't stay in burnout too long because it can affect a lot of things. For example, if you are burnt out, you can't be at your best. If you're burnt out, think about it If you were working 24 seven or you were at trying to juggle too many things you're eventually going to be tired and not be at your best. If you're burnt out, you are not spending quality time with your loved ones because you're going ahead and you're trying to go ahead and do multiple things at one time. Or if you do sit down and try to spend quality time, you're so exhausted. Or if you're burnt out, you're missing out on moments of joy and moments of things that are happening around you and you don't even see it, or you may not be able to pursue your passions or work your job to the best of your ability if you're burnt out. If you're burnt out, you can't find quality time for yourself or your own well-being. You're probably giving up on that, and if you're burnt out, you're even missing out on being the best advocate or doing the best for your loved one, or maybe even yourself, and you're not recognizing things. Those are just to name a few.
Speaker 1:So in this episode, I'm going to break down 10 surefire paths to caregiver burnout. If you continue these things, you're for sure going to go ahead and continue that downward step. You're for sure going to go ahead and continue that downward spiral and either burnout or continue to burn out even more. You're going to continue this downward spiral. So, while, my friend, you can break the cycle now by being aware first that you are in burnout or you are facing burnout, and then taking steps to shift and change things. And some things we can change, some things we can't. And, like my dad always said, you can change the situation, but if you can't change the situation, you can change something in yourself, and so that's what we want to talk about today.
Speaker 1:I truly believe caregivers know that they're in caregiver burnout and Sometimes it, but it takes courage and action and grit to change and so it's harder. Like I said, it's harder to stay stuck or, I'm sorry, it's harder to get out of burnout than stay stuck. Staying stuck is easier than moving out of it. You hear what I said, staying stuck you think about those complainers that complain about their nine to five job every single day. I just hate going to work. Oh, it's just another day. Blah, blah, blah, but it's it's. It's easier to complain than it is to go ahead and make changes, and that's what I'm trying to get at.
Speaker 1:I don't want you to say things like it is what it is. I don't want you to do that anymore. Or you might say I'll wait until it's over. There is not a pause button for your health, because there is no way that you can just say, well, my health, just hold on and don't do anything while I'm in burnout. No, when you're in burnout, your body is being affected, your well being is being affected. Or I don't want you to say it's the right thing to do. Really, who said you should give up your health being burnt out and isolated as a caregiver?
Speaker 1:Caregiving is not that Caregiving can be done in a healthy, happy, joyful way. I mean, obviously there's going to be chaos and challenges. That are going to be hard seasons where you might feel a lot more stress, but over time you shouldn't feel and get to burnout. Or if you do get to burnout, you should be able to backtrack. So let's dive into my 10 surefire paths to caregiver burnout. And if you keep doing these things, you're for sure going to it's going to lead to burnout or it's going to go ahead and continue to get worse.
Speaker 1:Number one is keep saying yes. Keep being that people pleaser. When you say yes to everything and avoid your own boundaries, you will still find out that you can't do it all. First of all, you are setting expectations that can do everything, that you can do everything and anything at any time. I was the master of this. I am a master people pleaser. It is the instantaneous thing that I will do and this hurts me very fast. It hurt me very fast.
Speaker 1:In caregiving with my parents, I said yes to everything and anything and at any time, and then found myself crying in the shower at home because I was so exhausted. Have you ever been so exhausted that your emotions just are leaking out everywhere. That was me all the time. That was me all the time because I was just doing everything and anything and if you were looking at from the outside in, it's not even possible. One huge impact of people pleasing is increased stress. This can happen easily when you take on more than you can handle. You don't just lose out on time for yourself, you also find yourself with less time for things you really need to do as well, like sleep and nutrition. We'll talk about all of those. To get the essential things taken care of, you might end up working longer hours or going without sleep, eventually leading to your own health issues.
Speaker 1:I did a quiz quite a while ago, but it's still active. I did a quiz that's going to determine what your style is. The three styles are people pleasing, go-getter or nostalgic. You can take this quiz by going to kathyelvancom, then you'll get the results of that. Now how do you fix your yes answers? It starts with identifying your healthy boundaries. What should you stand firm on from a boundary perspective and feel good about? I use this example of my friend, julie. Yes, this is the one that we used to walk when we worked at the same company together way back in the early 90s. I'm still best friends with her today.
Speaker 1:Over a year ago my friend Julie said I just need to go ahead and turn off my phone at 7pm in the evenings. I don't want to be interrupted anymore. If somebody needs me, they can talk to me during the day or they can send me a text and I'll call them at my break. What she was finding herself doing is getting wrapped up in situations that it was affecting her wind-down time and her sleep time. She set a hard boundary at 7pm she turns off her phone, the call, and she turns off the sound on her phone and her text. She uses from 7 until she goes to bed at night time for her to recharge. She loves to read, she loves to relax. I've learned to respect her during that time because I know that that is a boundary for her. It's like it probably was hard to do, but it's really a good boundary so that she can go ahead and not let her mind wander. It's kind of similar to not watching the news before you go to bed, because if it's a situation your mind just doesn't relax.
Speaker 1:Okay, number two, surefire way to go ahead and burn out, as a caregiver, is doing it all and thinking you can do it all and you keep that control in your bubble. Oh my gosh, this is me over and over and over again. I love control, I love to be organized, I love to do it all, I want to be on top of everything and know it all. If I plan it out and map it out, I tell myself, like if I map it out the week and I map out the day, I can fit it all in. But at what cost does that happen for you? I gave up everything that I thought was wasn't a priority. And guess what? I gave up meals, downtime, my self care, my socialization with family and friends in that plan and I got it all done.
Speaker 1:But what happened eventually is I became angry, resentful, jealous of seeing people enjoying their life and in it. I was resentful and angry at my loved ones. And when I took a serious look at the situation, I was being the control freak. I had help if I looked hard enough, but I didn't want to give up control. I wanted to earn my martyr stripes. What for? I was creating burnout for me and my loved one expected me now to do it all. And then, when I started realizing this and started making the shifts, my mom questioned why wasn't I doing it all anymore? Did I not want to be there with her anymore? And it caused that miscommunication and I had to explain to her this whole thing and have a really good conversation with her and it was really hard to go ahead and re-reverse that and reverse out of that piece. So number two is doing it all and thinking you can. Number three for sure, surefire way to burnout is stopping your self care and not making time for yourself. I know I just talked about this one.
Speaker 1:When you give up on your own self care, you're going to be sick in some way or another. You will feel it physically or mentally or socially, whatever it would be. Self care is more than just putting your sneakers on and going for a walk or going to the gym. It's your whole self. It's your nutrition, your hydration, your sleep, learning to calm your central nervous system, moving your body, socializing, engaging in activities and having a purpose in pursuing your passions and your goals. That's what self care is. But now I know it's hard, especially if you're in a tough season. But your self care can be adaptable and adjustable based on your situation.
Speaker 1:Prioritizing your self care is important and mapping out a plan that works for you, because if I'm a new mom, I can't probably that's breastfeeding and it's just a couple weeks after. I can't go ahead and go to the gym right now, but there are things I can do. Another thing is when I was doing my stem or my husband was doing a stem cell transplant and we had these long days they were like 14 hour days, and so those 14 hour days I could say, well, I don't have any time at all. Yeah, it is. So my self care involved being proactive and packing the right things like nutrition and hydration with me during those long days. I would get up in the morning and make my shake and I would go ahead and make a salad and I would get everything ready so I could control my nutrition. I could bring a water bottle along so I could control my water intake. I found ways to go ahead and walk the halls or get outside and take breaks when that things were appropriate. I found time to go ahead and move my body so that I would be able to get out, and that's all I could do at that time, but at least I could go ahead and make time for myself even in the hardest time of that 14 hour day.
Speaker 1:So if you say you have no time for yourself and you don't have time for self care, I'm telling you bogus, you can figure out something. You can do that. So number four, if we're talking about self care and another surefire way to get to burnout is not getting quality sleep and even stealing from your sleep, and I call it burning the midnight oil. So, since we're talking about it, sleep is one of the most important pieces that can help you be at your best when you are trying to juggle everything, it's easy to say I'm just going to stay up one hour later and do the laundry and I'm going to get up one hour earlier and get my work done. Yeah, that may be okay a couple of times, but if you continue to do that and rob yourself of that sleep time that you need, whether it's seven hours or nine hours, whatever your quality sleep is, it's eventually going to catch up on me. This has to be a healthy boundary. That is non-negotiable. If you can, the laundry will wait, or you can ask someone else to throw in the laundry for you, and, yeah, it may not be folded the way you wanted, or they may go ahead and put your delegates in with the regulars, but you know what. That's what it has to be right now.
Speaker 1:I had to have a hard conversation with my boss about balancing my job and caregiving, because I was trying to go ahead. This is just crazy. I was trying to bring my laptop along with me to appointments and trying to go ahead and do work in between or sitting alongside of my loved one which is just crazy because I wasn't at my best, or I was trying to get up early, or I was trying to work after supper, when I needed that time to unwind and rest, and so I had to have a conversation with him that I couldn't do that anymore for my well-being, and so I made sure that he knew that I was still committed to working and when I could work, I was going to give it my all in my home office. But I wasn't going to do the half blank anymore and just do the half A-S-S or A-S-S anymore. So, and I lost many great projects that I just wanted to be on, but I knew I couldn't do them. I lost out and on promotions and reorganization promotions. I know that, but that I had to be okay with it, and if I if I wasn't, then I had to find another way to work at my best and find help with caregiving if I wasn't okay with it, and so you have to think about that Now.
Speaker 1:Since we're talking about sleep, let's talk about the other piece. You lay in bed at night and you can't sleep. Oh my gosh, how many times have you said I need to get sleep but my head's racing because your emotions are fired and you're worried or you're stressed, or you have a hundred-chazillion things on your plate and your mind just won't let it rest. Well, I have a solution or a habit that I follow, and it's in my free training and it was released today, and my free training is called Empowering Caregivers my four essential practices that reduce stress, and if you go to kathyelvancom, you're going to go ahead and be able to take these. They are you get a video each day, and on day two I spend my 15-minute video on nighttime routines that will help you try to get a better night sleep. So that's one of them.
Speaker 1:Okay, number five surefire way to go ahead and reach burnout is not paying attention to your nutrition and hydration. I know we talked about this, but it's easy to skip a meal or stand up and eat on the go or find another way to eat, like grab a bag of chips and a can of soda or a protein bar. But if you continue to do that, that habit is going to have reverse effects. You can finish yourself that you don't have time, and it may be true you don't have time, but this habit will welcome in exhaustion and no energy. It will increase your mood swings and cause health issues. I was the master of eating on the fly, or grabbing a bag of cookies and eating them on the way to my mom's house, or grabbing fast food after I took care of my dad from his cabin up north and on the way home I grabbed a McDonald's shake and a bag of fries and that was my meal. Oh, and don't forget, I had the licorice because I needed the sugar to keep me awake after the fries and the shake settled in Shifting your mindset to better nutrition and fueling your body.
Speaker 1:Nutrition and hydration is fuel and you need to put this premium fuel into your body more than ever. Think about whatever you're eating right now has to go ahead and sustain energy, keep your mood upbeat and your mindset intact and, most importantly, boost your immune system. So what you need to do is think about what can I eat to get the most bang for my buck, and I go to the you know the premade salad bags or containers. I do that a lot, and so at least I can go ahead and have most of it all chopped up, and so I'll grab that. I love my protein shake in the morning. Yogurt with almonds or walnuts in it is a good thing for me. So thinking about what you can eat or bring along to an appointment, or even the car, is going to be an important piece. And don't forget to bring the water, the water bottle or an empty water bottle if you're going to be in the hospital, because they usually have fueling stations for you that you can do. You need to think about what can fuel your body right now to go ahead and do that, or else you know what the adversary effects are.
Speaker 1:Another surefire way is staying isolated. Caregiving is lonely and isolated enough. It's easy to lose track of your friends and your family and decline invitations to events because you are so busy or you think that there's nobody else to help. You start convincing yourself that you can't get away, you can't have friends anymore and nobody cares about you. You start convincing yourself of that. Well, you have to get creative, my friend, and think about ways where you can improve your isolation. Maybe it's you join a group online and you do Zoom calls. Or maybe you invite a friend over and you have coffee on the patio, or invite them over when your, your loved one, is taking a nap or you know that they're going in for physical therapy hey, come and join me and there's a little table we can sit and have something.
Speaker 1:Or when I was away for my stem, for the stem cell transplant, we had to stay isolated. I couldn't go out, I couldn't have people in. But you know what Technology was there? I zoomed my accountability group. I face timed my mom and family and friends every night. So I did that for a way to stay connected. If you can't figure out a way, do it. You can figure out a way to go ahead and do that. Most friends are staying away because they want to respect your time and they want to respect you, but when they, when you say I want to try to figure out a way that we can go ahead and connect. I may not be able to get out, but maybe there's a way we can figure it out. They're gonna probably be game for it.
Speaker 1:Okay, number seven surefire way to to burnout is letting your emotions bottle up or ignoring your emotions. I've talked about this one off and on in previous podcasts. Not talking about your emotions, feelings or challenges will only cause havoc in your mind and in your body If you push them underneath the rug and saying it's just me, I'm just in one of those moods. No, listen to your body. Many caregivers report official diagnosises, or many caregivers report official diagnosises from caregiving, and I believe if they talked about or out these thoughts and feelings, they would feel better. Think about it depression, or I'm angry, or I'm resentful, or I'm worrying all the time, or I feel isolated.
Speaker 1:You need to go ahead and find a friend, a community or a support group. You will find out that you're not alone. You are not the only one that feels resentful, angry, guilty, and more so. If you find this community, you'll have some commonalities. The big thing that you want to do, though, is if this community is ideal for you. You're going to share things to help to get you out of it. I find that there's a lot of communities out there that share their thoughts and their feelings and their emotions and all of that, but it's just a pity party and that's okay for a little bit. But being able to say let's lift each other up and let's figure out some ways to go ahead and get out of this, or let's find some ways to lift our spirits up this is what I do.
Speaker 1:I also coach clients and this is one of the first asks that I ask them. I say how are you feeling, what are your biggest emotions right now and why do you think you're feeling this way? It's important to embrace your thoughts, your feelings and all of that. It's really important because it's telling you something. When we understand our challenges and our emotions, we can better come up with a plan to find more joy and less stress, and then, when we start working on small steps, you're going to feel those results coming on. So if you're looking for anything like that from a coaching perspective, go to kathyelvancom, forward slash coaching and I might be your ticket to help, or I have some courses that can help you as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're on number eight and we're going to number 10 of Surefire Ways to Caregiver Burnout. Number eight is not listening to your body and your mind. This next one is just like the continuation. This one is just a continuation of the lesson we talked about, but now we're talking about your body. When we are experiencing burnout, you're going to feel aches and pains. We will not be physically or mentally sharp. You might find yourself missing things or not remembering things. We will notice things like that. Maybe it's neck pain or stomach issues or digestion issues. You're going to notice them and more. I personally experience weight gain. I noticed, and obviously because I wasn't feeling my body right, but I also experienced gut issues and digestive issues that I still are still trying to heal yet, and I noticed that I was losing hair.
Speaker 1:So think about when your body is stressed, how does your body respond? Other caregivers might experience heart issues, backache, snapping and edgy moods, saying things that are just not part of your personality, and they're negative all the time. Or you might develop an illness more often. I remember, too, I was hospitalized and with issues, so it gets back to self-care and how can I protect my space right now? You don't want to get to that point, and so you want to listen to your body and mind and say, oh my gosh, I noticed that I am more edgy. I would have never said that if I wasn't so stressed. So I need to go ahead and think back to how do I go ahead and relax a little bit more, not get so defensive when somebody brings this up, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Number nine is not taking a break or time away. This is going to definitely lead to caregiver burnout. A surefire way to burnout is a balancing caregiving your family, your job or business and all the responsibilities. And you do this and it involves you doing this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's a surefire way to burnout when you don't give yourself a break or take time away. It's going to happen faster than you expected it to and I could write that. I write a whole book on that, because when my dad got the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and my husband got his diagnosis of stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, I went all in.
Speaker 1:I went all in 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I was working in my bed. I was getting up in the morning trying to hammer things out so I could go ahead and be there. I became exhausted probably before two weeks happened. My biggest question is who's going to take care of you when you can't? What will they do if you end up sick? What will they end up doing if you're hospitalized? What will they end up doing if you're unable to care for them anymore? Because, my friend, this is going to happen if you don't take a break, if you don't get time away. I mean, I've used examples in the past like this Teachers. I think just in my last episode I did this.
Speaker 1:Teachers have subs when they get sick. What do you have a backup plan if you get sick? Or they get breaks because they work long hours, early mornings, late afternoons, early evenings, with their lesson plans too, in conferences and all. That's why they get these breaks and these winter breaks and these spring breaks, so that they can go ahead and recharge. What about you? And think about a normal worker or an employee at a plant or at a store. They get a 15 minute break after a certain length of time. They get lunch breaks and if you're a full-time employee, usually companies have vacation times or paid time off so that you can go ahead and get a break.
Speaker 1:Otherwise you burn out or you're not at the best of your ability. So you may have to start small because you might not have anybody yet or you may not have thought through this. It could be something as simple as a lunch break. Put the TV on, tell your loved one I'm gonna go ahead and take a 30 minute break, unless the house is on fire. I'll be right back and you can tell them. You have your phone or you're right in the other room. But you need to do that, or it might be taking a few hours a week off. Work up to taking a day off or a day off here and there. Think about how do you do that. I'm telling you you can and you have to. You have to because it's not sustainable.
Speaker 1:And number 10, the 10th one of a surefire way to burn out is giving up on anything that is your passion, your hobby, your interest, your socialization, anything that gives you purpose to feel alive. When you give up your purpose, passions or interests, you will eventually have regrets, resentment and maybe even emotional things like depression. Caregiving doesn't have to mean giving it all up. It may require you to slow down or pause in difficult seasons for a minute or adjusting things a bit. You have to have some outside interaction. You have to have some other interest. I challenge you to think about something that would light you up or give you a different focus on something else in these hard times. I had Debbie on the show a while ago that she wrote a book while her husband was in hospice and took a half hour to an hour every day to go ahead and write her book. It gave her something else to focus in on during these hard times. I started a podcast in 2020, right in the midst of caregiving, but it lit me up. It gave me a purpose and passion that I still am using today.
Speaker 1:Paula, one of my clients. She does crocheting and she crochets beautiful things, and she loves playing or doing her hobby and she calls it her playtime. Lisa is a reader, not only a reader a massive reader. She changed her nighttime routine and adapted her nighttime routine so she could get her reading time in, and that's her break. Angela gave up volunteering in her women's group for a while because of her spouse being sick, but then she found a way to get back into volunteering and taking a quieter role in the women's group and she feels alive again. She has time away once a week so that she can do something, and it gets her out of the house and boosts her mood and her spirits.
Speaker 1:When you make time for yourself and figure it out, you show up differently.
Speaker 1:You have something else to focus in on.
Speaker 1:It shifts you to more positive thoughts, and this whole podcast is about filling your cup. It's about filling your cup in ways to fill your cup. Well, my friend, that's the 10 surefire ways to burn out. You have a choice to let burnout win, or you can choose to feel better and find moments of joy in this caregiver life. Remember my dad's statement you can stay stock, you can leave it the way it is, or you can make changes.
Speaker 1:Right, unfortunately, as caregivers, we will always be fighting this BS, and that's just the term I came up with this burnout from stress, burnout and stress. But when we take small steps, we can change things. I'm cheering you on. Pick one step today that's my challenge to you and work on it for two weeks. Maybe it's turning your phone off, or maybe it's taking a half hour lunch, whatever it would be. Pick one thing, then add another step two weeks later. You can do it If you care and if you I'm sorry if you really wanna do it, you can.
Speaker 1:If you are looking for inspiration and ideas, I definitely want you to check out my free training this week.
Speaker 1:That's going on and I'm gonna put the link in the show notes. But these are my four essential practices to reduce stress and to go ahead and not let burnout take over, and so you can probably get more ideas and more things from the training. And it's really a simple way to do it. You go ahead and fill out my form on kathyelvancom. I send you an email each day with a link to the video. You click on that video and it's about 15 to 20 minutes long and you can go to the next one the next day. Now, if you missed out on one or if you're behind there's no such thing as behind you can go ahead and watch these over and over again, or you can sign up and saying I only have time on Saturdays or Sundays, then just watch them all on Sunday. Whatever it would be, that's my gift to you. So here's to you finding new essential practices to reduce that stress and not let the burnout get the best of you. We'll talk to you again next week. Bye for now.