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Barometers: Are you under pressure or cooking with pressure?

You have a clean slate everyday that you wake up. You have a chance every single morning to make that change and be the person you want to be. You just have to decide to do it! Decide that today is the day! Say it! Affirm it to yourself: This is going to be my day. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

I have a friend who has a devotional site and sends out points to ponder and reflect on each day. One day a point stood out to me that really made me step back and do some self reflection. I know that we all have found ourselves in the midst of a storm, a conflict, a challenge, or a major setback in our lives. Can you agree? I want you to think back to that time in your life. How did you feel? What were you thinking? Were you stressed? Were you trying to prove a point to someone? Did you feel that you were dealing with an internal struggle?

Now think back to a situation where you were seemingly in control. How did you feel then? Now please note that we are often unable to control a situation, circumstance or a person. However, you can control how you respond. So let’s bring it back to the point that caught my attention from my friend’s devotional. Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? A thermometer is controlled by the temperature in the room. A thermostat sets the temperature in the room. Let me say that again… A thermometer is controlled by the temperature and the thermostat sets the temperature. Are you affected by what someone says or does, the situation, or the circumstance around you? Sometimes you have no control over any of these “temporal” things which can be or set the temperature of our lives but we can control how we react or respond to those things. We need not take on or accept or allow ourselves to be a barometer for what is happening to us or around us. We can choose to soar like an eagle and fly high and rise above. So I ask you to think about who you want to be each day. Do you want to be the thermostat or do you want to be the thermometer? You can make that call.

Acceptance

It can be tough to sit back and watch your loved one’s health deteriorate. On a daily basis you watch their struggles and observe how the strong person that used to take care of you now needs you to take care of them. There needs to be a level of acceptance. You may at first feel some type of loneliness or some type of distress as you wonder how you will deal with this situation. You may even be angry. That anger may manifest itself as anger with God for allowing this to happen and making this situation come up at the most inconvenient time in your life. Questions like why now? Why me? Why them? Often surface. Then you may not want to deal with it so you sit in a period of denial which forces you to gloss over the situation because you truly don’t want to believe that this is real. However there comes a time where you can no longer function in a level of denial and you have to step up to the plate and make some hard decisions. You must step in and become the primary decision maker for others rather than just yourself.

I know I began to wonder what gave me the authority to now have to be head of someone else’s life. Why do I now have to adorn this responsibility? I’m just getting the hang of being responsible for myself. It’s like being thrust into the fire pit and not having the ability to put out the fire because you have no water and the air is dry. At some point you must take a deep breath and then let go and begin to organize. Just remember to take one step at a time. I’ve made it through. I expect challenges to come. However, with careful planning and mental and emotional preparation you can get through this too. You may need to seek the support of others in similar situations… seek outside connection. Don’t isolate yourself. Remember to set aside time for yourself. A little bit of solo time and time spent with others away from the situation goes a long way.

You may need to sit down and think of some ways that you can achieve a level of acceptance. Redirect your negative thoughts and energy toward something positive.

Please share: What have you done that helps you to keep going?

Are you a caregiver?

Have you done any of the following?

Guiding your mom in paying her monthly bills
Cleaning your grandfather’s house
Taking your neighbor grocery shopping
Helping your husband get dressed every morning
Cooking dinner for your dad
Checking-in with your aunt with a daily phone call
Managing your grandmother’s medication regime of 8 pills taken throughout the day and a daily shot of insulin

Or doing a million and one other things to help someone who can’t manage to do all the things one must do on their own then…

You are a caregiver!

The informal caregiver

Caregivers come in all forms. You may be a caregiver and not know it. It starts off slowly as you help with errands such as going to the grocery store, shopping trips, a run to the bank or sometimes dropping off a meal. Perhaps you stop by now and again to help clean the home of an elderly relative, neighbor, or friend. You become the friendly face that shows that touch of kindness that often is needed by that person.

Who is the Caregiver?

Caregivers basically help others with everyday tasks ranging from grocery shopping or driving someone to a medical appointment to taking care of someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Caregivers are husbands, wives, partners, daughters, sons, other relatives, friends, neighbors, a grandparent caring for a grandchild, parents caring for a child with special needs, a teenager helping his parents care for his grandfather, and others. A caregiver is anyone who is helping someone they care about – maybe its an older person who has chronic health conditions or an adult with a disability — with everyday tasks of living. It doesn’t matter what it is, how frequently it is done or how long it takes to do it; if they live with the person they are helping, live in the same neighborhood, live in a nearby city or across the country.

A caregiver provides the help because they want to, because they feel a sense of obligation and responsibility. They care about the person and want to do what they can to help.

Research shows that caregivers need to take care of themselves first so they can remain healthy and able to continue their caregiving roles.

Put on your oxygen mask

If this is you, know that even though all that you do may not be always appreciated, you need to know that you are doing a great thing and stay encouraged. Seek out resources, ask for help and recognize that you need to take time to take care of yourself.

If you have ever been on an airplane, the crew has instructed you – in case of emergency- to put on your oxygen mask before helping other. The same logic applies to caregiving- you can only help someone else if you are well enough to do so. You need rest, proper nutrition, exercise and socialization.

Because you do so much, you must remember to take care of you!

Product Review: Magic Bullet

I know I’m behind the times as people have owned this gadget for some time now. As seen on TV featured the Magic Bullet for a long time. I however am a late adapter to technology…so I’m just getting on board now. Additionally, I tend to only buy things that I need. Who needs a bunch of gadgets that just take up kitchen counter space? After researching many online reviews and receiving recommendations from friends and co-workers, I said to myself why not just try it.

I was looking for something that would help me supplement my juicing regimen, especially when I didn’t have the time to do it the night before. I’ll make a smoothie but cleaning a full size blender in the morning is too time consuming so I opted to try the Magic Bullet. It is compact and allows me to take my individual cup to go ad just make enough for myself without a huge contraption to clean. So I tried it today ad used the ingredients that I had on hand.

Simple Smoothie Recipe

¼ cup Frozen strawberries

¼ cup Frozen pineapples

1 scoop protein powder

1 cup of Rice or Almond Milk

It took me 5 minutes to pour ingredients into the cup and blend. The result was a delicious smoothie that filled me up and gave me energy to get going. Clean up was not very involved. I just washed the cup and blade and then made my way out the door. I give the Magic Bullet 2 thumbs up on the wellness factor scale.

Final Thoughts: I would recommend the Magic Bullet to a friend. It was cost effective (I got it on sale ;)!). There was minimal clean up and it was easy to operate.