How Resilient Are You?

re·sil·ience … noun … the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness ... ex. “their resilience is remarkable.”

In the last few years, the word resilience has shown up quite a bit in caregiver literature. When you read the definition, resilience certainly seems an appropriate caregiving term.

But, how do you become resilient? One of the quickest, easiest ways to get started is to search for tips and look for what you can, and will, do.

Here are some quick ways to find tips about resilience:

1. Talk to other caregivers. A simple question such as, “How are you handling the challenges?” can bring a variety of solutions. And yes, with some folks, asking that question opens the faucet, so be prepared to be a good listener and ask more questions.

2. Go to sources such as YouTube and simply search, “How to deal with caregiving.” You’ll find a wide range of resources about self-care and taking care of your caree.

3. Search “caregiving tips” and you’ll be overwhelmed with sites offering advice. Some are trying to sell you something, others are free. Most of them are offering the same advice, so just pick one!

4. Just like with the YouTube and website sources, there are a ton of books about caregiving. My book, Caregiver 101: How to Keep Caregiving From Making You Crazy!, is one of them and there are a range of great sources. The 36-Hour Day has long been the go-to book for caregivers of Alzheimer’s sufferers. Used books on Amazon have gotten so inexpensive you can try a couple of them.

If you are going to make it through your caregiver experience in a reasonably positive way (and believe me, there will be times you’ll doubt you can do that), you’re going to have to come up with a personal plan for creating resilience.