Now don't feel sorry for me. That is not what I intend you to feel.
How do I recognise what is happening to me when I have a complete melt down, carers fatigue. As I sit here and think about these events I acknowledge that they are triggered by a number of things; exhaustion, no time to take time to do something for me, an immense feeling of isolation, I over eat and grumpy. I know this list anyone could feel one or more of them. But when I get to the point of carers fatigue I feel all of these at once.
While I don't seem to be able to prevent these moments I am trying to do a number of things to help manage them.
- I have a part time job. Essential for me, giving me time out of the home environment that causes the melt down moments.
- I try and exercise. This one is not always easy so I am trying to come up with a plan for exercise at home in the evening when I am alone with the children and have been working.
- A more extensive list of baby sitters so my husband and I can go out every now and again.
- I am working at getting more residential respite care. Not sure how successful this will be but it is worth having a go.
- Finally I do art journalling. This year I was looking at happiness as my focus for this hobby. So take a look at Octobers pages I have done. I am going to get them all printed into a book so I can refer to them when I need to.
The credits for these pages can be found here at my Scrapbook Graphics gallery
If you are a carer of someone full time what do you do to look after yourself?
