Calling All Caregivers

Reduce Stress with a Daily Planner or Journal

Melodi Hall — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 02:23:43 +0000

As you probably know, stress can have a major impact on your life. Among the different daily habits and healthy ways to reduce and manage stress, using a journal and/or planner are at the top of the list. These tools are inexpensive, easy to do, can be done from anywhere, and provide a lot more benefits than just reducing stress. In this report, you will learn all about how to use a journal to reduce stress, as well as how to use a daily planner for this purpose. You are also going to get some simple, beginner-friendly tips for getting started. 1. Reduce Stress with a Journal Journaling is a powerful tool that can have great benefits if used correctly. Not only does it help people on a psychological level, including helping with depression, boosting memory, and so much more, but it also can have actual physical benefits that manifest themselves in one’s health. Bearing that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most prominent rewards that come with jotting down your feelings and emotions on a piece of paper. Journaling Can Help with Everyday Learning Given the massive amount of information that you are bombarded with on a daily basis, it would be impressive if you could retain more than half of it. What’s more, it’s not enough to just remember this information, but you also have to take the time to reflect on it and see how it relates to you if you truly want to learn something meaningful: The best analogy to drive the point home is the difference between a student who can’t remember anything from their classes, a student who regurgitates everything their professor says in class, and a student who takes the time to rephrase what is said in class and tries to connect it with other concepts they’ve learned over time. Journaling can help you be the third type of student, the one who actually makes use of their college tuition and knows how to thrive in today’s knowledge economy. Think about stressed you can get on a daily basis just by trying to retain all of this information, no matter how you are spending your time. It is a lot, especially when you combine it with everything else going on in your head at any given time. Apart from the fact that writing something down allows your brain to better recall it later as opposed to just thinking about it, taking the time to write in a journal will give you the time to both mull over important events, whether throughout the day or in your past, and reflect introspectively on what these events mean and what you can learn from them; this, in turn, can enhance your decision-making skills in future situations as well as make you into a better critical thinker. Additionally, when you force yourself to write down your thoughts and ideas, you will inevitably develop clearer thinking that allows you to structure your ideas and arguments in a way that will facilitate your future communications with others. Most important of all, journaling will help you learn about yourself, aid you in constructing a clear sense of identity, and clarify your life’s narrative. Construct Your Life’s Narrative Life can get hectic and messy, and it is very easy for someone to lose their way. As a result, having a way to record valuable moments that can keep you anchored in the most tumultuous of times can be worth something. As a matter of fact, some people who journal go so far as to record the entire family history, leaving something younger generations might one day cherish. This is one of those benefits of journaling that goes beyond just helping to reduce stress, but to gain more clarity and understand more about yourself and your life. This in turn, can help with a lot of issues you have been experiencing on a daily basis, even the ones you were not completely aware of. You might even figure out what some of your biggest stress triggers were. Journaling Helps Achieve Your Goals There are many forms of stress in your life, from things you can’t avoid, like work and school, to daily, unexpected stresses like personal and relationship issues. If you are someone that deals with more stress from the long list of things you need to do or want to get done or hope to achieve, then journaling is perfect for you. It will allow you to sit down and work through all of these plans. You can first figure out what your goals are, then make lists right in the journal that show you what is needed to achieve your goals. This reduces your stress by helping you make all the important decisions that you were too overwhelmed to think about before. Journaling Enhances Your Creativity Journaling can be an excellent way for you to document most creative ideas that come to you, whether they come while you’re strolling through a park or while you’re fast asleep dreaming of how you could have solved that problem at work. The bottom line is that there doesn’t have to be a filter on what gets recorded in your journal: If you are the type of person who gets a flash of creativity every other minute, then a journal might be the only sensible way for you to keep track of all that creative energy. And even if you don’t fancy yourself as a creative individual, taking the time to commit your ideas to paper might be the push you need to discover a side of yourself you have yet to explore. Find More Gratitude Having more gratitude in your life is one of the top benefits of journaling, and can also help you to reduce stress in your life. If you haven’t heard the term before, a gratitude journal is a journal where you get to list everything you feel grateful for, which helps you relieve stress and elevates your mood. After all, how can’t you feel better after focusing on all the good in your life? Over and above, learning to be grateful for the good in your life has countless benefits: To begin with, it can help you reach your goals along with enhancing your quality of life. Moreover, it has been shown that when people attend to the positive things in their lives, they become more mentally resilient and are able to bear the emotional turbulence that life may throw their way. Along with all of this, happy people tend to be more optimistic and friendlier overall. Help With Your Depression and Anxiety It should go without saying that people suffering from depression should seek professional help, especially in extreme cases, and that no alternative could take the place of an experienced counselor. That being said, journaling has been shown to have positive effects for people fighting depression by supporting their attempts to manage its symptoms. If you want any evidence, you can look into the studies done to see the effect expressive writing can have on women exhibiting signs of depression who had previously suffered intimate partner violence; there have also been studies showing that journaling might be as potent as cognitive behavioral therapy when it comes to mitigating the symptoms of depression. Even people suffering from severe depression reported feeling significantly better after journaling for three days. 2. Tips for Using a Journal You should now have a better understanding of how journaling can benefit you, especially as it pertains to using one to help reduce your stress. Now let’s discuss some tips for getting started with journaling, and really using it to your advantage. Journaling for beginners can sometimes seem overly simplified, but for others, it seems daunting and like homework. It is neither of these things! The great thing about choosing to write in a journal when you are dealing with a lot of emotional stress in your life is that there are no rules. You will learn some tips and tricks, but you don’t have to follow any of these. You can journal however you want, and in whatever way works best for you. These are just some recommendations for getting started, and to really use journaling to help with your stress and anything else you are dealing with. Use Journaling Prompts The first pages of a journal can often be the most daunting, so an easy way to get started is to use journaling prompts. These can be more generalized journaling prompts that are just meant to get the creative juices flowing, or they can be tailored specifically toward reducing stress and figuring out why you are so overwhelmed lately. Journaling prompts are very easy to find online, whether from other bloggers and websites, sites like Pinterest, and bonus: at the end of this report! Stream of Consciousness Another excellent method of journaling when you are feeling stressed is stream of consciousness. This is when you just start writing, and have absolutely no timers, plans, or prep. All you want to do is start writing what comes to mind first, and just keep writing. You aren’t forced to stick to a specific topic, you don’t have to worry about how long it takes, or how many directions your mind seems to go. Just let it flow naturally, writing about anything and everything you want. Do this for however long you want to, or when you feel satisfied with how much you have written. A lot of times, just doing this is enough to find some clarity, figure out where your stress is coming from, and acts as a type of “brain dump” in your journal. Don’t Use Any Journaling ‘Rules’ It is really important that you take out any ideas of rules when it comes to journaling. If you keep thinking about so-called rules, such as what type of journal to use, how long you have to write every day, and what topics to stick to, it can make it hard to really find clarity and actually benefit from the practice of journaling. Another rule you definitely want to avoid is about the type of writing you are doing. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar! You are the only one who will see these journaling pages, so as long as it makes sense to you, that is really all that matters. The reason this matters is because if you are so focused on making everything perfect and being sure your spelling is right, you are overthinking about the writing itself, and not your feelings. You want to reduce stress with journaling, not increase it or put too much pressure on yourself. Find Your Stress Triggers Lastly, a great way to use journaling for stress is directly, where you are actually trying to find those triggers. A trigger is what is causing you to experience the high levels of stress you have been dealing with. In some ways, it can be obvious, such as work or your personal life. But you might be surprised by the seemingly meaningless things that can be making your overall amount of stress much worse. When you figure out what these triggers are, you are able to work on reducing them in whatever way you can. How to Find Your Triggers If you want to try using your journal to identify stress triggers, here are a few helpful methods: Stream or Consciousness with a Twist – Stream of consciousness usually means just writing what first comes to mind. You can try this for your triggers, which alone can help a lot. But with a twist, you can try writing what you want, but with a minor focus of how you are feeling and what you think led to feeling that way. The Good and the Bad – This is a type of journaling prompts, where you are going to have one good thing for every bad thing, and vice versa. A type of pro and...

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VA Supports Family Caregivers of Veterans

Melodi Hall — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 21:12:32 +0000

Did you know the VA supports family caregivers? They have an entire website dedicated to resources available to Family Caregivers! Sometimes you just get so overwhelmed that you feel like you are all alone in this fight. Like no one understands what you are going through or what you need to get through each day. Or like they don’t even care! You have forgotten what it means to take care of yourself. Or have a minute just to take a deep breath. How many times do you say “No thanks, I got it” or you just do it all yourself? Yeah, we know all about pushing people away and doing things ourselves regardless of how tired we are. But taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of the person you care for. All Caregivers need some help now and then. Check out the VA If you are a Family Caregiver of a Veteran then you should check out https://www.caregiver.va.gov/. They have an excellent program to support Caregivers. This is a nationwide program that has offices in every state. It has two separate programs that carry out their mission: Program of General Caregiver Support Services (PGCSS) and Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC). Program Information To participate in PGCSS the Veteran must be enrolled in Veteran Affairs and be receiving care from a caregiver for the caregiver to participate. These caregivers are called General Caregivers and do not need to be a relative or live with the Veteran. The PCAFC is for Vetarans who have incurred or aggravated a serious injuring in the line of duty on or before 5/7/75 or after 9/11/01. This program provides resources, education, and support. If eligible, a financial stipend, insurance, beneficiary travel is paid to caregivers of eligible Veterans. There are other criteria so please check the website for more information. Their assistance includes things like: Variety of Resources Self-care activities Financial Tips Peer Support Online Workshops Campaign for Inclusive Care and so much more! Check it out! Even if you aren’t supporting of a Veteran you may find resources or tips you didn’t know about!

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The Signs of Dehydration

Melodi Hall — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:12:54 +0000

Staying hydrated is not something we think about on a regular basis. And when we are sick, have a chronic illness or are on a multitude of prescriptions keeping ourselves hydrated is even more important. But how do we know if we are drinking enough? This infographic from Health Direct of Australia was sent to me by our dietician and it is really been a lifesaver! We printed it out and keep it in the bathroom so that if there are any changes in color we know right away. My husband is on a daily diuretic so its very important for us to keep an eye on this. Feel free to check it out and print it out for your own use! https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/urine-colour-chart Infographic courtesy of Healthdirect Australia.

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Was this your plan?

Melodi Hall — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 23:34:05 +0000

To be honest, I never wanted to be a nurse. In fact, I hated the thought of blood or giving someone a shot. I couldn’t even handle when my kids threw up! I mean I made it through cleaning up those kinds of messes but I didn’t like it. I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best! So, let me tell you my first “caregiver” story. I remember when my husband, then boyfriend, had to have Lovenox shots for the first time after we had started dating. He was getting released after a short stint in the hospital and they said he needed to continue on the shots for a little while until his PTINR was back up to therapeutic level. I was just listening to them discuss it and then I hear him say “Oh ok, she can take care of those at home.” I think I literally turned around and looked behind me to see if there was a “she” standing back there because I just knew he was not talking about me! When it finally dawned on me that he was talking about me all I could muster was “me…injection….no!” Well, guess what? 13 years later and I am a Lovenox shot pro! I don’t even give him too big of a bruise anymore! 🙂 I have come a long way since those first shots but this was never in my 5, 10 or 20 year plan. It may not have been in my plan but I wouldn’t change a minute of it because I know that my husband has had the best care I could give him and I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that he has a very long and fulfilling life. To me, that has been the most important part of this journey. As I have walked this road with him and tried to do my best for him I have also learned so much along the way. Not only for in regards to him and his care but how to stay organized, how to work with the system, how to find out what I need to know, how to stay strong, and so much more. But I know there is so much more out there that can help me physically, spiritually, mentally, etc. I want to learn from all of you as much as I want to teach you what I know. So let’s continue this jouney together! Have Hope, Have Faith and Stay Strong! Melodi

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