Of course, people who don’t have patience want it right now! It’s something that has to be learned. It’s kind of like growing a seed; it must be nurtured and taken care of until it grows into patience.
As a caregiver, there are situations that arise that are easy to get impatient about. Sometimes you know exactly what the triggers are. What usually makes you impatient? Being able to identify the circumstances that cause impatience will help you to learn how to use these situations to grow your patience.
If you find you are generally in a hurry all day long because there’s so much to do and not enough time to do it in, this can set you up for being impatient. Try to slow things down a little bit. Perhaps becoming a little more organized will help things out.
Strategies for becoming more patient:
- Try to identify what’s making you in a hurry. If it’s a tight schedule, can you change the schedule a little?
- Delegate some responsibilities so you don’t have so many things to deal with at the same time. For family caregivers, share some of the responsibilities with other family members.
- Figure out which triggers make you lose your patience the most often. Is it a particular behavior from your elder? Is it when a certain event happens? Is it a certain person? Write these thoughts down as they come to you so you can look at them later when you have more time.
- After a week, look at your notes. Is there a pattern? Is it always the same triggers that seem to steal your patience? How many of these can you change? For the triggers you can’t change, figure out a different way you can handle the situation next time it arises.
You can learn a lot from your impatience
Writing things down lets you learn more about yourself. When you are able to identify what bothers you and when, it puts you back in control. You don’t need to feel like you are under the control of your circumstances. This is a very empowering situation to be in.
What to do when you feel impatient
When you feel the stress and anxiety building up, or the irritable feeling of impatience looming near, take some steps to let it dissipate before it takes over. Remember you want to be the one in control. Don’t ever let impatience control you. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Close your eyes if you can. Do the breathing several times. Shake your shoulders. Move around a little and dissipate the negative energy. You can get back on track now.
You really need to have scheduled time to yourself daily and weekly. If you are trying to carry the caregiving responsibility all by yourself, it will become more than you can bear. Arrange for a home care provider to take the burden off your shoulders for a few hours a day, or even a few days a week.
For more information about how the caregivers at La Jolla Nurses Homecare can help your aging parents remain living independently in their own homes, call 858-454-9339. We are an elder agency providing quality and affordable caregiving service in La Jolla CA, and the surrounding communities.
Today we are the oldest and most experienced private duty agency in San Diego County.She saw a need for quality private duty home health care and she worked diligently to build an agency that filled that need.I am proud to say, her vision is carried on today with our dedicated staff.
I believe our tenure in the community speaks well for us.We have had the opportunity to be of service to countless interesting individuals, including local and worldwide celebrities.It is the people we care for that makes this a fascinating industry.Whether high profile or a more ordinary citizen, we are proud that thousands have entrusted us with their care or the care of their loved ones.Our Mission is to provide high quality, very secure and the most compassionate home health care.We believe that patients heal faster and are happiest when they can stay in their homes.”
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