Word for the Week - Romans 8:31

What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Don't listen to the naysayers, they don't walk in your shoes, neither have they walked the road you have walked to get to where you are now, fix your mind solely on what God has to says about you!

Word and image for the week, to bless, encourage and inspire you to be all that you have been called to be.  

As you meditate on the scripture and enjoy the image ask and think about the many gifts you have been given, the many challenges you face, and the fruit that will come from the work of your hands.  

What will you do with what you have been given today?

Stay blessed and be a blessing

UBC - Day 12 - Carers tips - Local Resources

Welcome to day 12 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, good to have you here!  Today I want to share with you about accessing your local resources, that will provide assistance to you in your caring role.

Mum taking part in an art activity

You can't go it alone, and the saying 'no man is an island' rings especially true.  As carers we do spend a large proportion of our time in isolation it is a good idea to see what local resources exist in your area.  It is a good idea to check out your local carers group - who will not only have information about any financial help or training that you can get they can let you know about the resources specifically for carers, and groups that you can join that will help you take some time out for yourself.

Sekani sharing a joke with mum

Contacting the groups can be the bridge which gets you out of the isolating situation and be around people who understand your circumstances because they are going through it themselves.  I found going to a carers group particularly useful, and when mum was first diagnosed I knew nothing about dementia apart from the articles I had read in the news. I decided to attend a course run by my local carers group which covered aspects of dementia, strategies and tips on how to manage and more.  It was informative and I got a lot of information which helped, it also allowed me to see that some of the things that I felt guilty about especially to do with how I felt about the illness was normal and it helped that as a group we could share our experiences.  This is so important for carers and makes such a big difference to your feeling of isolation as you can share and swap ideas and ways you have found to cope.  

Mum enjoying time with the family

There are also people who volunteer who used to be carers and they can give an insight to how they have coped when the time comes for you to think about life after care.  It might be set up differently in your own areas, but it is worth finding out.  The main thing is that you have to take a step, make a call, put your name on a few mailings lists to keep up to speed as much as possible with what is going on in your area and find out what is going on.

For now, check out what local resources you have to hand and make a point to do just one thing and connect with another carer.

You can also click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts from the Journey of a Carer

UBC - Day 11 - Fresh Air - Tips for Carers

Welcome to day 11 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge

When you are a carer you very often have to fight to take time out for yourself, there are so many aspects of what you do, you can find it hard justifying taking a break, cause you could be hoovering, folding the clothes or helping the one you are caring for to do something or another.  There is always something to be done, and so little time.

What we have to remember as carers is that all of those things will be there in half an hour, or 20 minutes, and they will surely be there tomorrow, and in light of this revelation taking that 20 minutes to walk around the block can and will do so much for your health and mental well-being.  We so under estimate what getting some fresh air into our lungs, and even feeling the breeze or sunshine on our faces.  The fact is more and more people become deficient to vitamin D and this deficiency has also been one of the things linked to dementia.

It is vitally important then to get out of the house every day, as I said, you could just walk round the block, or walk 10 minutes in one direction and then walk back.  If you can take the one that you care for with you, you could both be getting your dose of sunshine (we have been blessed with in at the moment here in the UK, and so late in the year as well!).  

With mum now using the wheel chair it is actually easier for me to take her out and just simply walk round the block, take in some stores and hear the music being played by buskers in Camden. The thing that won't be good enough is sticking your head out of the window or door, you have to physically go out to feel the benefits.  By all means open the windows and let the air flow though your home but you owe it to yourself to experience the fresh air while walking.

For now, decide when you will do it, don't wait until you have bucket loads of time, cause you never will.  Just decide to walk 10 minutes in any direction and then back and see how you feel. 

You can also click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts from the Journey of a Carer

UBC - Day 10 Carers Tips - & Gratitudes and Celebration - Week 60 - Release

Welcome to Day 10 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and also my Friday Gratitude and Celebration post.  It has been a busy week, and I have managed to slip with two of the days for the challenge. I had hoped to post as usual alongside the challenge, but I guess I bit off more than I could chew, and over estimated at how much I could fit in.

I have been finding that many emotions have been rising to the surface as I write about the things I have learnt from being a carer, and watching my mum change before my eyes.  I had been finding that the posts had been allowing me to express and share things that I had been putting on the back burner and subsequently the emotional fall out from that manifested in different ways.   I have so much that I want to share creatively and with regards to helping others who may find them useful. 

But I was missing something.  I have been spending so much time writing about what I do that I hadn't been taking the time to just spend being creative, as there didn't seem to be the time and then after a while you begin to feel as if the well is running dry.  I wasn't feeling the excitement of sharing as I had done at the beginning and it became a chore.

It is important to me to spend time being creative every day, and when that doesn't happen its like a drain just clogging up with stuff.  My creative process enables me to release that stuff and thankfully as we express ourselves creatively that stuff is renewed and transformed and turned into a piece of art or a journal page.

This page, for me was a simple reminder that we are unique, we have so many things about ourselves that are 'all that' and more and I, we, you need a gentle reminder every now and then, especially when things seem to be clogged up!

As a carer you have to find ways to work with the time you have and take that time out (and I will cover that more in posts to come), but you have to recognise that you may not always have it together and if you don't step back and take a breath things can get overwhelming and you end up dropping a lot of balls that you had previously juggled without a problem.  I made a conscious decision on Wednesday to release myself from the stress of posting, knowing that I set my pace and have to be realistic about what you can physically do.  We also have to be mindful about committing to too many things and spreading ourselves too thin, but as a creative there is so much that I am inspired and that wants to be expressed - it can get crazy up in here!

You are so unique

I have promised myself to keep it simple from now, and I will aim to post the Carers Tips in the morning and the other posts later during the day.  I am also posting some of the new work that I have been doing on my other mixed media art blog, so check it out.  I am grateful and celebrate the ability to step back from the chaos and release the anxiety, stress or what ever else needs to be let go of. Tomorrow is another day for us to tackle challenges and be inspiring, so take it at your own pace.

Amazing qualities surround you!

For now, take a moment to think about what it is that you have that needs to be released, if only for a short while to get you back on track, or is it something that you need to let go of altogether, and give yourself permission to step back from the routine.

You can click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts on the Journey of a Carer.