Prevenint Burnout

This post is similar to one I published on my counselling blog, but here I want to focus on caregivers.

One of the problems that caregivers run into is burnout. Burnout happens sometimes when people continue in behaviours or actions in caregiving which cause stress to them.This is often because caregiving roles "happen," or evolve. They are not planned Decreasing the chances of burnout may mean examining and changing your caregiving patterns which you have developed.

To change the patterns you will have to look at exactly what you are doing. What are the things that are burning you out? What would you like to be doing differently? What would give you some relief.

Then, put yourself into situations or places or times where you have the chance to do the thing differently. It might be joining something new, it might be going to somewhere new, it might be doing some things a little bit different, it might be calling on help at diffeent times, it might be finding and using resources that you were unaware of. .

Set up your goals for these experiences. Make them clear, specific, behavioural, and achievable. Also, make them realistic. We don't try to leap up a stairway in one bound, there are steps along the way to hel. It is the same with goals. Small ones, in which you achieve success can be more motivating to keep on going than trying large ones which seem insurmountable.

Keep a journal of what you have done.Write down what it was like, how it felt, and be as specific as you can about exactly what you did that made it a success, if it was.If it was not successful, analyze exactly what you did, and see if you can it in a different way. Remember too that sometimes changing behaviour takes time. Even the conscious effort to do so is one step. The fact that you tried is your first success.