Attitude — Blog — Courage to Caregivers

We Can’t Eliminate Stress, So Let’s Make the Most of It!

“When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage.”

~ Kelly McGonigal, The Upside of Stress

Most of us want to reduce or eliminate stress from our lives. But at Courage to Caregivers, we discovered early on that no matter how much we would like to, we can’t take away the stress of caregiving. But we CAN empower caregivers with coping mechanisms to better manage that stress.

Coping mechanisms are strategies that we consciously use to help manage uncomfortable or painful feelings. They help us remain emotionally stable when facing a crisis.

Tenacity, AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 21, 2023Coping mechanisms, Coping

Passion, Persistence, and Grit

“Grit is a combination of passion and perseverance for a long-term goal.”

~ Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Of all the characteristics associated with caregiving, persistence might be the most common. The tasks and responsibilities of caregiving often require the utmost persistence. For caregivers, there may be times when our loved ones don’t seem to be making progress, and it’s tempting to give up. It’s our persistence – our motivation to keep going forward – that leads to hope.

But persistence doesn’t come easily. It takes practice … slow and steady … one micro-step and one micro-goal at a time. And sometimes, we need a little push. Caregiving feels hard enough most days, and stepping outside our comfort zone can feel scary.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 7, 2023Persistence, Tenacity

September Newsletter: Attitude is one of your SUPERpowers

In my research around our theme for September of attitude - I found a LOT of different attitudes about ATTITUDE. I was looking for an expert, and it turns out a lot of people have a lot of opinions about attitude and the role it plays in our lives. Where I can see they ALL agree: our attitude is OURS - we OWN it.

My #1 SHEro Brené Brown helped me by keeping it simple ... "An attitude is a way of THINKING." She compares it to having a practice: "a practice is a way of doing, trying, failing and trying again."

This really helped me to focus in on attitude and my THOUGHTS. Attitudes are evaluations of “things” (attitude objects) - a person, a product or social group.

Turns out we each hold thousands of attitudes - some of these are inherited and some are learned. AND ... no matter what the attitude is, WE hold the control.

Check out the September newsletter focused on our theme of Attitude here!

Attitude, NewslettersKristi HornerSeptember 29, 2022Persistence, reali, copi, Attitude

How Do You Cope?

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ve probably heard us mention what we call the “Seven C’s” of caregiving – “I didn’t CAUSE it; I can’t CURE it; I can’t CONTROL it; I can’t CHANGE it; yet, I can have COURAGE and COMPASSION; and I can COPE!”

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 22, 2022Coping mechanisms, Stress

Realistic Optimism Is Strategic Optimism

“Optimism is not a denial of the current state. It’s a belief that the future is bright,

but it accepts current darkness.” – Simon Sinek

As we focus on attitudes this month, we need to be aware that the way we view problems and achieve growth is strongly impacted by the way we look at the world. This week’s theme – realistic optimism – is one way we can look at the challenges of the present and the potential of the future to help us solve our personal problems, learn from our mistakes, and build on our opportunities for growth. In other words, it allows us to be resilient.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 15, 2022Realistic Optimism, Optimism

A New Take on the Tortoise and the Hare

As I reflected on this week’s topic of persistence, it reminded me of Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare. The standard moral of the story is that the race is not always won by the swiftest. The tortoise’s persistence was so strong that he was able to win the race despite the overwhelming odds against him. And the hare was so overconfident that he allowed himself to be sidetracked by taking a nap, eventually waking up to find that he was too far behind to catch up.

The tortoise proved his point, that slow and steady can win the race, and that he can get along just fine, thank you, with his own set of skills. Yet maybe the hare was a winner here, too. Maybe the failure of losing this race taught the hare a much more valuable lesson about the virtues of being persistent and the dangers of being too proud and confident.

And … maybe the hare just needed to take some time out for a little self-care. Maybe he was tired from all that running around and needed to take a nap. Maybe he felt so good after getting some much-needed rest that he realized losing one little race was not that big of a deal.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 8, 2022Persistence

Persistence + Realistic Optimism + Coping Mechanisms = Attitude of Tenacity - September 2021 Newsletter

September Theme: Attitude

Persistence + Realistic Optimism + Coping Mechanisms = Attitude of Tenacity

With September's theme of "attitude" we started our exploration of the domain of resilience of TENACITY. Tenacity is your ability to stick with it when things get hard. Caregivers are no strangers to HARD things. The challenges come at us daily. Sometimes they knock us down - and sometimes we're ready.

Having tenacity doesn't mean that we'll never FALL. AND, it's not about how long we're DOWN when we do. Tenacity is all about the getting UP. Getting up requires STRENGTH of all kinds - physical, mental and emotional. When we fall down - and we all know we will fall again - start by pausing. Notice. Take the time and space you need to rest and recover. You'll need your strength to both get up and be ready for the next time. It can be cold and lonely when we fall - yet, we're here to support you as you STRENGTHEN your tenacity muscles 💙

Check out the September Newsletter!

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 30, 2021Coping mechanisms, Realistic Optimism, Persistence, Tenacity

Coping – The Seventh “C”

In stressful situations, people turn to all kinds of things to help them cope. Some of these coping mechanisms are healthy, and some are not. By adopting healthy coping mechanisms, we can get through stressful situations faster and with less negative impact on our physical and emotional health. Healthy coping skills come in many varieties, but what matters most is what works for you.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 23, 2021Coping mechanisms, Coping, Attitude, Understanding Stress

Getting Real

When we have an attitude of realistic optimism, it helps us develop a growth mindset by looking at problems as challenges that we can overcome, not roadblocks that prevent us from meeting our goals. This enables us to realistically evaluate the situation, productively explore the solutions that are available to us, and rationally accept the outcome even if it doesn’t fully meet our expectations.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 16, 2021Optimism, Realistic Optimism, Positivity

Practice Persistence, and Progress Will Follow

Caregivers often face tasks and responsibilities that feel never-ending. We may even be so overwhelmed with it all that we are tempted to give up, but we never do. What is it that keeps us going in spite of all obstacles, that keeps hope alive in us and relentlessly pushes us forward? It’s persistence, a characteristic that’s so common in caregivers, and it’s our topic for this week as we turn to September’s theme of attitude.

AttitudeKristi HornerSeptember 9, 2021Persistence, Attitude, Tenacity