This month’s theme is something we talk about a lot, relating to various topics. That’s because having a growth mindset is so important in our continuing efforts to improve ourselves and reach our full potential, whether it’s solving problems, meeting new challenges, or just trying something new.
Read MoreFor the last three months we've been looking INTERNALLY - from dreaming BIG to mindfulness - we've been on a journey of self-discovery.
As caregivers, we often lose OURSELVES, as we are providing care to others. We place all of our focus on our loved ones needs, their medical appointments, medications and care plan. We often forget (or don't prioritize) our own health and well-being.
This month's been ALL about finding our place in the WORLD Sound BIG and lofty to you? It doesn't need to be!
Check out the April Newsletter focused on FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE WORLD here.
April was also Stress Awareness Month. The April 2021 Newsletter included all our favorite resources for stress. Stress is a part of life ... but doesn’t have to knock us flat. We can't eliminate the stress of caregiving - yet, we CAN find ways to better cope/manage our stressors.
Read MoreAs caregivers, we have a lot of things in common. One of the most important is empathy. We use empathy to listen, understand, and connect with the emotions of others, especially with the loved ones that we care for. We see it as part of our responsibility as a caregiver.
Read MoreApril is Stress Awareness Month, and we’ve said many times that the stress of caregiving has been found to take 10 years off a caregiver’s life. That’s why we focus so much on providing resources to help caregivers cope with stress. Learning how to manage the stress of caregiving can literally save your life!
Read MoreThis month, we begin a new theme of “My Place in the World,” and this week’s topic of letting go/surrender can be a difficult one for many people. I know it is for me. After many struggles, I now prefer to think in terms of “let it be.”
At first glance, this idea of letting go or surrendering might seem to contradict what we’re all about at Courage to Caregivers. We’re all about making progress, empowerment, and not giving up, right? Well, of course we are.
But the type of surrender we’re talking about can actually lead to greater empowerment. When we refuse to live under an illusion – when we recognize that there are some things we just can’t control, and there is no point in trying to fight a battle that we can’t win – we allow ourselves to move on to other things in life, where we CAN make progress, and where our strengths and abilities CAN make a difference.
Read MoreMindfulness has many benefits! It's been found to support you in regulating emotions, managing stress and leading to greater overall health and well-being. Our theme of MINDFULNESS in March fits under the composure domain of resilience. Composure - in regards to resilience - is about learning to regulate our emotions. It's also about the "little things" - being mindful in the moment. Sounds easy, right? It's HARD!
Check out our March Newsletter focused on MINDFULNESS here.
Read MoreWe talk a lot about stress here – more specifically, coping with and managing stress – but this week’s topic is about the opposite of stress. Inner peace is a deliberative state of psychological or spiritual calm that we can feel despite the potential presence of stressors. Inner calm is being free from the emotions that can disrupt our peace and is a result of recognizing what we can and can’t control.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing I know, it’s that we can’t control other people or their emotions, feelings, or actions. We can only control OUR responses and what WE do.
Read MoreThis week, our month’s theme of mindfulness brings us to the topic of self-compassion. And we can think of no better source to rely on for wisdom and advice on this subject than Dr. Kristin Neff, co-founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.
“Having compassion for oneself is really no different than having compassion for others,” Dr. Neff says.
Self-compassion is a component of self-love, where we recognize our own worth and value and extend kindness to ourselves as we would extend it to others. Show YOURSELF some compassion today.
Read MoreOur new theme for this month is mindfulness, and our topic to kick it off is self-regulation. We talk a lot about mindfulness at Courage to Caregivers. Being mindful and keeping ourselves connected to the present moment means that we are better able to regulate our emotions and stay in control.
For caregivers, that’s important. Sometimes, we get overwhelmed by things around us that are out of our control. There’s so much to do, and nothing we do seems to be good enough. This feeling can happen all at once, or it can creep up on us slowly.
In my most active caregiving days, I felt as if I had lost myself - who I was at my very core. Throughout February, as we explored our theme of Self-Discovery, we dug deep to identify our strengths and opportunities for growth, developed our understanding of self-confidence and worked hard on our self-love.
When I think about who has helped me with my own journey of self-discovery, that's right, you guessed it, the work of Brené Brown has been like having a personal life coach. She's taught me to cultivate courage and live my most authentic self. This is HARD!
Check out our February Newsletter focused on SELF-DISCOVERY here.
Read MoreBy now, you know that we’re all about courage. It’s in our name, after all. And this week’s topic – self-love – might be the most courageous, important, and difficult gift you can give yourself. It’s an essential part of self-care, and it’s absolutely not selfish.
Read MoreWith self-confidence, the world becomes a place filled with opportunities and adventures instead of a fearful journey. Before you know it, you will truly believe that you are capable, responsible, reliable, and able to manage life on life’s terms … and on YOUR terms.
Read MoreThis month, we’ll be exploring the theme of self-discovery, and a great place to start is by focusing on our strengths as opportunities. Strengths go hand-in-hand with a growth mindset. Identifying areas where you are strongest allows you not only to work on the things you need to improve but also to cultivate your strengths and make them even stronger.
Read MoreUnder our theme of DREAM BIG this month, we started with our vision for ourselves. Our vision clarifies our values and includes goals around those values. We explored creating your personal timeline, identifying your core values and personal mission statement, as well as focusing on what brings you joy.
It turns out that VISION is the most important domain of resilience. This is because all the other domains focus on what you want to achieve, and you can't take action to achieve something without a VISION!
Are you a dreamer? (I am!) Dreaming is all about envisioning a way forward. Looking ahead at the person you aspire to be. It requires digging deep and sometimes being vulnerable. It can be scary and exciting at the same time.
With YOUR vision for YOUR life, you know where you are headed. It's literally your roadmap for this journey of life.
Check out our January Newsletter focused on DREAMING BIG here.
Read MoreSo much of what we talk about is hard stuff. Caregiving is hard. Focusing on self-care is hard. Tuning out all of the negatives from external sources is hard. But this week’s topic – What brings you joy? – really can be easy if you have the right mindset … even if you feel exhausted from compassion fatigue, pandemic fatigue, or just plain old fatigue.
Read MoreThis week we’re asking you to really go deep and discover what makes you YOU by creating a personal mission statement.
Read MoreA personal timeline can serve as a guide for setting goals, and that just happens to be our first weekly topic of the new year, as part of this month’s theme: Dream BIG. Organizing your experiences by creating a personal timeline of your past is an exercise that allows you to see the positive and negative flow of your life on one page. Your timeline is unique to you and shows a series of events, circumstances, and choices that have impacted your life.
Read MoreWe often think of our OUTLOOK on life as looking outwards or looking at our prospects for the future. What if we started by looking WITHIN ourselves? With mindfulness, YOU can cultivate the outlook YOU desire.
Throughout December we looked at the theme of outlook through the lens of 1) having a hope-centered mindset; 2) opportunity and possibility; and 3) celebrating your successes.
Your outlook is connected to your resilience. You CAN grow your hope and develop a more positive outlook - you can CHOOSE the mindset you're going to use. Having a growth mindset reminds us that anything is possible ... and that's worth celebrating!
Check out our December Newsletter focused on OUTLOOK here.
Read MoreWe’re proud to be part of their success stories, and I hope you take pride in all that you’ve done, too. Whether big or small, your accomplishments have required hard work and sacrifice. You set a goal, you persevered, and you grew. You couldn’t have done it without YOU.
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