You might have learned how to hack lots of areas in your life, but have you given thought to how you might hack being a caregiver? “Hacking” in this sense means making small changes in order to make the situation you’re in easier and more efficient for everyone involved.
Set up an Office of Sorts for Yourself
You need a space that you can treat as your caregiving office. It doesn’t have to be a real office and it doesn’t even need to have a desk. What you’re looking for is a spot where you can keep the essential paperwork you’re collecting and get yourself as organized as you can be. This is also a spot that can help you to feel more grounded as a caregiver when everything feels up in the air.
Determine Whether Changes to Your Senior’s Home Make Caregiving Easier
When your elderly family member is safer in her own home, that’s going to make a big impact on your ability to be an effective caregiver for her. Adding hand rails, changing the furniture layout, and adding more lighting are all small changes that can make a big difference. Your senior’s safety is your biggest goal as a caregiver.
Figure out What Sort of Help You Need
Take the time to sort through what you need in terms of help from outside sources. You might have a family member who can provide exactly the assistance that you need with a specific issue. One family member might be a fantastic cook, for instance, or could love running errands for your senior. Take advantage of the help that you can get, but don’t forget that home care providers are also there to make your life and your senior’s life easier.
Take Action on What You Learn
The biggest way to hack your experience as a caregiver is to take what you learn and put action behind it. if you don’t put action behind what you’re learning, you’re going to stay stuck in the same situations and it’s going to become a problem for you. Joining a support group can help you to meet other caregivers who have lots of knowledge they can share with you.
The more experience that you gain as a caregiver the easier it’s going to be for you to spot areas of caregiving that you can hack for yourself. Every little tip or trick that you add to your personal brand of caregiving is going to hack your system a little bit further.