If you’re a caregiver for a loved one with special needs, you’ve probably faced major hurdles in getting them much-needed treatment. Sometimes we have to rely on skunk power. We annoy the right person until they’re convinced that helping us is the lesser pain-in-the-ass.
Picture yourself in a tug-of-war with a powerful monster.You each are holding one end of a rope with a bottomless pit between you. You pull in one direction; the monster pulls back. If you lose, you’ll end up in the pit! But you do have one other option to avoid being pulled to your doom. You can drop the rope.
Grief bursts can blindside you. If they happen in public, you feel awkward and embarrassed. Having a micro-ritual in your back pocket will help you move through them quickly and get some healing from the experience.
Anxious energy is uncomfortable because it’s purpose is to wake you up. Make you pay attention. Because if you course-correct now, you can prevent the worst-case scenario and get to a better outcome. That means there’s a best-case scenario that’s also possible. Once you start imagining that a better outcome is within your grasp, you start converting anxiety to hope.
Many of us carry the heaviness of our loved ones’ world on our shoulders. That’s a quick way to find yourself with a bad case of compassion fatigue, which helps nobody. So do an investigation and prove to yourself that your loved ones, like you, have invisible helpers who can help you carry the emotional load.
Rip currents are narrow bands of water in surf zones that flow away from the shore. One minute, you’re swimming in a manageable tide. The next, you’re being pulled out to sea at 5 mph. Grief can feel like an emotional rip current. And the strategies for riding out a rip current will also work for navigating grief.