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Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™
December 15, 2005
Six Steps To
Coping With Change
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If there's only one thing you and I can count
on between now and this time next year - or even this time
tomorrow - it's that something will change. It's just about
the only thing we can count on. Whether it's at the job,
with family members, or gracious knows even the plumbing
(that's a long story for another time), I know about the
time I get comfortable with something, change comes along
and jolts me out of my comfort zone again.
It would be nice if life were a little more predictable, but
that's the way it seems to be - at least at my house and all
the houses I've been in lately.
So how do we cope with all the changes 2006 will undoubtedly
bring?
Having been subjected to change for quite a few years now,
here are a few tips I can offer. Right along with you I'll
be doing my best to take my own advice.
1. Get information. You've heard it before, and how
true it is - the only dumb question is the one that's
unasked. You may not like the answers you get, but ignorance
isn't bliss. It's harder to cope with things we don't
understand.
2. Get involved. Even if you're not the primary
caregiver, the decision-maker at work, or the plumber, you
can be involved by telephone, email and visits. If you're
not involved you can't complain about how others are
managing change.
3. Don't judge before you have the big picture and
enough time has passed for you to really know whether
something is working or not. Some things take time to evolve
and settle into the "new" normal. If it doesn't seem to be
life- threatening give it time, and refer back to points 1
and 2 often.
4. Give feedback with suggestions. "It's not working"
doesn't help much without practical alternatives.
5. Step back and get perspective. Wherever you are
now is a result of earlier changes. As you grow accustomed
to changes they become the normal that you measure new
changes against.
6. Accept it. This is where we feel the most stress,
because we don't like change, and of course the changes we
hate the most are the ones we see as negative. We tend to
want things to be "the way they were," but we can't turn
back the clock. So if we can't stop change we're better off
if we can give ourselves a bit of a break while we learn
about the new
normal. Change is the cycle of life, and it's going to
happen.
| There is a certain relief in
change, even though it be from
bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a
stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's
position, and be bruised in a new place.
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Real Food At Last
For The Eating-Impaired
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If you know someone who has problems with
chewing you can just imagine how sick they must be of
milkshakes, Jello, mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs -
especially at this time of year when everyone else is
stocking up on goodies.
The I-Can't-Chew Cookbook would be a Godsend to the person
who wants to fix tasty food for someone who has problems
with chewing or swallowing. It has 200 recipes for real
food - soups, main dishes (even meat), vegetables and
great desserts.
The
I-Can't
Chew Cookbook:
Delicious Soft Diet Recipes for People with Chewing,
Swallowing, and Dry Mouth Disorders
by Mark A. Piper.
If you order it today I think you have a good chance of
getting it before the 25th. Amazon has it in stock at the
moment.
Traveling with a confused or disabled person
any time soon? Remember to pack a night light. It's
disorienting to wake in the middle of the night in a strange
room and not be able to see where the bathroom is. Leaving
the bathroom light on works in some hotel/motel rooms, but
not all. And you can't count on friends and relatives to
have a night light. A little
extra light in the room can prevent falls or accidents that
will ruin a perfectly nice holiday.
| The aging process has you
firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a
snowball.
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