Caregiving

Caregiving, especially for animals, brings me incredible joy and a sense of purpose, but I often get carried away and forget to look after my own needs. I know I’m not alone in this and that’s comforting. When I inevitably get burnt out and people suggest that I “give myself a break,” it can feel pretty invalidating. I have latched on tightly to the normalization and even expectation of self-sacrifice in caregiving situations (I’m slowly investigating the reasons for that).

It’s hard to admit, but negative messaging still profoundly affects me even though there is an increased focus on mental health in caregiving professions. Working on shame-resilience helps me a ton, but it’s incredibly hard work and I need lots of self-compassion to get through it.

It’s easier for me to start with boundaries first (a subtype of self-compassion). I also try to talk to myself the way I talk to sick animals. That is potentially the maximum amount of empathy I can produce : )