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November 26th, 2010Take Care of You While Caring for Others
The month of November is a very special time of the year. The days and hours leading up to the Thanksgiving feast is an appropriate time to think about all that we have to be thankful for. November is a time to celebrate our family and how much they mean to us. November is also National Family Caregivers Month.
Becoming a family caregiver for someone you love is one of those heart wrenching and at times enlightening life lessons. The role as a family caregiver can happen abruptly or creep in slowly-unnoticed until one day you realize you are caring more for someone else than you are for yourself. You find yourself beginning to struggle with the day to day demands and somewhere along the way you realize you have lost your identity and have allowed the caregiving role to define who you are. Your new role as a family caregiver can become as frightening as the initial diagnosis. The journey can be difficult when traveled alone, however, it does not have to be that hard and you do not and should not have to travel the road alone.
Caregivers should remember to ask for help when you are feeling overwhelmed. Let someone know when you need time for yourself. If there are no other family members to help out, reach out to neighbors, other organizations or your church family for help. Remember, taking care of others requires you to first take care of you.
To help celebrate our caregivers, reach out and offer a few hours of your time to a family caregiver so they can have some me time and simply relax. Encourage local businesses to offer free services for family caregivers through the month of November. Help a family caregiver find information and resources on the internet or locate a local support group. Let’s take this time to thank, support, educate and empower family caregivers.
Raise Your Awareness
October has become well known as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a global movement to find a cure for breast cancer , a disease that effects the lives of thousands of women each and every year. And just to think, this now global movement started back in 1982 with the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This organization was started because of one woman’s story, Susan G. Komen, who lost her own fight to breast cancer. She made a choice to spend her energy raising awareness and fighting for a cure so that no other women would have to suffer. Although we still don’t have a cure, over $1.5 Billion has been raised by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support breast cancer research and move us one step closer to a cure. One woman’s story. one woman’s decision “raised awareness” around the globe.
I personally had a scare about 8 years ago when I found a lump in my right breast. I was just 34 years old, in good health, consistent with my regular checkups, following everything they tell you to do to stay healthy. It was less than 6 months earlier that I had gone to my OBGYN for my regular checkup and there was no sign of a lump. So you can imagine my surprise to find a lump the size of a quarter in my breast. Well, I got right on it. I called the Montclair Breast Center and made an appointment. After a couple of mammograms, an ultra-sound and finally a biopsy, I found out the lump was “benign”. There was no sign of cancer. Thank goodness. But here’s the thing. It raised my awareness not only about the disease, but more importantly about what is most important in my life. Why? Because my life could have changed forever if the diagnosis was different. For some women, the diagnosis was different and their lives have forever changed.
This month, I want you to not only “raise your awareness” about breast cancer, but also “raise your awareness” about your life and what is most important to you right now. Pause for a moment to reflect on “everything”, even the simplest of things. Maybe it’s noticing your child’s laughter or your significant other’s smile. Maybe it’s just opening up the door to get the mail and noticing the cool, crisp breeze and all the leaves on the ground in your yard. I mean really reflect on the simplest of things that make you feel good. Raise your awareness of everything and everyone around you because it could change in an instant. Raise your awareness, because your life depends on it.
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