Good morning beautiful people! Today’s inspiration is brought to you by hitting the snooze button on the alarm with no remorse, some echinacae tea, and thoughts of my sister who I love dearly and am so proud of.
I know all too well what’s it’s like to be a caregiver to a family member living with serious mental illness. It can take its toll.
While heavily invested in my sister’s mental health and wellbeing, I often let my own fall by the wayside. I compared our traumas and reasoned she had it worse so her issues deserved more attention.
I wasn’t totally wrong but the problem was, for a while there, I did tend to my own issues at all. And when you don’t address your mental and emotional issues or ensure you are taking care of yourself while taking care of others, you end up exhausted, stressed, depressed, sad, resentful, etc.
Trust me…I KNOW!
That’s why it’s important to raise awareness that November is National Family Caregivers Month.
It’s very important to acknowledge the love, dedication, time and sacrifice that goes in to caring for a loved one living with serious illness, especially mental illness.
If you don’t know the numbers, sharing the infographic below so you can see how prevalent family caregiving in mental health is. We are your coworkers, your customers, your neighbors and/or your friends.
If you are a caregiver, please make sure you are keeping check on your mental and emotional health. Mental Health America offers easy screening tools that you can use to assess if you may be struggling at https://screening.mhanational.org/screening-tools/.
If you know someone who is a caregiver, check and share this information with them as well.
And if you’re wondering how my sister is doing, I’m happy to report she is doing amazing!!! On October 22, she celebrated one month in her new role providing peer and family support for the seriously mentally ill.
She’s come full circle and I am so proud of her! 💚💚💚
Happy Wednesday!
#nationalfamilycaregiversmonth #mentalhealth #support #morningroutine #livelearnlead #conversationsforchange
@Erneshia_Michelle 