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How to Heal from Caregiver Burnout
Caring for others takes a toll. Many of us don’t realize we’re drowning. Learning to care for myself as a priority helped me heal — here’s how you can, too.
There are many ways to be a caregiver. Some of us enter caring professions as nurses, physicians, teachers, or social workers. Others may end up caring for their own ill or aging loved ones, either by inclination or necessity.
Caregiving requires an outflow of physical and emotional resources. No matter how dedicated we are to caring for others, our stores of physical energy and compassion are not infinite. Like any other resource, they become depleted over time if we don’t replenish them.
As a professional caregiver myself, nobody told me this. I had to learn it the hard way by pushing myself to the point of burnout more than once.
Caregiver burnout, for professionals or otherwise, is more than just feeling stressed or tired. It is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that arises when the care you provide exceeds what you have to give. It’s a common problem among healthcare workers, but also for millions who provide care for their own loved ones at home. Burnout is a chronic condition that can have serious mental and physical health…
