{"id":278,"date":"2016-02-09T22:30:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T22:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/?p=278"},"modified":"2025-06-02T22:09:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T22:09:03","slug":"a-caregiver-valentine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/09\/a-caregiver-valentine\/","title":{"rendered":"A Caregiver Valentine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_0425.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-63\" src=\"http:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_0425.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0425\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_0425.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_0425-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I just finished reading\u00a0a little book entitled, \u201cCongratulations, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The author, George Saunders, speaking to a graduating class, describes what he\u2019s regretted most in his life. Turns out, it was a failure of kindness. Those moments when he hesitated to offer\u00a0someone a word, a touch, or a smile to make them feel valued and understood.<\/p>\n<p>I see this often, but with a twist. In caregiver communities, people reach out to each other daily with warmth\u00a0and compassion, yet they don\u2019t extend that same empathy\u00a0to themselves. \u00a0Instead, there is only a litany of should&#8217;s:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I should be stronger.\u00a0I should be able to handle all this.\u00a0I should be doing a better job.<\/p>\n<p>The thing is, what you are\u00a0doing is often an exhausting, all-consuming, roller-coaster ride in the\u00a0dark, and there are times of questioning your sanity and the\u00a0ability to continue. Yet, despite all this, you keep on going. And that needs to\u00a0be honored.<\/p>\n<p>So, here\u2019s to you on Valentine\u2019s Day. \u00a0Nothing fancy. No roses or gooey sentiments. Just a good, strong, get-the-job-done cup of coffee that speaks to some of your finest qualities.<\/p>\n<p>As George Saunders says, &#8220;Try to be kinder.\u201d And I would say to caregivers everywhere, \u201cBegin with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just finished reading\u00a0a little book entitled, \u201cCongratulations, by the way.\u201d The author, George Saunders, speaking to a graduating class, describes what he\u2019s regretted most in his life. Turns out, it was a failure of kindness. Those moments when he hesitated to offer\u00a0someone a word, a touch, or a smile to make them feel valued [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judithdhenry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}