Senior Care in Princeton NJ

If making decisions is uncomfortable for you, you may find being on a senior care journey with your elderly loved ones difficult. Part of being a family caregiver is making decisions on a regular basis and feeling confident in those decisions. You must decide what type of care your loved ones need and how to ensure that they get that level of care, how much you are going to be involved in their care, what types of activities you are going to be able to do with your family or friends outside of your care arrangement with your loved ones, and when it is time to step back and let others help.

These decisions can range from the simplest of choices such as what you are going to make your loved ones for breakfast in the morning, to far more impactful decisions such as who to hire as their senior health care services provider. While making these decisions is not always easy, it is important that you are able to not only make them, but feel secure in them so that you can keep moving forward in your care journey together.

December 31 is Make Up Your Mind Day, a fantastic opportunity for you to commit yourself to making decisions quickly and confidently whether they are minor or major.

Use these tips to help you make decisions on Make Up Your Mind Day and any day throughout the rest of the year:

• Do not overthink it. Problems making decisions often come when you let yourself think too much about them. Thinking too much about a decision gives you the opportunity to talk yourself into worrying about different possibilities or coming up with more options. When possible, make the decision quickly and go with your gut instinct.

• Get help. Let go of your need for absolute control and be willing to get help making your decisions. Talk to your partner, your friends, your parents’ senior health care services provider, and your aging loved ones and let their opinions, feelings, and knowledge help you work through the decision making process.

• Be “ruthless.” It is common for caregivers to have difficulty making decisions because they are thinking too much about other people and what they might think or feel about it. While this is important sometimes, it can also get in the way of being able to come to an efficient decision. When you are making decisions, be “ruthless” and think about yourself and your loved ones first, and then worry about other people. While you are not actually being ruthless, you are giving yourself permission to focus on your own needs and the needs of your seniors first.

• Trick yourself. The old hat trick is a great way to make decisions when all of the options are equal, but it can also help you to clarify how you actually feel about different options. Try writing down the different options on pieces of paper and putting them in a hat or a bowl. Pull one out and evaluate how you feel about it. If you have a sense of disappointment or tension, you know that is not the right decision.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring senior care services in Princeton, NJ or the surrounding areas, please call Independence Home Care today at 609-208-1111 for more information.