How many times have you thought to yourself, "I wish she would help out more," or "I wish he cared about this as much as I do"? These thoughts and feelings are so common and understandable when you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia. As much as you want someone to feel or … Continue reading Ep 16: You Cannot Control Someone Else’s Emotions or Behavior →

As you probably already know, there can be a lot more bad days than good when someone you love has Alzheimer's or dementia. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid having bad days or bad visits with your loved one. They are just a part of this difficult journey. One bad day doesn't have … Continue reading Ep 15: How to Recover From a Bad Day or Visit With Your Loved One →

Whether you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia, or you are trying to rebuild your life on the other side of this journey, you need all the energy you can get. That's why it's important to identify things that might be stealing your energy without you even realizing it. Once you … Continue reading Ep 14: 4 Sneaky Things That Are Stealing Your Energy →

People often ask me how I came to accept my mom's Alzheimer's diagnosis and how I was able to change my perspective surrounding it. It took me years to accept what was happening to my mom and to change my perspective. But eventually, I was able to go from having to leave the room to … Continue reading Ep 13: Change Your Alzheimer’s Journey with Acceptance and Perspective →

I don’t know about you, but I pride myself on being an independent person who doesn’t need a lot of support from other people. I can always convince myself that I’m doing fine, and that I don’t need more support or connection from family or friends. On Mother’s Day this year, I had the sudden … Continue reading Ep 12: Have You Been Lying to Yourself About What You Need? →

Do you put off calling or visiting your loved one because it’s hard to do? Do you keep putting off a personal or professional goal because you know it will be a lot of work? Or, maybe you just keep saying that you want to do something, but you still haven’t even taken the first … Continue reading Ep 11: Sometimes It’s Harder Not to Do Something Than It Is to Just Do It →

During the first few years of my mom's battle with Alzheimer's, I was an emotional wreck. I cried all the time. I got angry and overreacted a lot. I had really big emotions over the smallest things. It wasn't until I became familiar with the terms ambiguous loss and ambiguous grief that my emotional overwhelm … Continue reading Ep 10: Ambiguous Loss and Ambiguous Grief →

Have you ever felt angry that your loved one has Alzheimer's or dementia? Do you feel angry when you think about everything you have lost and how much your life has changed? Are you angry that your family has to go through this while others don't? I used to feel angry about all of those … Continue reading Ep 9: Your Anger Is Justified, But It’s Not Serving You →

For a long time during my mom's Alzheimer's battle, I mostly focused on what I had lost--not what I still had. That left me feeling sad, hopeless, and depressed almost all of the time. At some point, I decided that I needed to do something different to better cope with what I was going through. … Continue reading Ep 8: Using Gratitude to Cope with What You’re Going Through →