Sometimes you just have to get away. Even if it is only for a few hours. Today has been pretty awful.
Dementia has turned my kind and loving mum into a cruel, manipulative, narcissistic monster. As her sole carer, I get the brunt of her furies and spite. It is truly exhausting - and as someone who used to work 14-hour days in an excessively high-stress profession, I know a bit about exhaustion.
So, after a morning spent unpicking her finances with the bank and later an outpouring of such horrible, poisonous and entirely invented nonsense about how terrible I am that I just wanted to cry, I told her she was on her own for the afternoon and now I'm sitting in a car park writing this. And you know what? In a moment I'm going to go and do something nice for myself. Then I'm going to call in on some friends. My mum can go stew ... well, realistically she'll have forgotten all about it by the time I get back, but you know where I'm coming from.
Anyhow. If you can - and I know it's not always possible - take time for yourself. xxx
Dementia has turned my kind and loving mum into a cruel, manipulative, narcissistic monster. As her sole carer, I get the brunt of her furies and spite. It is truly exhausting - and as someone who used to work 14-hour days in an excessively high-stress profession, I know a bit about exhaustion.
So, after a morning spent unpicking her finances with the bank and later an outpouring of such horrible, poisonous and entirely invented nonsense about how terrible I am that I just wanted to cry, I told her she was on her own for the afternoon and now I'm sitting in a car park writing this. And you know what? In a moment I'm going to go and do something nice for myself. Then I'm going to call in on some friends. My mum can go stew ... well, realistically she'll have forgotten all about it by the time I get back, but you know where I'm coming from.
Anyhow. If you can - and I know it's not always possible - take time for yourself. xxx