Don't Let Your Burdens Weigh You Down

Learning to Delegate

Do you ever feel over- burdened? If you're like most of us, the answer will be, "Yes." As a matter of fact, my answer is more like "When am I not?" Too often I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders as I go through the day. And frankly, that really is not necessary.

There was a day not too long ago that despite being over tired and achy I decided to do the food shopping on my way home. Feeling exhausted I muddled through the experience and loaded the car with oodles of bundles that included a 50lb bag of dog food. A feeling of dread accompanied me on the drive home as I thought about how I was going to have to unload the car and put all the stuff away. Then, pulling into the driveway I realized I had three choices:

1.            Do it all myself without asking the family for help.

2.            Ask someone to help me but still do the bulk of it myself.

3.            Ask others in the family to take over the task and go inside and rest.

If I did it all by myself, the feeling of being over- burdened would only increase as would my physical tiredness. If I asked for help but did not let go of the task I'd feel a little relief but not enough to be restored. I figured out I needed to just let others carry my load. I needed to delegate. And just as importantly, I needed to relinquish the burden.

As caregivers we need to take a hard look at the number of tasks we try to accomplish and recognize that it is acceptable to ask for assistance, especially when the burdens seem to be weighing us down. Asking for help is not easy for most of us. It might take some practice. But in the long run, by not being a martyr, you will find that the load is much easier to handle.