Accepting the Ambivalence of Caregiving

One of the common challenges that caregivers face is learning to accept the ambivalent or contradictory feelings of caregiving. Ambivalence can look like feeling both a deep love and resentment towards the person you care for. Ambivalence can also look like finding joy in caregiving while also grieving your life before becoming a caregiver. In these moments of ambivalence, we can feel guilty or blame ourselves for even thinking negatively about our loved ones or being a caregiver. But in reality, caregivers are human too and having mixed emotions about a particular person or event is a common human experience. The next time you feel these mixed emotions- instead of avoiding them or blaming yourself- try naming all your emotions out loud or writing them down. Grief and Joy. Love and Resentment. Hope and Fear. By learning to accept all the emotions of caregiving, the heavy emotions won’t feel so consuming… and you can learn to fully appreciate the pleasant emotions that can come from caregiving.