Caregiver Connections

Good morning, y'all. Happy caregiver Thursday to all of you guys. I hope you all are doing well this morning on this Thursday and I'm glad you guys are here with me. So I've got my hug in a mug this morning. It is some iced coffee. So my little self care for the morning today and I hope you guys have a little time for your care for yourself, whatever that may be. So we have had a lot of good morning, Kelly. We have had a lot of significant rain and flooding in Savannah this week due to Hurricane Debbie turned tropical storm Debbie.

Good morning, Audrey. All my friends are here. Hi, Jules. Hi. Speak Wonderland. So good to see you guys today on this Thursday. So yeah, we've had a lot of flooding from Hurricane Tropical Storm Debbie. Thankfully we haven't had any damage personally to our house and we are safe and sound so we're very grateful for that. I'm grateful our power is on again and that today the sun is finally shining. So I've got my sunshine shirt on today. I'm so excited that the sun's finally out and it's drying up some of the water.

My heart goes out to all of those affected by the storm. There is so much flooding in the southeast right now. So yes, a lot, a lot going on. So my topic for you guys today is actually weathering the storm. For those of you guys who don't know me yet, which most of you on here do, my name is Stephanie, aka Steph Irwin and I live in Savannah, Georgia. I'm a mother of two kiddos. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Speak wonder. Isn't Drew Holcomb amazing? I love his music. So yeah, I have two kiddos. I have an eleven year old and a seven year old and my seven year old is on the autism spectrum.

So we are just navigating her journey day to day. She finally got to go back to school today for the first day. So we are celebrating that and hopefully all goes well. She got dressed this morning and was positive so that is a step in the right direction. So I also professionally, I work with kids in the hospital and their families. So the last couple of days, you know, we've been cooped up in the storm so nobody's been going to work or school or anything like that. And I did think the perfect metaphor is weathering the storm because you guys know as caregivers there are a lot of chaotic storms that we have to weather and that could be whether you're taking care of children or taking care of an aging parent or caring for people through your line of work.

And, you know, there are these storms that are going to pop up along the way. So today I'm going to share you guys, share with you guys some tips that have helped me along the way as well as tips I have learned from some of the patients and families that I work with. So number one, do your best to equip yourself to weather the storm. Now, we don't have control over everything. Just do your best to equip yourself with what you can and with what is in your control and just know that this particular phase is not going to last forever.

Oh, speak wonder. I'm so sorry. My heart goes out to you right now. I know that is a challenging time, weathering through grief. Um, so I'm sending you love, much love. And, um, just know that this phase in the storm isn't going to last forever, you guys, and the sun will start to shine again. And just know, you know, especially through greek speak, wonder that you're still going to have storms that pop up. And as I've said before, you know, grief and healing, it's, it's not linear. There's going to be ups and downs with everything.

So I know I've learned this through my own, through my own journey of life and we're going to continue to have storms. So even when we get through this particular storm, whatever this may be in our lives right now, more storms are going to pop up and we are just going to continue to evolve through each one. And so that is my tip. Number one for you guys is just do your best with what you can to equip yourself for the storm. Number two, take a moment and just soak it in. You know, this week, for example, we couldn't go anywhere in the storm.

The roads were all flooded and everything was shut down and we were cooped up inside for a long time and kind of forced to take a minute and take a step back and just take it all in, be with the family, soak it all in through power outages and, you know, just kind of soaking in the rain for a little bit in order to regain some energy to continue to weather the storm. This is my metaphor, you know, for life is sometimes we just have to sit in the rain for a little while, sit in the rain, take it in, take a step back, regain your energy, and, you know, you guys, give yourself, give yourself the grace.

Give yourself the grace that you deserve. We're not going to be perfect at weathering any storm, but just give yourself the grace you deserve. And that you need, and we all need to do that and realize that we need to give ourselves and other people grace. Let's see. Oh, yes. Audrey, cultivating. No, about the art. Cultivating and building your spiritual toolbox. Absolutely. Absolutely. And those, you know, the spiritual connections that we have are going to equip us to handle life storms. That's absolutely right.

Oh, I love that you guys are there supporting one another. It's so beautiful. And that actually leads me to my third tip. Come together in the storm. Come together. You guys, we can't do this alone. I know I've said this before in a live, but we aren't meant to do this alone. We need to be there for one another. I love a lot of you guys probably know this quote, but I love this quote by Fred Rogers. And it says, look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. And that's the beautiful thing about Cadre, right?

Like, we're all here together to help one another weather the storms in our lives and to become stronger on the other side of these things. So don't do it alone. Don't do it alone. Look for the helpers. Look for the people navigating through these storms with you and people who have come out on the other side of the storms. It's good for us to support one another and, and build relationships through all of this. So last week, we in the hospital, we had so many oncology patients who are their children, and we decided to host a parent meet and greet.

So we had a parent and caregiver meet and greet and hosted breakfast for them and just gave them the opportunity and the space to connect with one another because they're all going through different storms in their lives. And, you know, some of them were in different parts of their journey of the storm, and they were able to support one another. And it was such a beautiful thing. I mean, there were tears, there were, there was laughter. Families were exchanging contact information. It was just so good to see them supporting one another through their journey that they're going through.

And I think we need to take note of that and do that, you know, in our storms, because, as Shannon says, a lot of the times, like, there's things we don't like to talk about necessarily, and it's important for us to do that so that we can be there for one another. All right, you guys, I'm sending you all my love. Okay? Cheers from my hugging and mug to yours. And, guys, the sun is going to shine. It's going to shine. The sunshine is going to come. Okay, cheers to sunshine. And cheers to you guys.

All right, hugs to you. Have a good Thursday. Bye.