Aging can be a difficult process. Between aches and pains, forgetfulness, diminished independence, and career and retirement worries, getting older can be complicated and scary. Roles are often reversed between parents and children, as elders become less able to take care of themselves and adult children take on increasing responsibility as caregivers. Sometimes, though not always, dementia and other cognitive diseases accompany the aging process and the end of life. Through working in hospice with families managing these illnesses with their loved ones at the end of life, I've compiled some helpful information. Let's go over the basics.
If you or someone you know if sad much of the time, is withdrawing from things they used to enjoy, seems hopeless or having thoughts about death, this poem may resonate with you. I wrote it sometime last year during a particularly long stretch of down days. I've struggled with depression on and off throughout my life, and writing about it has always helped. I encourage others experiencing depression to speak to someone you trust, and own that it happens. But don't let it define you. Being sad isn't all you are...you are a bright, blooming, vessel of energy beneath the veil of depression.
I feel like there's a racetrack in my house sometimes. We have a sort-of circular floor plan, and if I counted the times I've rushed from my dining room through my bedroom through my office into the kitchen and around again, I'd be in the tens of thousands I bet. Sometimes I feel exhausted with all the rushing and the to-do list that seems to only get longer.
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AuthorKambria Kennedy-Dominguez, LPC-S |