Why It’s Hard to Say “No” as a Caregiver

By Roz Jones

Have you ever said ‘yes’ to something you wished that you’d said ‘no’ to instead? Chances are you’ve done that not just once, but several times in your life, and likely regretted it every time. This is particularly difficult as a caregiver, when we know that our loved ones are relying on us. Why is it so terribly hard to say ‘no’ when deep down, you know that it’s the right thing to do?

As it turns out, a lot of those answers come from the past and our upbringing. Thankfully, it’s never too late to rewrite the past. Let’s take a look at several reasons people say ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no.’

“If I say no, I’m weak.”

Far from being weak when you say ‘no’, you’re showing a great deal of strength. It takes someone with confidence, and the ability to look out for their own mental and physical health, to put their foot down. As a caregiver, when you say ‘no’ to something, and putting your health first, you are ensuring that you will still be strong tomorrow as you are today in order to care for yourself and your loved ones.

“I don’t want to let anyone down.”

Believe it or not, when most people ask for a favor, they are already expecting the person they’re asking to say ‘no.’ They meet that refusal with a shrug and a determination to try someone else. People aren’t as invested as you think. The only person you’re letting down here is yourself if you say ‘yes’ when you don’t want to.

“I’ll be seen as difficult to work with.”

Again this is where your perception of the situation is off. People will see you as being difficult to work with if you’re …difficult. So long as you’re not belligerent, angry, or abusive when you say ‘no,’ no one is going to think anything at all. Keep in mind that there are other ways you can still contribute and be part of the team without saying ‘yes’ to every little thing asked of you. In fact, you may make the situation worse for yourself or others if you always say ‘yes’, but don’t have the time to follow through.

Check back later this week or more discussion on saying “no” as a caregiver, and visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on setting boundaries a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

Stay Healthy While Working and Caregiving From Home pt 3

By Roz Jones

Have a look at my first few tips on staying healthy at home here and here, and read on to learn some more!

Taking Regular Breaks

Make sure you have a balanced work schedule throughout the day, including taking enough breaks. Think of your work-from-home schedule just like a schedule if you were in the office still. This includes a morning and afternoon break, and a lunch break! If you would get up every hour to move and stretch your body in the office, then you should be doing that now as well.

Do desk stretches – There are stretches you can do while sitting down or standing. These give you the opportunity to look somewhere other than your computer screen, stretch your body, and hopefully stand up to stretch out your legs as well.

Walk around – Also use your breaks as a chance to get up and walk around your house or office space.

Make adjustments – Do you feel like your neck is stiff or back is hurting? You may be sitting incorrectly. Check the ergonomics of your workstation, whether you are working at a desk or your kitchen table.

Environmental Changes

The environment where you work at home can also make a big difference in your health and wellbeing. Here are some things you can change in your environment for your health:

Setting up your workspace – Make sure your workspace is set up for focus and productivity, including a desk or table that is comfortable, all the accessories you need to get work done, proper lighting, and a way to cancel out noise or distractions.

Having healthy resources at home – It is also good to have resources available to you at home to improve your health if this is a priority. This might be nutritious food and snacks, home workout accessories, or just some house plants in your office to get you in the healthy mindset.

Designated break areas – Taking a break at home is a little different from a traditional workplace, since you are already in your relaxing place. This is why having a designated workspace AND a designated place to take your breaks is so essential.

Your Work-Life Balance

Everyone needs a good work-life balance, whether you work from home or out of the home. But it tends to be a little more complicated when your home is also your office.

One of the best things you can do for your work-life balance when you work from home is to have a schedule that tells you when you start work, and when you stop. Avoid bringing your laptop to the couch or your bed to get work done outside of your “office hours”.

This small change, in addition to having a separate workspace, will make a big difference in your work-life balance.

Are You Ready to Be Healthier?

Let’s summarize how to be healthier at home and make sure you are ready and on the right path.

Small habits for big changes – Remember that it is not about changing your entire life in order to be healthier. Just choose some smaller habits, and working from home will benefit you greatly.

Find your motivation – What motivates YOU to be healthier might not motivate anyone else. Be honest with yourself about what you are trying to achieve.

Set health goals – Lastly, set some goals for yourself when it comes to your health. What are you trying to improve? What are you struggling with right now? The more specific your goals are, the easier they will be to achieve.

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on how to be more productive as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

Stay Healthy While Working and Caregiving From Home pt 2

By Roz Jones

Have a look at my first few tips on staying healthy at home here, and read on to learn some more!

Finding Your Health Motivation

What is the reason you want to be healthier while working from home? This is where you can start, and will help with not just your health, but your happiness when you are at home working all day.

Make a list of everything that is motivating you to be healthier, starting with your WHY.

This why may include for yourself, or for your loved ones, so you can take better care of both.

Answer this question in your journal or in a notebook:

“Why do you want to be healthier while working from home?”

This is important, because it helps you understand yourself a little more, and find what is going to motivate you the most. There is no wrong answer here, except one where you aren’t being honest with yourself.

Creating a Healthy Morning Routine

To start working on your healthy habits at home, begin with your morning routine. Don’t worry about having a perfect routine or one that you get 100% right every day. Routines are simply a collection of activities you do around the same time each day.

Everything in your routine should serve some kind of purpose and be something you want to get done in the morning, or that will help you start your day on the right foot.

Benefits of the Morning Routine

Why have a morning routine? When you are working from home, you need some structure. Without a boss looking over your shoulder or co-workers to be accountable to, it requires a lot more self-motivation. This also includes your health journey while working from home.

Some benefits of having a morning routine include:

Starting your day off with healthy habits
Incorporating healthy habits into your routine
Setting yourself up for the day
Getting in exercise first thing in the morning
Changing your mindset to a healthy, balanced one

Health Pitfalls to Avoid

It is really easy to think the habits and routines you have implemented in your work-from-home life are for health, but many of them are about losing weight or being overly restrictive. Here are some pitfalls to avoid when you are on a health journey:

Going on a restrictive diet – Many people think that to eat healthy, they need to be on a diet. But this is not true! Change your mindset from what you need to take away from your diet to what you can add in to improve nutrients and fuel your body.

Focusing on the wrong things – When it comes to your health, it is more about how you feel, not what you think you should be doing. This goes for everything you do at home, from your physical activity and what you eat, to the information you consume and what your routine looks like.

Feeling like you aren’t doing enough – This is especially important when caring for loved ones, when we feel like we may not be enough. But, any small change you make or healthy habit you incorporate into your work-from-home life is going to improve your physical health and wellbeing. It is enough.

Check back later this week for more healthy at home habits, and in the meantime, visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on how to be more productive as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

Stay Healthy While Working and Caregiving From Home

By Roz Jones

With more people working from home, a common question has come up – how do I get more exercise and avoid eating too much when I am at home full-time? This becomes even more difficult when you are caregiving from home as well, taking care of yourself, your job, and most importantly your loved ones. But don’t worry, it is possible to improve your physical health even while working from home, just like if you were working in an office.

Here are 3 different things to focus on when it comes to staying healthy while working from home.

1. Staying Active and Stretching

One of the best things you can do when you work from home is to stay active. Even if you sit at a desk or work on the couch with your laptop all day, there are still plenty of opportunities to move your body.

Make it a goal to move more throughout the day, not only with daily exercise, but getting up from your day and stretching more often.

Here are some ideas:

Start your day with a gentle workout session – In the morning, you can boost your energy and move your body with a gentle form of exercise. Yoga and Pilates are great for the morning, but a short walk would also be great.

Find more reasons to walk during your day – Walking is the gentlest form of exercise, and the easiest to do. You can walk your dogs a little further than you normally would, go on a family walk around the neighborhood after dinner, or walk to run errands if it’s close enough to your house instead of driving.

Add in other forms of exercise – What else do you enjoy doing? Do you want to take an afternoon spin class with a friend? Do you like getting out of the house to go on a hike or head to the gym? Find more forms of exercise that will motivate you. If possible, invite your loved ones to join you!

2. Nutrition While Working from Home

Another pitfall that people often fall into when working from home is snacking or indulging in treats all day. If you have found that your nutrition is falling behind from working near your kitchen all day, here are some tips that can help:

Have healthy snacks on hand – If you tend to reach for chips or candy often, keep healthier snacks within your reach. Have fruit or nuts on your desk, keep granola bars on the counter, make sure your fresh fruit and veggies are visible, instead of a box of donuts on the counter.

Do meal prep – Meal prep works great when you work from home too! This does not just have to be for bringing lunch to work. The more you have prepared at home, the less tempted you will be to order food delivery or go out to eat. It will also save time in the long run, meaning you have more time to take care of and spend time with loved ones.

Designated kitchen times – A common trap when working from home is feeling like you can walk into the kitchen at any time and eat something. To prevent this, have designated kitchen and meal times just like you would if you worked in an office.

3. Developing Healthier Habits

Staying healthy while working from home isn’t about being on a diet or trying to be restrictive. It is about balance, which starts with developing some healthy habits.

Do you eat better when you have your workout first thing in the morning? Then you know this can be a wonderful healthy habit for you! Habits don’t have to feel like a chore or something you are forced to do. It is very small changes in your day that make the difference.

Try working on your daily routines. From morning routines to what you do in the afternoon, you can change your routines in order to be healthier at home.

Get your family involved. Sometimes, what you need is to focus on the health of your family, not just yourself. Let your kids help with meal times, exercise with the family, and find family-focused activities to get you up and moving throughout the day.

Check back next week for more healthy at home habits, and in the meantime, visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on how to be more productive as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

Why Embrace Your Imperfections as a Caregiver

By Roz Jones

Do you constantly find yourself wrapped up in your imperfections? If so, it could be getting in the way of leading a happy, fulfilled life.

Each of us has imperfections. However, many fight against their flaws; harshly criticizing themselves for not being perfect. There is a lot of pressure in society today to be a perfect person. Unfortunately, this just isn’t possible. So, most of us end up feeling like a failure or developing feelings of self-hatred. This is even more difficult when caring for a loved one.

If you want to learn to love yourself, embracing your imperfections is key. Here, we’ll look at why it’s important to embrace your imperfections and the benefits it can deliver.

Your Positive Imperfections

When you start to embrace your imperfections, you’ll start to see them more positively. Believe it or not, there are some positives to imperfections. For example, if you suffer with anxiety, you may beat yourself up for not being able to do certain things that come easily to others. However, a positive of anxiety is that it often makes you more empathetic. That is a great trait to have in an often-cruel world, and especially as a caregiver. When you can empathize with loved ones, you may be able to better comfort them in what they’re going through.

Feel Free

When you are so caught up on your imperfections, it can make you feel trapped, under constant pressure. By embracing them, it helps to set you free. Nothing is more freeing than living your life without the constant weight of your own expectations. Once you accept your flaws, you’ll feel like a weight has been lifted.

Focus on Who You Are

When you are so focused on your imperfections, it can stop you being who you truly are. It causes you to chase an ideal that you aren’t never going to live up to. However, when you let go of your imperfections, your authentic self will start to shine through.

So, if you feel like you have lost who you are, start letting go of your need to be perfect.

Living Healthier

Constantly stressing over the things that you are not can even have a negative impact on your health. So, if you want to improve your overall health and wellbeing, you’ll want to start embracing your imperfections.

Living your life constantly focused on your imperfections isn’t healthy. It impacts your perspective on things, causing you to make choices you may not normally make.

These are just some of the reasons why you need to learn to embrace your flaws. While it may be difficult, with practice, you can start to think more positively about your imperfections. Remember, nobody in life is perfect, not even you, and you are never going to be. The sooner you accept this and know that it’s OK, the better your life will become.