Since leaving full-time work earlier this year to focus on caring for my mother, it’s been a difficult few months for reasons we hadn’t expected. We’re doing better now, but it was a rough ride sometimes that has set us back a bit and given me pause for thought.
For one thing, I managed to pick up a foot injury, which stopped me from going out. I believe it was metatarsalgia, as it affected the ball of my foot. Thankfully it’s been slowly getting better with rest and more appropriate footwear, and I am now going out around my local area for walks and shopping again quite comfortably. I still get occasional faint twinges, reminding me to be a little bit careful, but they’re increasingly rare and disappear quickly.
In addition, while I was recovering from that, we had a series of 6 intense heatwaves to deal with here in the UK. Occasional spells of hot weather are fine and very welcome, but this was a relentless period of above average heat and stifling humidity with barely any respite between each wave. Suffice to say it did my elderly mother no favours, and thus required me to stay indoors most of the time to look after her. We both got quite fed up with it, as it felt like it was never going to end! And now it finally has, it’s taking time for Mum to get back into the full routine she had several months ago, as being unable to do much for so long has affected her confidence and independence. So it’s still limiting how much I can go out, as she doesn’t like being alone for too long.
What’s really struck me as I reflect on the summer, however, is that I’ve been on a similar rollercoaster ride to last year in terms of my mental health while caring for Mum. And as I’ve found myself making comparisons and noting the similarities, something has finally clicked in my mind. It was probably obvious to everyone else, but it’s only in hindsight that I’ve been able to see and acknowledge it by name.
I’ve been grieving. I’ve been going through the stages of grief. So I wanted to offload and structure my thoughts with a post and a video about it.
Well Eye Never 