Remember to have a Good Time!

As a caregiver for someone with dementia you can become consumed by the daily chores that need to be completed.  You can forget that you need to find some fun in each day for you and your loved one.  This is important to help maintain your sanity through this process.  Laughter, as they say, is the best medicine for what ails you.

So how do you find that fun?  To find the answer, you need to remember some things you used to enjoy with your loved one but are no longer doing.  Maybe it is going for walks, visiting museums, going out for dinner.  Whatever it may be, you can find a way to still participate in these activities.

If you enjoyed going out to eat or visiting museums, you can easily still do these activities but I would suggest that you go to these places at non-peak times to avoid large crowds.  Too much stimulation can be upsetting to a person with dementia.  If there is too much activity going on around them, they cannot focus and feel overwhelmed.  They may even begin to become scared or paranoid by all the activity because they cannot take in everything around them.  To increase your chances of a fun time at these places, it is best to go to smaller venues with smaller crowds and less noise.

The same concept applies if you enjoy going for walks.  Find parks or developments that are quiet and not overpopulated to walk in.  People with dementia are usually still very capable of participating in physical activity.

Each day, I am sure, something unexpected happens, especially when caring for someone with dementia.  Try to find the humor in these unexpected events.  Say your loved one walks out with his shirt on backwards - instead of pointing out their error, maybe say "Are we having backward shirt day? Looks like fun!"  You will both be able to laugh about it happening instead of making them feel that they have made a mistake.  If they lost their glasses again, make it a game to find them instead of expressing frustration about their continually declining memory.

You will find if you use some respectful humor in these situations, it will make you and your loved one less frustrated with their decline.  As dementia progresses, it is important as a caregiver to live in the moment.  Do not expect your loved one to remember that one hour ago you went out to eat when they are now digging in the refrigerator looking for something to eat or that a half hour after returning from a walk he is looking at you for something to do.  They simply do not remember.  If you learn to appreciate that for that moment you are having a good time together and laughing, you will not be as disappointed when they don't remember.

If you have an activity that you and your loved one used to do together and are having trouble figuring out how you can still do this activity, send me a comment and we can try to figure it out.
Having a good time will increase your chances of Aging with Ease!

CLICK HERE to read about one couples journey through Alzheimer's and how they still are able to have a good time!