Happiness is a big part of overall health and well-being. When you’re able to help your senior to boost her happiness, that’s an important part of being her caregiver. Here are some ideas for figuring all of that out.
What Helps Her Feel Happy Now?
Part of helping your elderly family members embrace happiness more often is learning what helps her to feel happy already. Start examining what she’s doing when she’s feeling better and when she has the energy to be more involved in life. That might be engaging in specific crafts or hobbies. Or she might enjoy talking to people she cares about. Whatever it is, start making notes.
Avoid Focusing on What She’s Lost
There are some things that she loves doing that might be difficult or even impossible for her right now. Focusing on those things isn’t going to be as helpful as she needs it to be. If the conversation does dwell on what she’s lost, that’s going to keep your senior stuck in that mindset. Keep your senior focused on what she does still have.
Look at Ways to Help Her Keep Doing What She Loves
There might be some ways that your senior can still do the things she loves. Some of those tasks might involve modifying them or having some extra help while she’s engaging in that activity. If energy is the problem, it might help if you or elder care providers handle some of the routine tasks in her life to allow her to spend her energy more on what she loves to do. When she’s got the energy to paint for a couple of hours, that can be immensely gratifying for her.
Encourage Her to Try New Things
Your senior may not know what else she loves to do. Something you and she could try together is to explore new activities and adventures. As she learns what she enjoys and what she doesn’t, she can start to modify what she does during the day. It’s all about figuring out what lights her up and doing more of that, especially when those activities are new to her.
When your senior is happier and more engaged in her life, she’s more likely to reach out to other people and to spend time with the people that she loves. That can be a key part of helping her to avoid depression and other mental health issues.