Avoiding Death Is Not The Same As Living

This is Peter Rosenberger, and this is your Caregiver Minute. You know, the phrase happy new year can often feel perfunctory and even meaningless in the caregiving world. Most of us know January 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and so forth usually brings the same challenges of the previous week, and even the previous year, and sometimes even the previous decade, and sometimes even the previous decades. Yet, although our responsibilities may not change, we can't. While many fall into the trap of ambitious but unrealistic new year's resolutions, you know, I usually give up mine for Lent, caregivers can instead determine to live rather than just survive.

We don't have to come up with a new year's resolution for that. We can just live. Living, however, requires risk. Life's perilous.

Despite our culture obstinately working to mitigate all the risk, you can thank the lawyers for that. Isolating to avoid disease, injury, rejection, or failure is no way to live, nor is avoiding death the same as living. From gardening to music, anything that involves life, art, and creativity comes with the risk of failure, as do relationships, business ventures, and caregiving.

This year, I intend to push myself to learn, try, accomplish, and even fail at new things. History teaches that risk and heartache remain unavoidable, but joy is a choice. There's a great quote from one of my favorite books and movies, Lonesome Dove, Captain Augustus McCrae, played by Robert Duvall, and he said, It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living. I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live. This has been your caregiver minute with Peter Rosenberger, brought to you by Standing with Hope, a ministry for the wounded and those who care for them. There's more information at standingwithhope.com.