Congratulations to Runner-Up Santos C. from California.
The thing that has motivated me the most, is being a caregiver for my wife Jovita and not faltering despite the difficulties that this implies while summing my own multiple medical problems. I am able to do this by recalling the amazing and grand wife and mother that together shared the care and education of our three children.
When I feel overwhelmed by the work and I feel weak because I feel like I do not have the strength to keep going and I feel my anxiety giving into desperation that damages my health. When this happens, I ask God for strength and I start doing breathing exercises and tapping that I learned from therapy after a crisis of anxiety, insomnia and depression that landed me in the emergency room. After doing the breathing exercises, I try to charge my brain power by looking at the multiple photos I have hanging on my walls. These photos encompass moments from our wedding day to my beautiful wife, followed by the pictures of each one of our children and their different stages in their life. This makes me remember the excellent mother that my wife was, as she always sang to them when caring for them in bathing them, clothing them and giving them breakfast to giving them a blessing before they left to school and, on their return, it was the same until she put them to rest in their own beds at night. This exercise fills me with energy and determination to continue with my beautiful mission as a caregiver.
Another thing that motivates me and lifts my spirits, are the gatherings with my group members at the Caregivers group at USC, because by sharing our experiences it helps us look for the best way to survive our mission without wearing ourselves out or causing harm to our health, which is something what can happen when we do not take the time to relax and take care of our health. Something that also helps me, is remembering the beautiful moments we lived that I have written down through the course of our lives. These memories were forgotten in the trunk of memories that I have salvaged for my delight. When I read them to my wife, she no longer is able to verbalize to communicate but with her smile and her gaze she makes my spirit rise to all the way up to the heavens.
Lastly, what gives me strength to continue in my mission, is seeing our children give all their love to their mother that she so greatly deserves, while at the same time supporting me in everything possible. From the moment they took complete awareness that if they did not help me it could soon turn into two ill parents that they would have to take care of. This awareness became present for them after they attended a Caregivers group with me at USC. It was not that they did not care for her before but it was me that did not allow them to get involved in the care of their mother by letting them think everything was okay. This is why I have so much gratitude for the USC caregivers’ program.
