How Family Caregivers Can Stay Positive During Coronavirus Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

Keeping Caregiver Spirits High During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Shift your mindset and activities focus on the positive

Keeping a journal can help clue you in to where you are psychologically. Westend61/Getty Images Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. We are now in a global pandemic in which many family caregivers will likely experience the same kind of shock, I did. We worry that COVID-19 may sicken our loved ones or as caregivers that we may . We also fear that we might fall ill and leave our care recipients in need. These are dire moments that can bring out the best or worst in us. It requires our holding on to hope that the pandemic will eventually be brought under control and the people we love will survive. Hope gives us strength. It bolsters our resilience. It pushes us on when we don't think we can do any more. There is no single means for finding hope. Many family caregivers draw deeply on their faith; others on individual grit; some on others’ inspiring encouragement. As this crisis unfolds, what are other ways for generating the hope that caregivers and their loved ones will avoid contracting the virus or pull through if they do? Here are some psychological ideas:

Monitor your temperament

Through our temperaments and upbringing, each of us is typically inclined toward regarding the world through the lens of a brooding pessimist or a beaming optimist. These tendencies only become more pronounced under the . Pessimists usually argue that fearing the worst better prepares them for possible catastrophe. But research by psychologist Martin Seligman and others shows that optimists are happier and less prone to anguish and depression, even when danger is realistically present. Do you have a sense of your natural tendency? If you don't or are simply interested in gauging your thinking's direction nowadays, keep a daily journal in which you record your current preoccupying thoughts and save that document to be reviewed in, say, a week. Rereading those entries will quickly clue you in to where you are psychologically and allow you to determine whether you need to take steps to better cope with the current crisis.

Shift your mindset

; and the time to reinvigorate long-dormant home-cooking skills. Keeping a gratitude journal is another means of heightening our awareness of the good things we still have.

Shift your activities

Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > In the same way that directing your thoughts can lead to a more hopeful outlook, directing your activities can do the same. It is potentially harmful to watch 10 hours of cable news shows at this time; the sheer volume of frightening images and information will take its toll on your psyche. Keep informed but balance news-seeking with engaging in cherished and perhaps laughter like reading, playing games or listening to music.

Reach out to positive-minded friends

It is more vital than ever to virtually reach out to friends and family members for support by sharing experiences, fears and well wishes. But those conversations shouldn't be so gloomy as to reinforce your hopelessness or deepen your despair. Find the folks who can sustain a more balanced and realistic view, recognizing these negative times but positive possibilities as well. Let them spur you to hang on to the belief that — despite the painful losses we have suffered or will suffer — better times will eventually come. We will hurt but we will grow through overcoming this national adversity. MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS