Are you a caregiver feeling alone in your daily challenges, or overwhelmed by the 24/7 experience of caring for another person? Know a caregiver who’s just starting out and needs encouragement? Check out these books — many written by caregivers themselves — and add them to your or a friend’s bookshelf this season.
Home Hospice Navigation: The Caregiver’s Guide by Judith Sands
In Home Hospice Navigation, Sands provides a a how-to style guidebook to navigating the world of caregiving. Sands’s own experiences in caregiving provides stories and reliable information for those seeking guidance and reassurance in a comprehensible and concise manner. The book opens up about real conversations and questions that caregivers have at the end of a loved one’s life.
Buy it here.
The Dutiful Daughter’s Guide to Caregiving: A Practical Memoir by Judith Henry
The Dutiful Daughter’s Guide to Caregiving is just as it suggests, a memoir-style book that reflects on Henry’s own experiences in caregiving with her mother and father. Not only does she reflect on both her childhood and her moments of caregiving, but she also provides insightful information for those just starting their caregiving journey. This memoir-style guidebook is a must for those wondering what is ahead.
Buy it here.
Take Comfort Series by Denise Brown
The Take Comfort Series by Denise Brown is a comprehensive and encouraging series for those seeking something a little more reflective. Brown is skilled at redefining everyday words and giving opportunities for reflecting on them, and examining them more closely in the caregiving life. She offers acceptance and encouragement in every part of this series, and you can start with the one that calls out to you!
Buy it here.
Juggling Life, Work, and Caregiving by Amy Goyer
This guidebook by Goyer provides tips and tricks for caregivers falling into their new roles. The book also stresses the overall importance of caring for yourself — and shows you how to do so. By sharing stories of her own and of others in caregiving, Goyer makes you feel cared for yourself. This gentle guide is for all stages of caregivers seeking advice and hope.
Buy it here.
Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade: The 5 Love Languages and the Alzheimer’s Journey by Gary Chapman, Deborah Barr, and Edward G. Shaw
In Keeping Love Alive, Chapman, Barr, and Shaw offer the importance of love languages for those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers. The authors correlate the love languages with stages of AD and offer ways to apply the love languages themselves, as well as validating the challenges and struggles that come with caregiving. This book is important for anyone looking for new ways to view AD caregiving, or to read personal stories that may feel similar to your own.
Buy it here.
30 Lessons for Loving: Advice from the Wisest Americans on Love, Relationships, and Marriage by Karl Pillemer
30 Lessons for Loving draws from interviews with wonderful older Americans who provide their honest and real advice for love and relationships. This book is a great resource for all, as it offers advice from those who have lived through it and made it work. It is funny, heartwarming, and insightful beyond belief.
Buy it here.
Your turn: What caregiving books have you read & enjoyed? Share them here!
Caregiving Advice Podcasts: Coming soon!
Caregiving is not an easy and simple job. While the main responsibility of caregivers is to provide care to people, particularly to those who are sick and of old ages, caregivers also need to take care of themselves and to spend some time doing things outside of their duty. More often than not, caregivers need to juggle lots of different things at once (e.g. running errands, doing housework, and more) in order to fulfill their obligation. This often leaves them tired and drained, which if constantly disregarded, can lead to caregiver burnout.