Swimming for My Life: Care for Others and for Self
Care work - the physical and/or emotional labor of caring for, taking care of, others can be a burden. Something we carry with us, as a load, whether we relish it, resent it, or something in between. I was once in the sandwich generation, for sure, but that’s been a while ago now. With both my parents and my in-laws long since passed, and our only daughter now graduated from college and on the cusp of moving out one last time, I’ve been thinking lately about the less tangible forms of care we extend for others, and how we integrate that kind of care with our own physical, mental, emotional, and professional well-being. I’m contemplating, especially, the psychological and emotional weights we each carry with us through our days, our lives, and our work, and how that shapes the ways we navigate obstacles and opportunities. When our metaphorical hands are full, do we shift our weight and nudge a door open with a hip? Does that then throw something out of whack, creating chronic pain? When