Carers Week - Tips on How to Reconnect

Carers Week: Millions of Reasons to Care
15-21 October 2023

BrainLink – we care about carers, and we believe that connecting with other carers is a great first step in self-care.

Find out more about Carers Week 

We know that connecting carers to others can have a positive impact by reducing stress and feelings of isolation that often come with the caring role.  Life is busy, especially when caring for others, and often we find ourselves running around trying to continually catch up, keep up and perhaps get ahead. Often, we spend a great deal of time focusing on the others at the expense of ourselves. 

Here are some tips on how to reconnect and change how you're living life:

• Be more mindful – before you can truly start believing in yourself and doing what you love, you need to become aware of how you’re not believing in yourself and doing what you love right now. You can do that simply by becoming more mindful. Mindful people have the capacity to look at their lives objectively. Slow down and start paying attention to what’s happening - right here, right now.
• Embrace being vulnerable – You need to accept your human, and not going to be great at everything. Being vulnerable builds trust in relationships, it gives you room to grow and it provides the opportunity for you to ask for help as you move toward your dreams.
• Discover your strengths – When people spend their days doing things that they’re naturally good at, they are more likely to feel engaged and happy. Write down everything you love doing and when you last did it. Can you make an effort to do more of them on a regular basis.
• Understand your purpose – People who know their purpose or the reason they are doing what they are doing feel more deeply connected to their goals. They can usually tell their story in a more compelling way, and they find it easier to get others on board to help them.
• Stop people pleasing – There comes a point in everyone’s life when you stop making decisions to please other people and start making decisions that will make you happy. Think hard about the decisions you make. Are they helping to build your self-belief or are they making you feel like an imposter? Catch yourself when you’re in people pleasing mode and learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
• Come along to a BrainLink Carer Event – Make time for yourself and connect with other carers. We have a broad range of activities, and we would love to see you. Connecting with others helps you feel less isolated and provides you with opportunities to enjoy some shared leisure time with people who understand what it is like to be a carer.
  More about BrainLink events