The Un-Belonging
We can feel separate and separated during our caregiving experience.
I thought of un-belonging during last week conversation with two disability advocates: Jaclyn Greenberg, who cares for her son, and Kristen Paskins, RN, who has Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).
During our conversation, Kristen shared how much she dreaded leaving her house once she started using her wheelchair. What kept her in was the awful questions strangers would ask her: Where you in an accident? What happened to you? Early in her adjustment to her diagnosis she just couldn’t bear to talk about it.
Jaclyn shared that she felt so frustrated by conversations with friends and family members after her son’s birth because she wanted to vent and they wanted to fix.
Kristen and Jaclyn’s experiences helped me think about belonging and accessibility in a more expansive way. Sometimes, we feel excluded by how we feel. Sometimes, we feel excluded because we just can’t physically gain access.
When do you feel that kind of un-belonging?
You can watch our discussion below:
Resources
Save the date! Our next Caregiving Listener Project will take place on February 22, 2025. We connect with a listener who does just that — listens. All the Story Tellers for our most recent event on October 10 would recommend this event to family caregivers.
Our conversation with Kristen and Jaclyn inspired this month’s Soul Break. We took a break from feeling like we don’t fit in.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts in our survey about the help and support you want and need. It’s been so helpful for me to read your insights about your experiences. If you haven’t had a chance to complete the survey yet, you’ll find it here. It takes about 5 minutes.
Our Fifth Annual Beginning Again Retreat happens on October 26. Our virtual three-hour retreat helps you find your next steps after your caregiving experience ends. Learn more and register.
We are creating a pool of family caregivers and former family caregivers available to be paid exam graders for our training program participants and who would like to receive free support. Join me November 7 at 7 p.m. ET to learn more.