Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver with Gretchen Staebler

Life on Repeat: A Dementia Caregiver Podcast

You'll love this episode with Laura and Gretchen as we talk about Gretchen's experience caring for her mother.

Gretchen left her job and friends on the East Coast in 2012 and returned to her childhood home on the West Coast to companion her 96 year old mother from whom she had been 'comfortably distanced' for 36 years. Her degree in counseling didn't help with this gig! Gretchen is the author of Mother Lode: Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver.

We discuss what helped Gretchen remain sane:

• Maintaining her old habits/tapping into her old self
• Her weekly writing group: "writing saved me"
• Yoga
• Listing 5 things she is grateful for daily
• Keeping a list of what happened, what she did about it and the outcome

Gretchen has a fabulous website with pages I had fun exploring such as recipes, reading lists, and an encouragement page: gretchenstaebler.com

She is also known for her amazing blog and welcomes your stories, too: https://gretchenstaebler.com/blog

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I host a weekly podcast where I interview dementia specialists and other professionals to help caregivers feel educated, supported, and empowered.

We talk about a variety of topics including how to live your best life as a caregiver, how to work with challenges that may arise, and how to gain knowledge so you can be your own best advocate.

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