The fun stuff: how to keep the energy for what you want to do
Let’s be honest here; everyday life can be exhausting. Whether you’re a busy parent dashing from school to hockey practice, or a senior living in your spacious family home, daily tasks and chores can really sap your energy. By the time you’ve done everything you need to do, there’s not always enough left “in the tank” for what you want to do.
What’s more, these “have to” tasks also eat up your precious daytime hours, leaving you with less energy and less motivation to get out and do anything in the evenings.
Think like a business
It’s a problem many people growing their own business come across, when they simply are running out of time to get basic things done. They use a simple solution: outsourcing. They pay someone else to do tasks that need doing, freeing their precious time and energy for what they want to do.
Many of us with a full-time job probably already outsource tasks we’re too busy to do. We might employ someone to clean our home, mow the lawn, clear the snow, paint the porch, walk the dog, pick and delivery groceries to our door.
Online shops do a similar job: you can buy almost anything you need on Amazon or similar. You can have it delivered to your door without having to travel into town, park, find the item you want, and bring it home again. The same applies to hot meal deliveries, from fast food to gourmet dishes.
Free energy or free time?
Many of us see these services as something we need when we’re working, to free up our time, without realising it also frees up our energy.
However, when we retire, many of us think “Oh, I have time to do all that now. I can wash the car, fix the bathroom tiles, cook a three course meal every day.” The truth is, we then fill our time and use our energies on tasks we need to do, and leave no time for the stuff we actually enjoy doing.
Home care to the rescue
That’s where home care can help.
Home care is not just about personal care and housekeeping for those no longer physically able to do things for themselves. It offers anyone (and we mean, anyone) the reassurance of knowing that someone will help with the energy-sapping tasks like housekeeping, laundry, grocery shopping, meal planning and more.
Older seniors also know that as their own physical mobility declines, there is someone happy to adjust to those changes, and provide more help as required.
Noticing your changing needs
As home care providers, we continuously monitor and assess our clients’ needs. After all, our caregivers are visiting clients on a regular basis, sometimes daily. So, they are in a perfect position to notice changes in your ability and energy levels that even your family won’t spot, simply because they don’t see you often enough.
Sometimes, even a small change in mobility, for example, can put some everyday tasks beyond reach.
- You can’t carry a heavy load of laundry if one hand needs to be holding a walking stick or a frame.
- You can’t vacuum the house if you can’t stand for long.
- You can’t put groceries away in cupboards if your arthritis shoulder means you can’t easily reach above your head.
- The bottom drawer of your freezer becomes unusable if you don’t bend down as well as you used to.
And so on.
Time and energy
That’s where our team can help, simply by suggesting that you add some extra time to a visit. For just a little extra, our caregivers now have the time to do these things for you. That ensures the tasks get done, freeing your time and (crucially) your energy for the enjoyable parts of your day – meeting friends for lunch, a day trip with your social group, a drive into town, whatever.
At Vytality at Home, we also partner with lots of local services that can “get stuff done” for you, from gardening and lawn care to home maintenance and repairs. That’s more tasks you don’t need to do yourself, and more energy for doing what you want to do.
If you’d like to save your energy for the good stuff, or want your senior relatives to enjoy life without worrying over chores:
