Is there such a thing as empathy burnout? If so, that is what I am feeling. All my get-up-and-go got up and went. For the last couple of months, I have received one piece of bad news after another. People I know and love have died, are dying, cannot get the surgery they need, or […]
Nothing prepares us for long illnesses or for dying. All the skills and strengths we have built up are stripped away, and we are left without most of the things that brought us fulfilment and pride. Instead, we are dependent upon others, and we wish it wasn’t so. That can make us cranky, argumentative, or […]
As the world mourns the death of Robin Williams, my thoughts turned to the anguish that his family and friends must be experiencing. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote about five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) in her book On Death and Dying. This has been widely accepted as useful in helping people who […]
I have just finished reading an excellent novel by Jojo Moyes called Me Before You. Since the story involves a caregiver and the man she cares for, it’s easy to assume that the title is about which of them would or should die first. The tease in the title is that the reader does not […]
Snowbird of Paradise 