Knowing that your loved one has dementia is difficult enough, but when that person refuses to accept their changing needs and abilities, it creates an even greater burden on the family. Sometimes it’s the caregiver who refuses to accept the declining behavior of a loved one, but more often, it is the person with dementia who fails to see the warning signs. Read more
Is It Hot in Here? Top 10 Ways I Deal with Menopause by Ute Mitchell It started with the night sweats. In the dead of winter, I woke up in the middle of the night completely drenched, my T-shirt clinging to my body. I wiped my forehead, and my hand was wet. So I got Read more
A Honeybee Apiary: Am I Helping Them or Are They Helping Me? by D’Cai Rhodes At fifty-four years old, I found myself unemployed, living in my travel trailer, and heartbroken. A successful safety professional, firefighter, and paramedic in my younger years, I never felt I’d be in this position. Refusing to allow myself to be down Read more
The Thief of Time: Deferment and Procrastination My advice is, never do to-morrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time. Charles Dickens by Lucy E.M. Black Often at the end of a busy day, my partner will look at me and say, “We got a lot done!” Both of us have crazy Read more
Why Creativity Matters: Ten Minutes a Day by Lucy E.M. Black Think LEFT and think RIGHT and think LOW and think HIGH. Oh, the THINGS you can think UP if only YOU try. –Dr. Seuss In the rush of our lives, it does not often seem possible to squeeze in time to paint, draw, write, Read more
My euphoria is soon interrupted by a group of men walking past me. “Wait! something’s not right.” I suddenly realize that they didn’t turn to take a second look. As a matter of fact, they barely took a first look. I’m a little insulted but I’m not about to let that ruin my day. Denial is a great survival technique. I suddenly felt old. For the first time ever, I felt really old. I walked the rest of the way home, mourning the loss of my je ne c’est pas quoi. All the while trying to tell myself that I was just being silly. As soon as I fell in the front door, I dropped my bags and ran for the nearest mirror. I stood in the bathroom, looking at my face. I pressed my hands against both cheeks and pulled slightly toward the back of my ears just to see how loose my skin was. Surely, this couldn’t be happening. Not already! But it was. Read more
Ultra Orthodox Jews Suffer Depression from Caregiving A new study conducted by Drs. Band-Winterstein and Ofer Edelstein with Professor Yaacov Bachner published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, demonstrates that even Ultra Orthodox Jews are prone to the depressive symptoms often found in caregivers. In this study, 68 female Ultra Orthodox Jewish caregivers (UOJ) and Read more
The Rising Costs of Health Care by Tracy E. Hill, Ph.D. While running on the treadmill recently, I saw a commercial for a credit card that promised “cash back” and a business man who received $36,000 cash back on his card. He said he used the money to pay for his employees health care. That Read more
Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Retiring by Michael J. Orr You have worked hard and have had a long career. But for the last several years, you have had one eye on your calendar and one eye on your 401K balance. Now the big day has arrived, and you have said your goodbyes around the Read more
Finding My Feet by S. Nadja Zajdman One early autumn, I joined a hiking club in my native Montreal. My intention was to find a way into nature. I don’t own a car. The most I hoped for was to sit quietly on the school bus, without being bothered, as it transported our group of active Read more
