Many of the jobs I have held involved helping others, but never to the point of one-on-one care and I understand why. Being a full-time caregiver was never my particular passion or skill set until it became essential thanks to my husband’s diagnosis. Now that we have someone coming in to help, I have been thinking a lot about the differences between her role as paid caregiver and my role as CarePartner. She has a weekly 4 hour shift, I have a daily 24 hour one, maybe there are some things to learn here.

If this were my  job instead of a role I have chosen out of love, I would have a defined time frame and boundaries around what I do. There would be time every morning for me to get ready before starting work and I would have scheduled breaks. I would receive training, no actually I would be required to have training and certification. There would be safety regulations in place to protect me and the person in my care. I would go home at the end of my shift so I could rest up for the next day.

What are my takeaways from this? Would it be beneficial to look at what I currently do and how it would change if I were being paid to do it? If I stop thinking of the caregiving component as simply an expectation, can I give myself some of the job benefits without taking away from the personal side of things? Are there boundaries we need to set that would better protect myself and my husband? What about training? Can I implement any changes without impacting our relationship as husband and wife? So much to consider, where do I start?