Call me crazy, but here’s my totally unsupported and unscientific observation: I believe I have a 1:1 caregiver equilibrium recovery ratio. What does that mean?
For every full day that I spend on my own caregiving, I need at least one hour of complete freedom to stop feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. For example, after four consecutive days of taking care of Heather on my own, I dropped her off at the Day Program from 9-3. It took nearly four hours on my own before I started to feel like a regular, un-anxious person again.
If I’m on my own for one day, it takes roughly one hour to recover. So, one hour of help doesn’t make much of a difference; I can get an errand or an appointment done, but I remain wired and tense with responsibility and worry.
There you have it—the Caregiver Equilibrium Recovery Ratio (CERR)!