Carers Week

This week, from 8^th to 14^th June is Carers Week: the annual campaign to raise awareness of caring; highlight the challenges carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK.

Every day 6,000 people take on a new caring role in the UK. Up and down the UK there are 6.5 million people caring unpaid for an ill, frail or disabled family member or friend. These people are called carers but they would probably say "I'm just being a husband, a wife, a mum, a dad, a son, a daughter, a friend or a good neighbour."

When people need help with their day-to-day living they often turn to their family and friends. Looking after each other is something that we do. We should all be prepared to care. Carers help with personal things: getting someone washed and dressed, turning them in their sleep, helping them move about or administering their medication. Carers also help with things like shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, filling in forms or managing money. But what they all have in common is love, empathy and compassion. They are amazing and we at TG Escapes salute them and invite you to contemplate the thoughts of some folks that have considered the subject of caring in depth.

 “This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, 'Aw s***, he's up!’” 
      Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.” 
     John Joseph Powell, The Secret of Staying in Love

And remember too……

“Everybody - even monsters - needed a little attention once in a while.” 
      Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

“Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.”

     Karl Lagerfeld

So, if you’re contemplating the prospect of caring for a (slightly monstrous) loved one at close quarters and feeling a little concerned about the sacrifices that may need to be made, a garden Granny Annexe is one potential solution worth considering. Offering a high level of independence to those requiring care, yet nestled in the heart of your family home, the degree of caring needed can be effortlessly and seamlessly increased as ageing, illness and needs progress. No stressful, lengthy journeys to sort out minor emergencies and no emotionally charged phone calls when loneliness strikes. And the rest of the family can go about their regular lives and routines, with little or no disruption, with the added benefit of a lot more loving to be had.

“Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.”

Margaret Mead