Happy New Year

As the clock turns over to the New Year of 2019, it’s a time of reflection. It is a time to reflect and have gratitude for the experiences and lessons learned in 2018. It is also a time to look forward to new goals and plans for 2019. It’s a fresh start and excitement for new opportunities. With our residents this year we will be discussing new year’s resolutions and what they want to do moving forward. Some may not remember what goals they made, others may do it for a short time, but we like to help them feel like they still matter and have purpose to their life. For when we are moving forward and have a plan, we feel like life has meaning. That is important for every age, young and old. When someone is in an assisted living home, they may find themselves not knowing how they could make their life better in the next year to come. It can be challenging to look at your life and think that your options are so limited because of your situation. But the main thing we want them to know, is their life isn’t over! They can still have a fulfilling life and even set goals for themselves over time. They could have goals such as eating all the vegetables on their plate to have better health. To choose to have a better attitude or live in gratitude each day. They could work on trying to treat others with more kindness and attention around them or going out of their way to love another. The best goals we have found is when they choose to focus on other people. When we focus on others, it changes us and fills us with joy and fulfillment better than some of our own goals for ourselves. Goals to better ourselves is a positive effort, but we find the most fulfillment when we focus on helping others and being a part of something great. If you have a loved one in an assisted living home, you may be thinking, what new year's resolutions do I have towards my elderly loved one? Can I visit them more frequently? Call them one more time a week to check on them? Bring an activity to share with them? Whatever it may be, it will mean something to them and strengthen your love towards them. But also remembering, some of the simple moments are really what matter the most. The extra attention and the giving of love makes a huge difference and it will mean the world to them. With dementia it may be more difficult to feel like your extra love and attention was worth it when your visit is forgotten minutes later. But remembering that it’s the love in the moment that matters to them. It is better to have forgotten memories than regretting never creating them. We hope you can find ways to feel fulfilled in your love given to your family and enjoy the time spent as well. So, what are you working on improving this next year? Will it be taking better care of yourself? Listening more to others? Strengthening your relationships? Whatever it may be, we hope that your year of 2018 will be one to remember and hopefully leave with good memories. We know there are challenges, but overall, we also hope your next year of 2019 is amazing and it can be everything you want it to be. Thank you for connecting with us and for sharing your family members with us as we do our best to take care of them and love them. The Fairbrook Grove Management team