The Self-Caregiver, Jeanette Yates

10/04/2025

The CailyApp is a gamechanger for families in the trenches of caregiving. I wish it had been around when I was caring for my mom!

Features include:
Daily Check-Ins 😊
Schedule 📅
Health🩺
Chat🗣
Vault🔏

I started using Caily with my family and you should too!

Download Caily App in your app store today.

10/02/2025

If you have ever felt like this...overwhelmed by the thought of disappointing your parents as their caregiver, then this book is for you.

Grab your copy on Amazon today. (head to my bio for the link)

09/30/2025

The word "caregiver" means you give the care, simple, right? Maybe, at first, your role is manageable, but so often, what it means to give the care changes so much, so rapidly, and leaves us feeling inept and guilty. But here's the thing, being the caregiver doesn't have to mean you do it all yourself, on your own. It is ok to admit you cannot do it all or you can't do it all for an unspecified amount of time. Everyone has limits...physical, emotional, and financial. It is ok to ask for help.

09/11/2025

I’m no psychologist, but I did study some psychology in high school and college and thus am familiar, as probably are you, with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Just in case you need a refresher, here is the gist. Maslow, a developmental psychologist, defined a hierarchy of needs that, in his view, motivated all human behavior. Though not a perfect theory, most aren’t; it has been the gold standard for understanding individual well-being.

Wait, this is a caregiver blog. Why am I talking about psychology? Bear with me. I am getting there. As a busy caregiver, I had not thought about Maslow since college. I am sure, unless it is part of your job, you probably haven’t thought of it either. But as I began to examine why all of my efforts to “take care of myself” (i.e., self-care), I was reminded of the all-too-familiar pyramid.

~excerpt of latest article on my Substack,
From Guilt to Good Enough: Real Caregiving Conversations.

To continue reading or to subscribe to my Substack, click here:

what you need to know.

09/06/2025

Thank you Goodpods, for helping independent podcasters like me get seen and heard!

This season of From Guilt To Good has been great so far and we are just getting started! Find From Guilt to Good on Goodpods or wherever you get your podcasts!

09/04/2025

Caring for other people
Being in relationships with people
Living in a community

All of these require some amount of sacrifice, selflessness, and compromise.

But that doesn't mean caring, relationships, and community should be hurtful or harmful to our well-being.

I did not understand this for a long time. I thought the more I gave of myself, the better caregiver I was. Even as I began to feel like I was losing my physical and emotional health and my connection to the world around me.

I didn't know how to change it at first; I just knew something needed to change. And thus began learning to move from guilt to good enough.

If you are a struggling caregiver who feels like you can't keep going as you are but also doesn't know where or how to stop, pause, and reset, my book From Guilt To Good Enough is your guide.

You can get your copy today right here: https://www.theselfcaregiver.com/book

09/03/2025

I waited too long to ask for a Palliative Care Consult for my mom. Because palliative care is so often discussed with hospice care, I had understood it to be something for "the end."

It was through the education of (Matthew Tyler) that I gained a deeper understanding of palliative care and how it could be something so beneficial for my mother, even as she still fought to get better and stronger.

Ultimately, we did also utilize hospice care, when the time came, but not before.

Listen to my interview with Matthew Tyler on the From Guilt To Good Podcast to learn how hospice and palliative care can help you and your loved ones. **Even if** you don't think you are "ready"....listen anyway. It will give you the knowledge and confidence you need when the time comes.

Find From Guilt To Good wherever you get your podcasts.

09/02/2025

If you are feeling like you are never doing enough as a caregiver, that there is always one more thing, that you can't seem to come up for air...

You are not alone.

I was there, right where you are, and I found a way to breathe again.

I wrote about my journey in From Guilt To Good Enough, my book about healing myself in the midst of caring for my mom.

Did I figure out a perfect formula? No. However, I did find a way to let go of the guilt, allowing me to show up for myself and the people in my life beyond caregiving.

I wrote this book to remind you that you are worthy of the same care you give others.

Grab your copy today: https://www.theselfcaregiver.com/book

08/15/2025

"My 99-year-old grandma is moving next week. She’ll be closer to my uncle and better able to receive the care she needs and the attention she deserves. I am happy for her, but I know that leaving her home, which she has lived in for over 50 years, is going to be an adjustment. And not just for her! We, her family and friends, will have to adjust too...
It is such a special thing to have grandparents and great-grandparents, and I wanted my children to get to see her before she moved—one last visit, one last hug, one last kiss."

~excerpt from my latest post on Substack. You can read my full article about the love and support of family generations here: https://selfcaregiver.substack.com/

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to my Substack to support my work with and for caregivers!

08/11/2025

Is it possible to be a Happy, Healthy Caregiver? Elizabeth Miller thinks so! She joined me on the most recent episode of the From Guilt to Good Podcast to discuss how rethinking self-care can make a big difference in a caregiver's overall well-being. We also bust some myths about caregiving and share things we wish more people understood about caregiving, grief, and what it takes to get through it all.

Listen to the latest episode of From Guilt To Good wherever you get your podcasts!

08/06/2025

I love getting a fun email, don't you?!

I just learned that my podcast, From Guilt To Good, is a Top 10 podcast of the week on !

It is an honor creating the podcast for you each month and sharing the unique stories of caregivers around the world.

Help me keep spreading the word to encourage and support caregivers! Subscribe to From Guilt To Good Podcast wherever you like to listen!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2362303/episodes

08/05/2025

"When you lose your loved one, the person you’ve been caring for, giving all your time to, stressing out about, and possibly even frustrated with…when that person dies, people will say, “take your time.”
.. And they mean it.

And yet, after the initial chaos of the funerals and family gatherings, when the cards stop coming in the mail, and the phone calls cease, everyone, as sad and sympathetic as they may be, goes back to the way things were.

But we cannot go back, can we?"

Read my full post on Substack here: https://open.substack.com/pub/selfcaregiver/p/take-your-time-they-say?r=3kiq3g&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to my Substack!