Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

A CAREGIVER’S task is hard.   They take care of the elderly or the disabled 24 hours a day, 6-days a week.  From preparing meals to organizing daily meds, their week is busy all the time.  Like everyone else, they get depressed too. Hence, this weeks’ issue is about how we can help them tackle their depression. So here goes:

Remember to smile or laugh.  Find funny things during the day to help you get through it.

Don’t think about sad things or family problems everyday.  Unless you have a solution, don’t think about it.  

Stop talking about sad stories to your friends.  You do not need someone to pity you or the hard times you are going through.

Take your day off. Go on a short vacation.  Getting away helps.

Give yourself time to smell the roses or appreciate the sunset.  The world is great! There is no other place to go but up.  So do not worry.

Do not be too serious about life.  Find ways to make things a little lighter. Read books or find a hobby that is easy and fun.

Listen to music.  Acknowledge your senses and find ways to enrich them.

Keep true friends that are honest and supportive.  Note: being supportive does not mean that he/she will agree with you all the time.  A friend is someone who will tell you things you do not like to hear too. He/she will tell you things that you need to know in order to make improvements about yourself.

“Desiderata” is a poem that might help you get through hard times., that is if you forgot or have not heard of it.  Search for it online.  It is a great food for the soul.  

Accept the things you can’t change and change the things you can. Don’t feel trapped.  Never feel trapped.  There’s always a way out of any difficult situation.

Lastly, remember to pray.  He listens. Have a great conversation with God.  He speaks to us in a lot of different ways.

I hope the above list could help and please always remember to keep smiling.  Life is good.   Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have written to me and read my column for information.  Two weeks from now, my column will be published monthly.  Hence, this will allow me more time to go through your article or request and be able to write about it.  Next week’s article is about taking care of your senior relatives. For those interested on a topic, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I’ll be waiting.