[Protecting Your Heart] How to Cope When Preparing Daily Meals Becomes Exhausting
🔶 In home care and child-rearing, preparing meals every day can become a significant burden.
When there is dementia or physical illness, it becomes difficult to prepare meals on one's own.
Therefore, family members must think about what to do for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day.
Amidst work, child-rearing, and personal commitments, one must repeatedly plan menus, go grocery shopping, cook, serve, and clean up.
Relying on delivery services or bento boxes can make things a little easier, but doing it every day is costly, which makes one hesitate.
As a result, one ends up having to manage it all alone, eventually becoming exhausted.
🧠 The Mechanism of the Left Brain
The left brain tends to think based on a sense of duty, believing that things must be done properly.
① I must cook every meal properly
② I must also think carefully about nutrition
③ Since they are family, I must be the one to do it
💡 You are doing enough, but this "must do it properly" mindset ends up cornering you.
Daily meals might be manageable once, but when they continue every day, they become a heavy burden.
The reason you feel exhausted is not because you lack willpower, but because the load you are carrying is simply too heavy.
There is no need to blame yourself.
🧠 Trying to Think with the Right Brain
Try thinking about it this way.
① Just managing to get through every day is doing enough
② A sustainable method is more important than a perfect meal
③ Not burning yourself out is also an important part of caregiving
In other words, a mindset that prioritizes continuing without strain over cooking properly.
After all, if you collapse, you cannot provide care.
“It is okay not to make everything from scratch every day!”
“It is okay not to aim for a perfectly nutritious meal every time!”
“It is okay to have something simple on days when you are tired!”
💡 Choose a sustainable method over perfection!
In caregiving, it is more important to manage in a way that is sustainable without strain than to serve a nutritionally balanced meal every time.
Just getting through each day is valuable and commendable.
Thinking this way alone will make you feel a little more at ease.
If I provide meals with poor nutritional balance, my parents' health might decline, leading to constant nursing care, which would further increase the burden of caregiving.
That is why I used to try to prepare properly nutritionally balanced meals every day.
However, I realized that if I collapsed, I wouldn't be able to do anything, which would be counterproductive, so now I prioritize "continuing without strain" over "cooking properly."
🔶 One More Important Thing
This problem can also be alleviated through structural changes.
1. Standardize your menu
2. Use meal prep or frozen foods
3. Occasionally use deli items, food delivery, or retort pouches
Try changing your meal system so you don't have to think from scratch every day.
As a result, the burden of preparing meals should lighten, and things around the house should run a bit more smoothly.
If you'd like, please take a look at this article as well!
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