Hello readers,
Today, I finally decided to share my story broadly and creatively as a mother, wife, woman, professional, and caregiver. My primary language is Spanish. I moved to Florida almost eight years ago and returned to my lovely country, Puerto Rico.
Since 2019, I have created an FB group, Mi Rayito Azul, where I share my family's experiences through photos, videos, and short writings about how Autism impacts our daily lives positively or negatively, mainly through my lens as a caregiver sharing my son's experience.
However, I might write about my children: An energetic teen boy who loves soccer and football with Autism, ADD, and Learning Disability, and Amaia, my sweet wildflower with speech and language delay. Both also have a health condition named EOE, which requires constant doctor checkups.
I chose to identify as The Perfect Storm Caregiver because it resonated with me when a psychologist referred to my son's special needs as the Perfect Storm. This analogy perfectly captures the essence of our Journey: challenges constantly arise, the storm passes, and we find relief. I named our online support group Mi Rayito Azul, which translates to 'my blue light' in English. This signifies the moment when I received a diagnosis or a challenge for my son, and it felt like lightning had struck. I was overwhelmed with anxiety and confusion, but I didn't give up. I found the resources and strength to overcome the obstacles.
I decided to write more about myself in this blog, including my feelings, experiences, dreams, and
challenges.
In this first blog, I want to share a feeling and challenge that I am dealing with right now, but let me give you a background of why I am feeling like I am:
I am so close to completing my master's degree in Public Administration. I like to serve vulnerable communities. I identify myself as a caregiver advocate for Hispanic families. My passion for helping goes beyond my primary language and culture, and in the past years, I have volunteered to be a full-time special needs caregiver. The Agenda is full of doctor appointments, studies, therapies, sickness, etc. For my family to afford the high medical expenses, it was necessary to limit our income so my son and my daughter receive the care they need to improve their quality of life.
In the meantime, I decided to study after my daughter was born. My goal was to receive a higher degree. Working in the government sector will make me passionate about helping others while obtaining a higher salary and benefits to cover my family's needs.
Today, let me be honest: I am very frustrated. It is so hard to find a job that understands my family's needs and allows me to demonstrate my capacities and abilities that add value to deliver a high-quality service. I have been applying for multiple jobs but am struggling to be called for an interview. Moreover, when I have an interview, I feel guilty about being unable to manage my kids' care plan.
Maybe I am not ready yet, or maybe I need to open my mind and find new ways to earn money and meet my family's needs, including mine, but again, I do not want to tell you everything in my first post.
As caregivers, we often find it challenging to balance our present and future. Let's open up about it. If my story resonates with you, I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments. This blog is a safe space, free of judgment, for us to openly discuss our experiences.
If readers want more information from my past Journey, I will happily write about it. Please let me know if something else catches your attention so I can choose a topic for my next post. Thanks.
Sincerely,
The Perfect Storm Caregiver's
No comments:
Post a Comment