The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Lauren Dykovitz
My podcast is here to let you know that you are not alone on your journey of caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease. I hope to normalize the thoughts and feelings of Alzheimer's caregivers. I'm not an expert on Alzheimer's disease, but I am an expert on loving someone who has it.
Have you ever felt like you have nothing to show for your life? Do you spend a lot of time beating yourself up for not being further along by now? I spent much of my late 20s and early 30s doing exactly that. While I was helping to care for my mom with Alzheimer's, I … Continue reading Ep 31: You Are Exactly Where You’re Supposed to Be →
I don't know about you, but I naturally tend to be a more negative person. It's easy for me to focus on all of the bad things going on in my life, or in the world, and get really down. I struggled a lot at the beginning of my mom's Alzheimer's journey because I focused … Continue reading Ep 30: The Importance of Focusing on the Good →
Have you ever convinced yourself that if you don't deal with your grief, then it will just magically go away on its own? If so, you're definitely not alone! This is something I hear from people all the time. They are afraid to confront their grief because then they might not be able to stuff … Continue reading Ep 29: Your Grief Won’t Just Go Away →
The thing I get asked about the most when it comes to caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia is how to manage your guilt. I know guilt was a big part of my Alzheimer's journey, and I hear from so many other people who struggle with it, as well. I have learned … Continue reading Ep 28: 4 Steps to Manage Your Guilt →
If you have never heard of the Alzheimer's Daughters Club, it is my online mentoring membership program for women who have a parent with Alzheimer's or dementia. I created the Alzheimer's Daughters Club to help support women who are caring for a parent with the disease and to help them find a better way to … Continue reading Ep 27: 5 Reasons Why You Should Join the Alzheimer’s Daughters Club →
Do you find yourself trying to come up with a solution to every possible scenario in order to make a decision? Do you think you have to have everything figured out before you make a decision? If so, it's likely that you are overthinking it. It's impossible for you to have an answer for everything, … Continue reading Ep 26: How to Stop Overthinking Every Decision →
Are you finding joy in your Alzheimer's or dementia journey? I think there's a misconception that finding joy in your journey means that you will have an overall joyful journey. That's definitely not the case. During my 10-year Alzheimer's journey, I learned that it was possible to find joy in small ways throughout my days … Continue reading Ep 25: Finding Joy in Your Alzheimer’s Journey →
What if everything you own just burned down tomorrow? What would really matter to you? What would you miss the most? Have you ever stopped to think about it? We get so caught up in the daily grind that we often forget what really matters the most. My neighbor's house recently burned down and it … Continue reading Ep 24: What If It All Burned Down Tomorrow? →
Have you ever looked back on your life and thought about the different seasons you have been through? Some were probably harder than others, and some were probably easier. You may also notice that you were capable of doing a lot more during the easier seasons of your life than you were during the difficult … Continue reading Ep 23: Having Different Expectations for Different Seasons of Your Life →
Has someone ever told you that you've changed a lot and you could tell they meant it in a negative way? Sometimes I think we have a tendency to view change as a bad thing, but in reality, people are constantly growing and evolving as they go through life. That's the way it should be! … Continue reading Ep 22: Giving Yourself Permission to Grow, Evolve, and Change Your Mind →
Have you ever been stuck in a funk or a rut that you just couldn't get yourself out of? I am currently in a funk and struggling to get myself back on track. I know the things I need to be doing, but I am not doing them. I am getting in my own way! … Continue reading Ep 21: How Do You Get Out of a Funk? →
When I look back at pictures of myself during my mom's Alzheimer's journey, I have so much compassion for myself for what I was going through at the time. But at the time, I was constantly beating myself up for not doing enough or not being good enough. Time and experience have taught me that … Continue reading Ep 20: Can You Have More Compassion For Yourself Now? →
If last week's episode about losing yourself resonated with you, then you are going to love this week's episode about finding yourself. I believe the first step is to recognize that you are feeling lost and to understand how you got there. If you have not yet listened to last week's episode, go back and … Continue reading Ep 19: This Is How You Find Yourself →
"I feel so lost. I don't even know who I am anymore." Have you ever said or thought these words to yourself? I know I have. I lost myself to my mom's Alzheimer's journey. As someone who has been through it myself, I know how easy it is to lose yourself when a loved one … Continue reading Ep 18: This Is How You Lose Yourself →
Do you consider yourself to be an impatient person? I hear from people all the time who say they struggle with having patience and wish they could become more patient. The good news is that patience is something you can practice and build over time. I used to consider myself to be a very impatient … Continue reading Ep 17: How to Become a More Patient Person →
How many times have you thought to yourself, "I wish she would help out more," or "I wish he cared about this as much as I do"? These thoughts and feelings are so common and understandable when you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia. As much as you want someone to feel or … Continue reading Ep 16: You Cannot Control Someone Else’s Emotions or Behavior →
As you probably already know, there can be a lot more bad days than good when someone you love has Alzheimer's or dementia. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid having bad days or bad visits with your loved one. They are just a part of this difficult journey. One bad day doesn't have … Continue reading Ep 15: How to Recover From a Bad Day or Visit With Your Loved One →
Whether you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia, or you are trying to rebuild your life on the other side of this journey, you need all the energy you can get. That's why it's important to identify things that might be stealing your energy without you even realizing it. Once you … Continue reading Ep 14: 4 Sneaky Things That Are Stealing Your Energy →
People often ask me how I came to accept my mom's Alzheimer's diagnosis and how I was able to change my perspective surrounding it. It took me years to accept what was happening to my mom and to change my perspective. But eventually, I was able to go from having to leave the room to … Continue reading Ep 13: Change Your Alzheimer’s Journey with Acceptance and Perspective →
I don’t know about you, but I pride myself on being an independent person who doesn’t need a lot of support from other people. I can always convince myself that I’m doing fine, and that I don’t need more support or connection from family or friends. On Mother’s Day this year, I had the sudden … Continue reading Ep 12: Have You Been Lying to Yourself About What You Need? →
Do you put off calling or visiting your loved one because it’s hard to do? Do you keep putting off a personal or professional goal because you know it will be a lot of work? Or, maybe you just keep saying that you want to do something, but you still haven’t even taken the first … Continue reading Ep 11: Sometimes It’s Harder Not to Do Something Than It Is to Just Do It →
During the first few years of my mom's battle with Alzheimer's, I was an emotional wreck. I cried all the time. I got angry and overreacted a lot. I had really big emotions over the smallest things. It wasn't until I became familiar with the terms ambiguous loss and ambiguous grief that my emotional overwhelm … Continue reading Ep 10: Ambiguous Loss and Ambiguous Grief →
Have you ever felt angry that your loved one has Alzheimer's or dementia? Do you feel angry when you think about everything you have lost and how much your life has changed? Are you angry that your family has to go through this while others don't? I used to feel angry about all of those … Continue reading Ep 9: Your Anger Is Justified, But It’s Not Serving You →
For a long time during my mom's Alzheimer's battle, I mostly focused on what I had lost--not what I still had. That left me feeling sad, hopeless, and depressed almost all of the time. At some point, I decided that I needed to do something different to better cope with what I was going through. … Continue reading Ep 8: Using Gratitude to Cope with What You’re Going Through →
Do you ever feel guilty when it comes to caring for your loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia? If you answered yes, you're not alone! Virtually every single caregiver I've ever spoken to feels guilty about something, or many things. I learned that no matter how much I did for my mom, I always found … Continue reading Ep 7: How to Stop Feeling So Much Guilt →
Welcome to a brand new episode of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! This is long overdue! As you may know, I originally launched this podcast back in 2018. I gave up after recording only five episodes, and I am so excited to be relaunching this podcast today! Click play to hear: My background, my … Continue reading Ep 6: An Introduction and My Alzheimer’s Story →
Welcome to Episode 5 of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! If your loved one has Alzheimer's or dementia, then you know what it's like to grieve the loss of someone who is still living. It is not an actual, physical death, but it is still a death. Here are my real, raw, and deeply … Continue reading Episode 5: Grieving Someone Who Is Still Alive →
Welcome to Episode 4 of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! As an Alzheimer’s caregiver, resentment can become an overwhelmingly familiar feeling. We resent friends and family who seem to have disappeared from our lives at a time when we needed them the most. We resent them for not helping out or stepping up to … Continue reading Episode 4: Let’s Talk About Resentment →
Welcome to Episode 3 of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! Who here has ever felt like they're never doing enough to care for their loved one? Probably everyone who is reading this! Guilt is a very common feeling when caring for a loved one who has Alzheimer's disease. It's easy to question whether or not … Continue reading Episode 3: Guilt →
Welcome to Episode 2 of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! People often ask me about the first signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's that I noticed in my mom. It can be hard to determine whether the symptoms you're noticing are a cause for concern or just simply a part of normal aging. Listen to … Continue reading Episode 2: The First Signs and Symptoms →
Welcome to the very first episode of The Life, Love, and Alzheimer's Podcast! Listen to find out more about who I am, why I'm starting this podcast, and what I'll be talking about!