The Sandwich Generation

Kam enjoying a sandwich bigger than he is, yet managing to sink his teeth in.

Oh how folks are having to sink their teeth into this thing called

"the Sanwich Generation"

now finding themselves

between two worlds

raising their own kids, balancing jobs, lifes that are on full throttle and loved ones at home who are ill or disabled.

The demands are great, the efforts are strong as they make their way in a world of constant caregiving

in ways unimagined.

Caregiving

working two jobs to provide,

taking lunch hours to run home in traffic to check on loved ones,

and

then back to the job.

Setting up a room with a cooler a sandwich and a phone nearby, and making sure that the T.V. is set just so, while maintaining your sanity

and also attending the school functions if you still have kids in school only then to get home in time to fix dinner, to check homework, to run here and there and to catch up and still maintain ones' balance if balance is still in your vocabulary and abilities.

Time for self?

It usually goes by the wayside along the way.

Nutrition, exercise, meditation, fun with friends of your own age,

remembering your own life and its sacredness, dancing with the tunes of the times and those days

of great and Motown sounds?

Somehow put on the back burner

as life gets in the way,

and memories dimmed

and friends grown weary of asking you to join them for an evening out, a meal, a time of gathering and listening to music or even a cocktail.

You have somehow become one of the millions now known as the

"SANDWICH GENERATION"

and it is not a baloney and cheese,

nor a good ole' mouth watering tomato sandwich!

More and more those in that squeezed between the generations folks find themselves unable to find resources for help; perhaps in rural areas, or busy streets and cities,

they are so busy they do not know who to turn to for support

and

they forget to ask.

Once upon a time, folks raised their kids, they cried about the

empty nest syndrome

and

then they celebrated freedoms

and enjoyed their own life

while seeing parents age and enjoy,

seeing kids grow up and fly

they then did their thing

...

But now?

Adults who had grand plans

are working forever

are now not just extending a hand,

but finding the extra bedroom is once again filling with either parents or grown kids or grandkids

that they are now raising,

extended families are on the rise

as economies dip

as

the fight or flight

makes folks return to the nest

and the squeeze and pressure

is on the boomers

to be all and more

while caring now for their own kids and grandkids

and their Elders

and somehow losing themselves in the middle.

This is a generation in need of reminders and support

and

resources!

There are times when out of love

one can bite off more than you can

reasonably chew.

Compassion Fatigue is tearing folks down, professinally and personally.

And with that comes illness, immune system break-down, joylessness, heartache, resistence to change and lack of hope.

Folks may forget to dance, to laugh, to embrace mindfulness.

Every time we forget how very important we are to the world

we forget our strength.

Those in this sandwich generation

are squeezed like orange juice without freshness overtime

and

that is tragic.

Within each person is a light, however dim it is there.

The pure essence of an individual is the ability to fan that flame into empowerment through support, care, compassion and the real deal of knowing;

before rendering aide to another you must first put your oxygen mask on.

1 of every 8 Americans is caring for an Elder and also a young person

and extended families are returning to the fold.

People must find a way to balance, to be mindful knowing that this is also "their live" right here right now.

You do not want to look back at some point in time and regret, or wonder,

"why was it never my time".

STOMP

Remember friends,

YOU are fully loaded,

USE IT

Walk in Beauty,

DRSES

www.sherryeshowalter.com