Care ministry takes place in the realm of the emotions.
We do more than make hospital visits. We visit a person who is experiencing fear or sadness or anxiety or a combination of all as they are confronted with their own illness and pain.

We walk with people in grief. That is much more than preaching a funeral service or attending a death. We are present with a person who is devastated by a life changing loss, confused because they don't know how to live in a future without their loved one and is lonely with empty places that remind them of the absence of their beloved.

Every crisis, loss, divorce, unemployment, financial setback, stage of life change (empty nest, retirement, aging...), poverty cycle, etc, stirs emotions that are too powerful to ignore.

When we are caring for people in their emotional needs, those of us in the caring roles need to understand and work on our emotional health too.

An irritable, tired, reluctant caregiver, who can't wait until they can quit giving care. or until no one needs them is a caregiver that is in no condition to give care.

A fellow hospice chaplain, actually he was my boss at the time, reached the place where he often said, "I hope I will never see another dead person," and I thought, "Dude, you are in the wrong profession." Actually he was very good at what he did, but he was emotionally depleted. Soon, he quit doing what he was good at and cared about.

Selfcare involves taking an emotional inventory.

How am I feeling? Why? Where am I in my capacity or spiritual maturity to care?

There is a 40 question inventory you can take, online, for free. Go to the Emotionally Healthy Website to take it (https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/about/about-pete/?v=7516fd43adaa). You will need to enter your name and email address so you can take the assessment/test. It is simple and the results are broad but I found it helpful just to answer the questions. Before I saw any results the questions led me to a self assessment. I quickly recognized that I need to improve on "setting limits." My emotions take a plunge when I underperform my overachieving goals.

As part of my commitment to increase my capacity to care and be strong for years to come, I subscribed to the works of Peter Scazzero (https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/). I get reminders in my inbox with invitations to training and podcasts. I don't read everyone, but often, just when I need a shot in the arm, the right message is there.

While we are building a culture of care, let us be careful to build emotionally healthy caregivers--build our own emotional health.

What you do matters, so the way you care for yourself matters too.