When Every Day Feels Like an Emergency Caregivers of loved ones who are frequently in crisis often experience relentless emotional pressure. Every call, every request, and every mood swing can feel like an emergency, leaving you drained and on edge. This constant hypervigilance impacts your mental, emotional, and physical health, making it hard to focus, make decisions, or enjoy life outside of caregiving. Recognizing that this is a real problem — and not a personal failing —

A reflection on the power of caregiving and what it means when a parent says, “You make me feel safe.” A tribute to the quiet strength and sacred love of those who create safety for others.

Caregiving is often described as an act of love, a responsibility that comes with deep emotional rewards. But for many caregivers, particularly those providing care for an aging parent, it becomes something else entirely. It becomes a constant state of alertness, a life lived in anticipation of the next call, the next crisis, the next moment when everything suddenly shifts and requires their full attention.

Caring for an aging parent—particularly one who was once neglectful, abusive, or emotionally unpredictable—can awaken old survival instincts.

No one wants to feel like a burden. No one wants to feel incapable, infantilized, or like the sum of their life has been reduced to a checklist of medications and doctor’s appointments. And yet, so much of elder care—so much of the way we are conditioned to look after them—is rooted in control rather than empowerment.