Your Strengths May Become Your Weaknesses

My husband, Bob, stood there, angry and immobile. The load of free bricks I was collecting for our new garden
patio lay scattered around the car. I had assumed that Bob, who was afflicted with early onset Alzheimer’s, would help. But apparently I’d stuffed too much into a busy day, and this was his last straw. He wouldn’t budge.

When Alzheimer’s crashed into our lives, we were already balancing parenthood, a family business, several jobs and community service. We were well-known in our business for completing projects on time and within the budget. Efficiently multitasking was our hallmark.

But now, many of the talents I’d honed for decades worked against us. Over time, I discovered that being fast, efficient or capable of Herculean workloads no longer made life better. I realized that what had worked so well in my career didn’t work well in caregiving. The transition to prioritizing compassion and flexibility above all else was sometimes a challenge.

We left the bricks at our feet. I stopped dragging Bob everywhere. Yes, tasks and errands took longer, or occasionally even went undone, but we were smiling at each other again.