For much of my career as a dementia caregiver and provider I have worked in nursing home and rehabilitation centers. As a member of the inter-disciplinary team regular assessment of each resident included assessing the resident’s quality of life looking at quality of life (QOL) indicators. As I have spent the past six years finishing my doctorate I had lost track of my own focus on QOL indicators. Prior to going back to full-time work while completing school I had counted sand in my car, a back hatch full of smelly rollerblading equipment, a week with three nights of dancing, as QOL indicators. But once I was full-time marketing director and part-time doctoral student, my assessments of my quality of life became non-existent.
Now with only a full time job and my business development, I have re-started my list of QOL indicators. Today the sighting of a dolphin and its baby near our slip started the list. Yesterday my warm fuzzy robe, the one dreamed of in Death Dowry, watching the sun rise was a QOL indicator. Last night, having the leisure to see a movie about Jung and Freud.
What are you QOL indicators? If you can’t think of one perhaps it’s time to stretch and add something to your life.
