Welcome to this class that's going to teach you more about the caregiver archetype.
The caregiver.
Nurturer,
Humanitarian,
Martyr.
God gave burdens,
He also gave shoulders.
Yiddish proverb.
You are currently living out the caregiver archetype who helps and nurtures others.
Being of service to others fulfills you and is one of your highest values.
You easily sense what others need and are quick to offer your assistance and provide comfort.
You're inherently generous and will take on responsibilities to meet others' needs.
The part of you that's a caregiver loves nothing more than helping and nurturing others.
This provides you with an immense sense of fulfillment.
Caregivers have a nose for the needs of others and are first in line to offer help or support.
They're naturally generous and in their highest alignment they personify compassion and altruism,
Both materialistically and by connecting with a warm hug and generous eye contact.
Caregivers often become the de facto parent who ensures everyone's current needs are met but also providing for their own future needs.
The caregiver in you tends to notice the physical and emotional challenges in life.
Poverty,
Illness and human induced pain.
Caregivers seek to educate themselves to be able to help others more effectively and are open to trying new approaches.
A caregiver's own needs and well-being may fall by the wayside,
Going unnoticed by others and themselves until it can't be ignored due to exhaustion.
The dominant storyline of the caregiver is about being available and willing to meet the physical and emotional needs of others.
Their help may be practical like volunteering their services or feeding the hungry or creating environments that are nurturing.
Or they may be less direct like implementing structures and resources that ensure entire systems are fully functional and effectively helping others.
Caregivers often have to learn to balance caring for others with caring for themselves,
Learning new ways to help and learning to dissuade dependency from others.
Activities and tasks fulfilling to a caregiver are those that sustain emotional support and comfort for others or allow the caregiver to teach or mentor others.
Making a positive difference in the life of others and sharing their abundant compassion is a caregiver's main motivation.
The ideal world for a caregiver would be one where everyone helps everyone else and act for the benefit of the greater good.
The part of you that's the caregiver finds happiness through kindness and generosity and they're greatly affirmed when their actions are appreciated by others.
Caregivers don't often offer their support in exchange for acknowledgement,
But they do appreciate the recognition when their efforts are deserving of it.
As a leader,
Caregivers can offer protective and supportive guidance for those in their charge.
They excel at customer service because they're motivated to meet the needs of others and easily understand what those needs are.
When a caregiver is in charge,
Everyone in the team feels supported and acknowledged.
Others often appreciate how kind and generous a caregiver is,
Although sometimes those traits can be overlooked and taken for granted.
Caregivers would be wise to learn how to assert their own needs so as not to be taken advantage of.
They also need to be able to tend to their own needs so that they can fully attend to the needs of others.
Caregivers may want to guard against overstepping the line of knowing what's best for someone else,
Especially when that person doesn't agree.
Although they can easily justify their controlling tendencies because they're acting with the best intention for others,
Caregivers run the risk of becoming enablers or encouraging dependency in others.
They run the risk of martyring themselves,
Depleting their own energy or risking their own health in the name of helping others.
Beneath the surface of a caregiver is the problem of ignoring their own needs.
They empathize at such a deep level and they often take on the pain of those they aim to help.
This can sometimes cause them to help others more because they refuse to address their own pain.
A caregiver's worst fear is being labeled as selfish,
And for that reason,
They don't entertain their own desires or needs.
They may maintain or encourage others' dependence on their kindness because they fear being ignored or forgotten if they're not continually in the service of others.
Caregivers can benefit from meeting their own physical and emotional needs with the same quality of care provided to others,
Expecting people to do everything they can for themselves,
Learning good boundaries and saying no and protecting their own time and priorities,
Letting others be generous with them,
Balancing the virtues of the caregiver with those of the Crusader.
Let's talk about the caregiver and the Crusader balance.
Assertiveness and self-care are the tools that best support a caregiver so that they can invest in their own strength,
Boundaries and self-nurturance.
The training of self-reliance provided by the Crusader is of great importance to the caregiver.
Crusaders help caregivers set good boundaries so that the caregiver's support given is equally received in return.
The caregiver and Crusader together nurture and protect others,
Making them an important,
Almost parental alliance that enables others to learn how to nurture and protect themselves.
My hope is that after watching this class,
You've got more clarity about the caregiver archetype.
Your assignment for this class is to show three ways in which you're going to start intentionally expressing your dominant archetype.
That could mean changing the way you dress or the jewellery you wear.
Or perhaps you're going to take up a new hobby that you've always wanted to do but you felt others wouldn't approve.
If it aligns with your archetype,
Start that hobby.
Or perhaps you're ready to make the commitment or to change your lifestyle to bring it more into alignment with who you inherently are.
I'd love to see a photo in the assignment section of whatever you choose as a representation of your expression of your archetype.
I'm excited to see how this awareness transforms your life.
