Lifting Caregivers’ Stress

The recent Surgeon General report highlights a truth we understand deeply: caregivers are facing extraordinary stress. At Walden Wise, we’ve always believed that caring for yourself is just as important as supporting the children in your life.

We often highlight how our resources benefit kids. Over the next three months, Walden Wise shifts its focus to you, spotlighting the caregivers with our free, new series: Caring for You, Caring for Them.

Explore the U Curve in our Eustress Empowered guide—a simple, powerful way to understand and balance stress.

Explore and download the guide here.

With practical insights and easy-to-use tools, this guide is designed to help you create a personal map for navigating stress and finding your right spot of eustress—the positive kind of stress that energizes and motivates us without overwhelming.

• Recognize where you are on the stress spectrum, so you know when stress is working for you or when it’s time to take a step back.
• Learn four simple techniques to bring yourself back into balance—tools you can use with kids, too, helping them build lifelong skills for managing emotions.

Feel empowered to transform stress from a burden into a source of motivation and growth. Discover how you and the kids in your life can use the U Curve to turn stress into something positive, powerful, and manageable.

This is the heart of CoCreating: reaching out, connecting, and expanding a circle of support that touches every child through the adults who care for them. Imagine the relief of discovering a resource that truly resonates—a tool that makes you feel seen and supported. Wouldn’t you want someone to share it with you?

At Walden Wise, we believe each of us has the power—and the meaningful responsibility—to extend this circle of care. By sharing these resources, you’re not just passing along information; you’re offering others a pathway to understanding and peace in their care-giving journey.

This month’s small act: Start a conversation with someone you know—a friend, a colleague, a fellow caregiver. Share what you’ve learned about stress and the U Curve, and let them know they’re not alone.

A conversation, as simple as it may seem, can be the beginning of something profound.

Here are some ideas to help you get the conversation started:

• “Did you know nearly half of parents say they’re so stressed they can barely function? It really made me think about focusing more on managing my own stress. Do you have special things you do for yourself?”
• “I came across something interesting from Walden Wise about finding a ‘just right’ level of stress. It’s called the U Curve, and it helps you stay balanced. Have you heard of it?”
• “I get these resources from Walden Wise with great ideas on managing stress in a healthy way—for both us and the kids. Let me know if you’d like to check them out, and maybe we can explore some ideas together and talk about it.”
• “Sometimes I read things that just ‘get’ what it’s like to care for kids these days. Walden Wise shared something about how understanding our stress helps us support kids better. Have you seen anything like that?
• “I recently started using some tools to manage stress in a balanced way, and it’s making a difference. I’m happy to share if you’re curious about trying it too—and maybe we could chat about how it’s working for us afterward?”

Together, we’re expanding the circle, creating an endless ripple of care and connection. Thank you for being part of this journey.

We’d Love to Hear How Your Conversations Are Going

Every conversation you start helps expand our circle of support. Your experience matters, and sharing it can inspire others to reach out, connect, and find comfort in shared understanding. If you feel moved to share what it was like starting a conversation—whether it brought you comfort, clarity, or a moment of connection—we’d love to hear from you.

Feel free to email us. Together, we’re building a powerful circle of care and support that ripples out far beyond us.

Walden Wise is a new community dedicated to bringing caring adults closer to each other and what works on behalf of children. We refer to our community members as CoCreators – caring adults who want to improve the lives of children by attending to their emotional health.

Please join us as we share valuable resources, connections and experiences to help you nurture the emotional health of the kids in your life.

At Walden Wise we call ourselves CoCreators. What kind of CoCreator are you? Let us know: Visit us at WaldenWise.org, join us on Facebook and Linked-In, follow us on Instagram. Visit our Leader Member page.