Steve Jobs’ Lessons for Caregivers

What can a caregiver learn from a commencement speech?

(Particularly when that speech was delivered by a technology icon to thousands of young adults, graduating from one of the world’s most celebrated institutions of higher education).

The obvious answer may seem to be “nothing.”

After all, the majority of caregivers are many years removed from their last graduation. Life has the unfortunate ability to dull the messages of hope and promise infused in commencement speeches. As time passes, life’s inevitable losses add up, and youthful optimism gives way under the daunting assault of reality.

If You Knew Then What You Know Now

But, the recent death of Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple, has caused many to recall the powerful messages contained in his 2005 address to a group of Stanford graduates—messages which transcend age brackets and demographics, aiming at the essence of human existence.

Even people caring for an elderly loved one can benefit from being reminded of some of these lessons—even though they came from the mouth of a man barely old enough to join AARP.

In his address, Jobs discusses three main concepts of great import to recent college graduates; death, love and loss, and the connectedness of life.

Courtesy of Steve Jobs, A Caregiver’s Commencement Speech originally appeared on AgingCare.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Lorraine A.

9:53AM PST on Dec 9, 2011

I am the woman who fell off the carousel of "things working as they should". Severe autoimmune disease has robbed me of pain-free days, walking, sitting, standing, traveling, writing, dancing, working ironically in health care...I cobble together each day with what I can from a stunned husband, learning disabled adult son, limited income, reluctant health insurance, & near complete denial from everyone I have ever relied upon, including myself. I am completely open to where the white-water rapids take me each day..sometimes it's a hot meal from a developing country entrepreneur, sometimes I invent a new device to change my own adult diaper...My Everest is keeping clean, nourished, alert, and forgiving, even of myself.

send a green star

Past Member .

7:23PM PDT on Oct 19, 2011

CINDY S. OCT. 12, 2011 1:26 pm ..

IS THIS ALL YOU CAME AWAY WITH AFTER READING THE ARTICLE? How shallow can one be?

Learning to appreciate what is, despite flaws on both sides, brings to common ground reality matters of love-loss-death.

Much different perspective for the caregiver than the cared-for, both valid and need to be dealt with.

Estelita A.

4:14PM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

THANKS.

Quanta K.

3:24AM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

noted

Joy W.

3:13AM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

Thank you for the post.

Lionel G.

1:00AM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

About connecting the dots, I had often thought of my life path as having been haphazard and aimless, until one day on an impulse I decided to write a mission statement for myself, I had no outline or plan, just let my fingers start hitting the keyboard. A few minutes later, when I read what I'd written, it surprised the hell out of me. My random wanderings had all led, with no intent on my part, directly and in what looked like purposeful ways to what I had just "discovered" to be my mission. It all made sense as if it had been carefully thought out, though it was not. I think each person's subconscious knows far more than we ever grasp at the conscious level. There's also another facet to this. Carl Jung theorized about a collective unconscious. I once heard a talk by astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. He said individual consciousness is an illusion; we are all plugged into a universal consciousness. When I was writing my novel I never once had the feeling I was creating it. I was seeing it play out as if on an imaginary wide screen and I was recording what I saw as fast as I could type: It was writing itself. This was one more instance of a lesson I think I may have learned: You have to lose yourself before you can find yourself.

june t.

11:28PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

thanks for the article

Lynn C.

9:51PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

Whew. Thanks for the reminder and I had no idea Jobs was so 'tuned in". What I say to myself is "think about the alternative" which would be some nursing home and my parents old age a misery. Then it becomes a no-brainer.

Mitchell S.

5:56PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

Andy Reed- you need therapy. Cut the crap about Steve jobs being on you and your lunatic group's "Enemies List." Reality isn't pretty- Jobs and Apple have done more for this country than any politician alive, so find another target. Surely there are planty enough to choose from- even deserving ones.

Julia R.

5:52PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

This is very good advice for all of us to remember. None of our lives ever go in a direct path. Sometimes they're circuitous and they branch off in many directions. So we keep on plodding along and follow a sort of internal compass- maybe another word for intuition. And somehow if we keep on going, guided by this intuition, we do find purpose, meaning, and our bliss- or what we were meant to do.
I think Steve Job's speech shows what a wise person he was. Because then when we look back in retrospect, it all makes sense. But, I think the wisdom here is that we have to follow our intuition and a strong feeling within about what will make us happy and what our unique contribution to the world will be.