“Home” and what “home” means
Home: you hear that word and instantly feel a sense of love, comfortability, warmth, and freedom. You often hear that famous saying: “Home is where the heart is.” And it is true. Your heart is where you find people who love you as their own, who you love, who care for you, regardless of whether you are related by blood. Home is where you have autonomy and freedom to do what you want, a place where you have a personal private space called your comfort zone, something you call ‘my’ space.
Assisted Living – A home you didn’t know you could have:
At one point or another, all of us have heard of “assisted living.” When you hear that word, you might imagine an old age house that traps you or a facility that is more like a hospital, if anything. These perceptions you might have in your mind are utterly wrong.
Assisted living home is a “home-like” living residence for disabled people or adults who cannot or don’t want to live alone. Focus on that word: “home-like”; assisted living exists for one purpose only, to take care of you, shelter you, and make you feel as if you are in your own home. Home is where love is, respect is, freedom is. And by giving you all of these things and more, assisted living facilities to make you feel as if you never left your home.
So, how do these facilities actually achieve the purpose of making you feel homey?
- Of course, the staff who reside in the assisted living facility come as the first and foremost factor in making you feel as if you are at home. The staff members are specially trained to make the residents feel loved, cared for, safe. They sit with you, talk to you, listen to you, and figure out your wants, needs, what makes you happy. They motivate you to do your own thing, do activities that make you feel empowered, and give you a sense of responsibility. They give you exactly the love and care you need and want, and they leave no stone unturned to make you feel as if you never left home.
- The residents: The other fellow residents in the assisted living facility also play a huge role in determining whether you feel at home. All of the people living in the assisted living facility are connected by one common thing: they, for whatever reason, chose to live in an assisted living facility. They understand you, respect your decision, giving you people you can empathize and relate with. You share a common ground that allows you to understand each other from a deeper level. This way, a special bond is developed between everyone living in such a facility.
- The setting: An assisted living facility isn’t just a massive house with rooms to sleep and eat in. It’s a place where you are given the full opportunity to be yourself, to do whatever you want without any interventions. The buildings are designed to positively impact your mental and physical health, with parlors, sun-rooms, libraries, pubs, dining rooms, and beauty salons all available for your relaxation. You can sit in these places, relax, have fun; there are no restrictions. As mentioned above, you have the freedom to do any activity you like. Do you want to cook? Go ahead. Do you want to watch tv, have your friends over, go for a walk? Nothing is prohibited. That is what your home is, right? Your space where you can do anything. And that is precisely what an Assisted living home gives you.
Your contribution in making it your home:
An assisted living facility will do everything in its power to make you feel at home, but there are some things you need to do as well.
- Look at the people in the assisted living facility as your own. Talk to them, connect with them, listen to their stories and tell them yours. When you share intimate feelings and develop that bond of familiarity and a common reason is when you will feel you are not alone and all of these people residing there with you are your family. Don’t treat the staff as just a staff. View them as your children, your loved ones who are happily, willingly taking care of you, providing you with warmth, comfort, safety, and most importantly, love.
- Ask yourself the question “what home means to me,” and look at the facility from that perspective. When you start viewing it as your home and calling it as your home is only when your mind and in turn, you will genuinely start believing and feeling like it is your home. If you keep calling it a ‘facility’ or a ‘unit,’ you will never think it is your home because you are constantly telling your mind that it isn’t, that it is just a ‘facility.’ Your brain will believe what you tell it. So start honestly telling it that this is your home.
- Set up your space just as you had it in your previous home. Hang pictures, bring in your favorite piece of furniture. Have familiar sheets on the bed. Bring with your everything that screams home to you so you can turn the living space in the facility to exactly how you want your home to be. Usually, the walls in a room of the assisted living facility are white, beige, or bland. You can look at those walls as your blank canvas and decorate them or paint them as you want to give you a sense of ownership and familiarity. This way, you will readily accept and incorporate the living facility as a home in your head.
- Start making memories. See the time you are spending in the assisted living facility as one golden moment you will not get back. Please complete the most out of it. Befriend people, have all the fun you want to have in the different rooms and facilities available to you. When you view your time there positively is only when you will feel at home.