Instagram story viewer> @chrispunsalan> Tagged

Chris Punsalan

@chrispunsalan

1.1M

followers

2599

following

💡 Creative Director at @try.tendercare
👵🏻 Sharing Wisdom From My Caregiving Journey
👇🏼 Preorder My New Book When Giving Gives Back

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

“You need to recharge, too.”

People say it so easily.

As if there’s an extra hour hiding in the day.

As if the medications stop needing management,

the decline takes a break,

or your mind can just switch off on command.

The truth is, finding time to rest as a caregiver

feels like an impossible task in itself.

Sometimes “recharging” isn’t a day off or a trip away.

It’s five minutes sitting quietly in the car.

It’s taking three deep breaths before walking through the door.

It’s letting a minor task wait until tomorrow so you can lie down today.

To anyone trying to survive on empty because there’s simply no time to pause: I see you. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling exhausted. Even the smallest micro-moment of rest counts, and you deserve every second of it. 🤍

#CaregiverSupport #CaregiverReality #CaregiverBurnout #RealCaregiving #DaughterAndCaregiver

0

0

Doctors’ appointments.

PET scans.

Medication orders.

My calendar became a map of her decline.

Beneath the schedules,

the dosages,

and the clinical terminology,

was just a daughter trying to anchor her mother

to the world for a little while longer.

—

Caregiving is a full-time logistical operation. It’s an endless checklist managed by someone who is also trying to process their own impending grief.

To anyone carrying this same heavy calendar today: you are doing sacred, beautiful work, even on the days it feels entirely overwhelming. Please give yourself grace for how hard you are trying. 🤍

—
#CaregiverLife #DaughterAndCaregiver #AnticipatoryGrief #CaregiverReflections
#Caregiver

0

0

“service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” - muhammad ali

our book, “When Giving Gives Back” now available for preorder.

4k

53

I can't believe it's been a week since I've witnessed my little cousin marry his beautiful wife ❤️ Congratulations again guys! Wishing you guys a lifetime of happiness ❤️ Love you guys!!

43

8

Tag your bro 🤝🏾

35

1

Last Saturday I started leading my first men’s small group through our church, and I’m really grateful for what this is already becoming. 💪🏾

We’re getting together before the sun comes up, getting a workout in and doing some hard things together, but I think the best part has been what happens afterward when we sit around, open up and have real conversations about what we’re actually walking through.

This week we talked about what to do in the valley, what it looks like to have endurance when you’re in a season you’d rather be out of, some of the things we’ve already overcome and even some of the things we know are still holding us back.

There are no valley-free lives, but I’m grateful we don’t have to walk through them alone. 🤝🏾

Forged in Faith. ⚔️
Proverbs 27:17

63

6

It was always the contrast that stung the most.

People would drop in, offer their opinions on what my mother should take, what treatment she should try, or what I should be doing differently—and then they would say goodbye and return to their ordinary lives. They got to go back to uninterrupted sleep, normal routines, and days untouched by cancer.

Meanwhile, I stayed.

I stayed to manage the medications, schedule the scans, watch for the smallest signs of decline, and carry the crushing weight of every decision. Advice is remarkably easy to give when you don't have to sit through the appointments or stay awake at night wondering how much time is left.

For a long time, I felt so guilty for being angry at those people. But I’ve learned that resentment wasn't a sign that I lacked grace—it was just a sign of how utterly exhausted I was from carrying a load that was never meant for one person.

If you are the primary one staying behind while everyone else steps away, please know your frustration is valid. You aren't cold; you're just carrying the heaviest work of love.

#CaregiverSupport #CaregiverBurnout #CaregiverGuilt #CaregivingRealities #FamilyCaregiver CancerCaregiver AnticipatoryGrief CaregiverCommunity

2

1

Point Of View: FEELING GUILTY FOR BEING ANGRY AT ALL.

It is one of the most exhausting, unspoken cycles in caregiving: the flash of resentment, immediately followed by a wave of crushing guilt.

You might find yourself angry at the disease. Angry at the impossible circumstances. Angry at the people who can drop by, offer an unsolicited opinion, and then comfortably return to their ordinary lives while you stay behind to manage, worry, and grieve.

And then, almost instantly, the guilt sets in. You ask yourself how you can possibly be angry when the person you love is the one actually fighting the illness.

If you are stuck in this cycle today, hear this: feeling frustrated or resentful does not mean you lack devotion. It means you are a human being carrying an unrelenting, completely overwhelming weight. You are allowed to hate the situation while still fiercely loving the person you are caring for. Both can be true at exactly the same time.

Have you ever battled this specific kind of caregiver guilt?

Drop a 🤍 in the comments if you can relate to this.

You are not alone in this.

#CaregiverGuilt #CaregiverSupport #CaregiverMentalHealth #FamilyCaregiver #CaregivingJourney

1

1

I watched cancer take pieces of my mother. Her strength. Her energy. Her familiar routines. I was slowly losing the woman I had always known, piece by piece.

And the hardest part? Every single loss carried its own deep grief, but the intense daily demands of caregiving didn't stop to make room for my heartbreak.

Anticipatory grief is one of the heaviest, most isolating parts of caregiving.

Society tells us that grief begins after we say goodbye, but the truth is, we start mourning long before that.

If you are in this season right now—missing someone who is still sitting right in front of you, grieving the subtle changes while trying to hold all of their care together—please know you are not alone. Your grief is real, your exhaustion is valid, and you are carrying an unimaginable weight.

#AnticipatoryGrief #CaregiverSupport #CancerCaregiver #CaregiverCommunity #CaregiverBurnout GriefJourney CaregivingRealities FamilyCaregiver

1

1

WELCOME TO DEB’S Rant. Pull up a 🪑.

There’s ALWAYS room at my 🎙️table… but Mr Opinion Man… errr…. Please move along. 🙅🏻‍♀️

@chrispunsalan
Keep doing YOU.
Keep showing up.
Keep being brave.

You have been such an inspiration for me and THOUSANDS of others esp in the #sandwichgeneration to keep going. 💪🏽

I know Grandma 👵🏼 and God 🙏 are your source of strength, as is MY newfound Faith 🙏 and my beloved Father in law 🪽 is instrumental for the recent miraculous shifts in my family’s life.

Lmk when @try.tendercare comes 2 🇨🇦

#caregiving #filipino #podcast #contentcreation

3

17

i need everyone to tap into jay’s scissor schedule now @jaycmanipon

episode 233 out now

177

7

dogs on bed or nah?

episode 233 now on all streaming platforms 😏

220

25