My last blog discussed the difficulty in making a transition back to the family home because of Parkinson’s Disease. In that entry, I discussed the relationship challenges such a transition entails. In this entry, I want to discuss the loss of independence.

In some ways our Western ideas about independence are a part of a devastating paradigm that produces unnecessary guilt when we must live with family. We equate a return to the bosom of our family as failure. We are relinquishing control of our lives.

While at the recent 6th Annual Living Well retreat sponsored by the Parkinson Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, I heard a familiar refrain during informal discussions with attendees:

“I am a burden to my family.”

My Mac’s dictionary defines “burden” as a heavy load. There is also a more figurative definition for the word, one describing duty or misfortune that causes hardship, anxiety, or grief. It is helpful to look at both definitions.