Quite the Year

It has really been one of the hardest years of my life, and we only just hit June. Halfway through what feels like the absolute worst rollercoaster I have ever been on. But this time, I did not elect to even get on this. 

Oftentimes we are thrust into these experiences, these awful roles that no one would have signed themselves up for, given the chance. I was not given the opportunity to say "no, I don't want to do this." Because when loved ones call, you answer - literally and metaphorically.

I know it's been a few months since my last post, but the truth is, I found it hard to care about anything at all - my classes, my grades (how did I still end up with a near perfect semester, grade-wise?), my peers, my friends, all that mattered was my father. My father, my best friend, my partner in crime, my hero. My dad passed away on April, 20th 2018. Whenever I tell someone the question is "oh my goodness, are you okay??" and I always say I'm fine, but that will probably never be 100% true. It's a process, they say. It has its ups and it has its downs. But honestly, if I could have it my way, I would trade it all in just to get 5 minutes with my dad again. 

This experience, unfortunately, has taught me so much. My role of helping my mother and sister be caregivers, is over. I now do feel like I can move forward, at least with my thesis, and look at things with fresh eyes. I've started to slowly get back to work to try to wrap up some of my projects for the beginning stages of my thesis, and I do feel like moving in the direction of approaching a healthcare related topic from the role of young caregivers is where I want to take this. 

Young caregivers face unique challenges in being put in a position of caring for a loved one. I want to, ideally, approach this topic with the following in mind:

- I want the young caregivers I work with to have been put in this position unexpectedly. 
- I want to work with individuals between the ages of 18 and 25. I'm open to a few years older, but in research, "young caregiver" is classified between anyone between 18 and 25.
- Ideally, it would be great to work with individuals who are in the NYC area, but I'm open to travel a bit, if possible, to work with those in other areas.
- I don't want to create just another support group. Despite not being many, these already exist and face their own challenges in being effective to ease the burden of caregiving. (plus, many active caregivers don't feel as if they even have time to devote to a support group)

I want to understand the challenges that these caregivers are faced, I then want to ideally create something -- some experience, some product, some resource -- that helps ease the burdens and challenges these young caregivers face.