·S2026 E204
One Step Removed: When Caregiving Became a Two-Year Detour | Unfiltered Friday
Episode Description
Sometimes the thing you're called to do for a season isn't where you're supposed to stay forever.
This Unfiltered Friday begins with September 11th and remembering Buck on what would have been his birthday. But it also forced me to look at where the last two years of my own life have gone.
Caregiving was supposed to be about helping someone else. Instead, it became a two-year detour that changed me physically and emotionally. I injured my back. Pain became something I had to manage. That road eventually contributed to a dependency on 7-OH—and getting out of it has forced me to reconsider what serving other people should look like in the next chapter of my life.
I'm not walking away from people.
I'm moving one step removed from hands-on caregiving.
Because I've realized that some of the things that fulfill me most still involve serving people—they just do it through connection. Sitting behind a microphone and having conversations. Meeting strangers while driving Uber. Listening to someone's story. Creating a space where people can say things they might not say anywhere else.
Maybe my purpose was never simply to take care of people. Maybe it was to connect with them.
In this episode, I unpack the emotional cost of caregiving, the back injury and dependency that followed, what Buck's life continues to mean to me, and why stepping away from one form of service doesn't mean abandoning service altogether.
Sometimes getting back on your path requires recognizing just how far a detour has taken you.