Hi everyone. I'm Holly Robinson, pete, actor, author, advocate, do it all mom, and I'm also a caregiver. And this is care Walks, a podcast from iHeartRadio and Voltaian Arthritis Pain Gel. It's a show for family caregivers who give everything to everyone and need to make time for themselves through movement. Every episode is designed for you to walk as you listen, so just think of me and my
guests as your weekly walking buddies. We'll discover a community ourselves and maybe even alleviate some joint pain due to arthritis in the process as we walk together and connect to the best parts of being a caregiver. As a reminder, right now you're listening to the abridged version of this episode, but if you're looking to get a little extra inspiration, don't miss a minute. Check out the full length version
of this episode in your podcast feed. OK. In today's episode, we're going to be digging into the shifting dynamics when adult children become caregivers for their parents. I am really looking forward to speaking with today's guest on this topic. Not only is she an actor, advocate and podcaster, but she is also a family caregiver who took care of her father when he suffered from a heart attack. I'm
talking about my friend Jenny Garth. I've known Jenny for many years, and I'm looking forward to connecting with her and comparing our experiences of caring for our parents. Yes, it's challenging, for sure, but there's also something really special about being a caregiver to a parent as their adult child. It gives you a whole new opportunity to get to know them, and I'm really interested to hear Jenny talk about how it may have shaped her life and relationship
with her father in really positive ways. I also know that Jenny has struggled with joint pain, as so many of us caregivers do, so I'm going to ask her about her own relationship with movement and how she keeps active with osteoarthritis. Before we get to our conversation with Jenny, let's get moving and start our walk with intention, an intention of gratitude. We sometimes forget to express gratitude to even the simplest gifts in our lives. There's a lot
to appreciate about where we are in this moment. Show gratitude for your body on this walk and all that is doing to keep you moving forward. Think about how the parts of your body must work in harmony for you to do the amazing things you do every day. It's not always easy, I know, but your body shows up for you. Use today as a reminder to share that strength. Appreciate your movement, and consider how you can connect with someone who might need that little nudge to
find that gratitude today too. We can only be as strong as the connections we make, whether that is sharing a buy beautiful memory or deepening your connection with yourself. Give thanks for the important connections in your life as you settle into the rhythm of your walk. I'm going to keep talking and share with you my conversation with our guests Jenny Garth, and together will widen our community of caregivers. Today I have the pleasure of talking to not only a great friend of mine, but also a
magnificent actress, fellow podcaster and caregiver, Jenny Garth. Like me, Jenny cared for her father for many years, and she has recently spoken out about living with osteo arthritis. Jenny, thank you so much for joining us. Hey, Holly, I'm so glad to see you too. This is an awesome way to have some girl time catch up.
I know, I just follow you on the Instagram. I see all your work. I saw the whales in Vancouver. Oh my god.
Oh well, well I follow you as well. And that's social media used for good. It keeps us in contact with each other. Yes, exactly. This program is really designed to support caregivers. Share a little bit with us about your journey as a caregiver.
Well, it started off really young. I was about thirty when my father suffered his first massive heart attack. We lived in Illinois on farm. Everything was perfect and idyllic, and my dad was this big, strong man. All of a sudden he was, you know, incapacitated and having a heart attack back then, all those years ago, was a lot different than having a heart attack now. So it was much more invasive and disruptive to life and so much harder to come back from. So that really changed
my life as a young girl, uprooted our family. We had to move to Arizona for a drier climate for him, leave some siblings behind. It was really a pretty traumatic experience. Then. This was a few years later. My mom was having to work and continued to like do what she needed to do to keep the household going, and so I would fill in for her. And that was when I was already living out in LA and acting, but I would take breaks so that I could go back and
take care of my dad. This as a young girl was like, Okay, Wow, I'm going to jump in and do this the best I know how. And it was a lot. I think that it had a lot of, you know, impact on just every aspect of my life.
Like many caregivers, did you go through like an evolution of emotions throughout your experience as a caregiver and what or who were the strongest support systems for you and your family?
For me, back then with my dad, I had my mom to talk to. I have my siblings. Now with my mom, I have my siblings to talk to about it, sort of share stories and the ups and downs of it and the frustrations of it. And I feel like that's so important to have somebody or more than one person that you can just talk to and kind of vent with yes and let go of all that responsibility
for a minute. That burnout is so real and if you don't address it, I feel like it's just a disaster waiting to happen because you can't handle it all on your own.
I want to talk a little bit about joint pain. You recently shared that you are dealing with osteoarthritis, and I would love to know what did the road to your OA diagnosis look like.
Well, it was full of denial. Let's start with that, because who wants to say, oh, I have joint pain. I feel like I might have arthritis. For me, that was like something that old people had to deal with, and I was just not ready to cross that bridge or just acknowledge it. And the fact is it's not an old people's disease quote unquote. You can have osteoarthritis
or forms of arthritis. You can have joint pain at any age, and it's just specific to who you are, your genetic makeup, and what your lifestyle is like, and the foods that you're eating.
Anything that you're doing, or products that you're using specifically that have really help with your OA. Joint pain.
Well, there's over the counter voltairean arthritis pain gel is something that you can rub on and get relief with that. I use it, my siblings all use it. And then people come out of the woodwork like, oh, Voltairean. I use Voltairean too, because it's like it really does help. You know, I have five dogs. I'm constantly bending and lifting and taking care of them and playing, and you know, I just want to stay really active. And also Holly, oh my god, I'm so excited that I'm going to
be a grandma someday. Not yet.
Wait, I thought you were going to break some news to me. I wasn't ready.
H No, no, no, I'm not ready either, But I'm really looking forward to that. And I want to be super like active and I want to stay like, you know, tip top shape, not just for me and my dogs anymore my husband, but for my grandkids someday. Realizing the importance of exercise and movement the whole package, the whole like physical, mental, emotional, all the well beings that go on with a person, like all the parts of me that I need to keep well. That's my goal.
What are some of your favorite self care practices? What just makes you feel like you love yourself?
Being outside, being in nature, Like you know, just putting down the work and going outside and having some good fresh air is one of my favorite things to do. I'm a meditator too. I love to just sit quietly. It sort of grounds me back to my true nature
of just being quiet. I will light some incense before I go to bed, just and also, you know, it's so easy to watch the news before you go to sleep, or watch something on TV before you go to sleep, but I try to remember to turn the TV off and just be in like silence and let my body sort of calm down the way it's rhythmically supposed to and have a good night's sleep. So sleep is the
most important thing, like I have. Like a thing that I learned from a therapist was a seven day week, Like look at your month in seven day increments, Like if your life is a pie chart, right, and here's the part where you're taking care of someone else, here's your work, here's your romance life, here's your social life, here's your self care life. Make sure your pie is really as balanced as you can when you're divvying up
your time and your energy. It's really important orant to have that balance as much as you can.
It is so important. And Jenny, I really appreciate this conversation. It's been so awesome talking to you. I feel like we see each other and we've worked together, We've done things. We see each other in passing, but this is like the longest conversation we've ever had and it's the best one. And I hope that everyone listening. Well, we'll take something from this, and I really appreciate you joining me for care walk So thank you Jenny Garth.
Happy, so happy to do it. Great to see you you too.
I want to thank Jenny Garth again for being my guest today. Really enjoyed our conversation. We talked about the parent child dynamic, how she saw her dad as such a strong figure as a child, the importance of balance in your life when you're a caregiver, and some of Jenny's favorite self care practices. She loves her baths, so do I, meditation and being in nature. Well that's it for today's episode. Thanks again to Jenny for joining me.
Don't forget to tune in next week when we talk all about nutrition and joint pain with doctor Monica Agerwall. Care Walks is produced by iHeartRadio in partnership with voltairean Arthritis Pain Gel, and hosted by me Holly Robinson Pete. Our executive producer is Molly Sosha. Our head engineer is Matt Stillo. This episode was written and produced by Sierra Kaiser, with special thanks to our partners at GSK Platform, GSK, Weber, Shandwick and Edelman.