Tumbleweed Plan

06/01/2026

The purple ribbon goes up every June.

You'll see it on social media, in awareness campaigns, on the lapels of advocates. And all of that matters.

But here's what often gets left out of the conversation:

Behind every person living with Alzheimer's or dementia, there is almost always a caregiver. A family member. A spouse, an adult child, a sibling, a friend who stepped in. Someone who didn't choose this role so much as they answered a call that love made impossible to ignore.

This June, Tumbleweed is dedicating our entire content calendar to them.

All month, we'll be sharing:

💡 Facts and research about dementia caregiving you need to know
💬 Mindset & Reassurance for the emotional weight you're carrying
📝 Real language for the hardest conversations
🏢 What employers and HR leaders need to understand about their dementia caregiver employees

Whether you're in the thick of a dementia caregiving journey, supporting someone who is, or leading a team that includes hidden caregivers — this month is for you.

Follow along. Share what resonates. And know that you are not alone in this. 💛

05/31/2026

One of the loneliest parts of caregiving is being surrounded by people who want to help — but keep trying to solve a problem that doesn't have a solution.

Sometimes what you need isn't advice. It's someone who can hear you say "I'm not okay" without rushing to make it better.

As we close out Mental Health Awareness Month, we're offering some language for that exact moment — when you need to be honest about where you are without triggering a fix-it response.

For a partner:
"I need to tell you something, and I need you to just listen. I'm not okay right now. I don't need solutions — I just need you to know that this is harder than I'm letting on."

For a well-meaning friend or family member:
"I appreciate you trying to help. Right now, the most helpful thing you can do is just sit with me. I don't need a plan. I need to not be alone in this for a minute."

For a support group or therapist:
"I've been telling everyone I'm fine. I'm not. I don't know exactly what I need yet, but I know I can't keep carrying this by myself."

You don't have to perform wellness when you're not well. The people who love you can handle your truth — especially when you give them the language to meet you there. 💛

05/26/2026

Here's something most companies don't talk about: grief doesn't clock out when your employees clock in.

The average bereavement leave policy in the U.S. offers 3 days. Three days to lose a parent, process it, handle logistics, and come back ready to perform. It's not enough — and everyone knows it.

But the bigger issue isn't just bereavement. It's the ongoing grief that comes from watching a parent decline, managing a loved one's chronic illness, or navigating the slow and emotionally exhausting process of end-of-life planning. This kind of grief doesn't have a start date or an end date. And it doesn't come with a policy.

According to the Grief Recovery Institute, grief costs U.S. businesses over $100 billion annually in lost productivity — and most of it goes unaddressed because it doesn't fit neatly into HR categories.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, here's what leaders can do:
✅ Recognize that anticipatory grief and caregiving grief are real — even when no one has died yet
✅ Train managers to ask, "What would help?" instead of assuming they know
✅ Offer resources that extend beyond EAPs — tools for planning, navigation, and emotional support
✅ Create a culture where employees don't have to hide what they're going through to be seen as professional

Tumbleweed helps organizations support employees through the full arc of caregiving and grief — not just the crisis point. If you're rethinking your approach, let's talk. 💛

05/23/2026

Myth: "If I were stronger, more patient, more organized, more selfless — this wouldn't feel so overwhelming."

This is one of the quietest lies caregivers tell themselves. And it's one of the most damaging, because it doesn't just describe the situation — it blames you for struggling inside of it.

Reality: Caregiving is objectively one of the most psychologically demanding experiences a person can go through.

It involves sustained emotional labor, constant decision-making under uncertainty, role reversal with people you love, financial strain, sleep deprivation, and grief that doesn't wait for permission.

The American Psychological Association recognizes caregiver stress as a clinical concern — not because caregivers are fragile, but because the demands are extraordinary.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s retire the idea that struggling means something is wrong with you. It doesn't. It means you're inside something genuinely hard, and your nervous system is responding exactly the way it should.

Strength isn't the absence of struggle. It's continuing to show up while the struggle is still happening — and being honest about what it costs you.

If you're in it right now: you're not failing. You're doing one of the most important things a person can do. And it makes sense that it's hard. 💛

05/20/2026

Did you know?

Anticipatory grief — the grief you experience before a death occurs — is something millions of caregivers live with, often for months or even years. And most of them have never heard the term.

Unlike the grief that follows a loss, anticipatory grief happens while your person is still here. That's what makes it so confusing: you feel guilty for grieving someone who's still alive. You wonder if something is wrong with you. You don't feel like you have "permission" to be sad yet.

But research published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine confirms that anticipatory grief is a recognized psychological experience with real emotional and physical effects — including anxiety, sleep disruption, difficulty concentrating, and a deep sense of helplessness.

If you're caring for someone with a terminal diagnosis, progressive illness, or age-related decline, and you feel like you're already mourning: you're not doing it wrong. You're not being dramatic. You're experiencing a kind of grief that simply doesn't get enough attention.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to name it so you don't have to carry it alone.

You are allowed to grieve and still show up. You are allowed to feel the loss before it arrives. And you are allowed to ask for help right now — not just after. 💛

05/14/2026

Every May, organizations post about Mental Health Awareness Month. Many share resources. Some host webinars. A few change their logo colors.

But here's what most still miss: the mental health crisis hiding inside your workforce isn't just about stress management or meditation apps. It's about the 73% of employees who are providing care to a loved one — often an aging parent, a chronically ill partner, or both — while trying to maintain their professional performance.

According to Harvard Business Review, caregiving employees lose an average of 8 hours of productivity per week due to caregiving-related stress. And yet, most companies don't even mention caregiving in their mental health programming.

What forward-thinking organizations are doing differently this May:
✅ Acknowledging that caregiving is a mental health issue — not just a scheduling one
✅ Offering planning and navigation tools that reduce the cognitive load of care decisions
✅ Training managers to recognize signs of caregiver burnout, not just workplace stress
✅ Partnering with resources like Tumbleweed to support employees through life's most complex transitions

If your Mental Health Month strategy doesn't address caregiving, it's missing the people who need it most.

We'd love to help you change that. 💛

05/12/2026

Some conversations don't have a comfortable entry point. Talking about what happens next — when a parent's health is declining, when a diagnosis changes everything, when the future you imagined starts to shift — is one of them.

But here's the truth: waiting for the "right time" often means having the conversation in a crisis, when emotions are highest and clarity is lowest.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we're sharing language to help you start the conversation before the crisis decides for you.

For an aging parent:
"Mom/Dad — I've been thinking about the future. Not because anything is wrong right now, but because I want to make sure we're prepared together. Can we set aside 20 minutes to talk about what matters most to you?"

For a sibling or family member:
"I know this isn't easy to bring up. But I'd rather we figure this out together now than make decisions under pressure later. Can we start small?"

For yourself (the internal permission):
"I don't have to know exactly what to say. I just have to be willing to say something. The conversation doesn't have to be perfect — it just has to begin."

Starting the conversation is the hardest part. But it's also the most loving thing you can do. 💛

05/08/2026

Myth: "If someone I love needs me, my needs don't matter right now."

This is one of the most deeply held beliefs among caregivers — and one of the most damaging. It sounds like devotion. It feels like loyalty. But over time, it becomes a kind of quiet self-erasure that helps no one.

Reality: Taking care of yourself isn't a break from caregiving. It's part of it.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and if there's one message worth sitting with this month, it's this: you are not a better caregiver when you're running on empty. You're just a more depleted one.

Research from the National Alliance for Caregiving shows that caregivers who neglect their own health are significantly more likely to develop anxiety, depression, and chronic illness — not in some distant future, but while they're actively providing care.

Self-care for a caregiver doesn't have to look like a spa day. It can look like:
• Saying no to one thing this week
• Asking someone to sit with your person so you can take a walk
• Letting the laundry wait
• Calling a friend who doesn't need anything from you

You matter in this equation, too. Not after. Not eventually. Now. 💛

05/06/2026

Most of us mean to get our affairs in order. A will. A healthcare directive. A plan for the people we love.

But "someday" has a way of staying on the list.

Here's a number worth sitting with: **56% of Americans have no estate plan at all.** Not because they don't care — but because without someone to walk alongside them, it's easy to keep putting it off.

Our newest article on Substack walks through the three pillars of end-of-life clarity — healthcare directives, wills and trusts, and why working with the right professionals changes everything. Including this: households that work with a CFP® are more than **twice as likely** to have a will in place.

If you've been meaning to start, this is a good read to bookmark.

👉 **Read "When to Call the Professionals" on the Tumbleweed Substack:** https://loom.ly/E_34dc4

Knowing When to Get Help With Wills, Trusts, and Healthcare Directives

05/04/2026

Did you know?

According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, between 40% and 70% of family caregivers have clinically significant symptoms of depression — and roughly a quarter meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this statistic deserves more than a passing mention.

Caregiver depression doesn't always look the way you'd expect. It can show up as:
• A constant low-grade exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix
• Irritability that seems out of proportion to the situation
• A loss of interest in things that used to bring joy
• Feeling numb instead of sad
• Withdrawing from people — not because you don't want connection, but because you don't have the energy to explain

Many caregivers don't recognize these as symptoms because they assume it's just what caregiving feels like. But there's a difference between being tired and being unwell — and you deserve support for both.

If any of this resonates: you're not weak. You're carrying more than most people realize. And reaching out — to a therapist, a support group, a friend, or even a resource like Tumbleweed — is not a sign of failure. It's a sign you're paying attention. 💛