A Duty is a task that I perform for other people. It is a requirement of the job that I do, which serves others. I do my duty when I believe that my job demands that I serve other people. When I do my job in service to others, I do my duty.
A duty of care is not a task but a standard of performance. It demands that I perform my duty with care. It is my duty to take care of the tasks required, to a given standard. I have a duty of care to perform my duties & tasks to an agreed standard, whether I care about my job or not.
The problem with a duty of care is that the carer often cares more about how they do their job than they do about the person for whom they are caring. A duty of care that performs to one given standard does not always conform to the individual needs of a dementia patient. A duty of care may work well in a hospital, or other medical institution, for doctors & nurses who need to operate to a common standard of performance. In an institution that offers 24 hour medical attention, staff have a duty of care, whilst working their shift. Their duty of care is limited to the length of their work shift because at the end of their shift, their duty of care ends.
Dementia patients, who are physically well, do not need nursing but they do need caring. Looking after or caring for a dementia patient in their home has no rota, no shifts and no duties. When a task is carried out with care, it is performed with love and it is not a duty.
A duty is a task that I have to do. I have to do a task when it is a duty. When it is my duty to perform a task, I have no choice because I believe that I must, I ought to or I should carry it out.
Whatever I have to do, I ought to do, I should do or I must do is a toleration that drains my emotional energy. The definition of a toleration is anything that drains my emotional energy because I am not totally accepting of it.
Whatever I do with love, because I care, raises my emotional energy. When I truly care, my caring is a true value and the true value of whatever I am doing empowers me, it never drains me.
When my emotional energy is drained at the end of my working shift, I have done my duty. When my emotional energy is full of caring, I am empowered to care and it is never a duty. When I am empowered by being caring, I do not see caring as a task or a job that requires a standard. The standard for all carers is to be caring. I attain that standard when I see being caring as a beneficial & empowering way of being. A beneficial way of being is beneficial for both the carer & the patient.
When caring is an empowering state of being, it is a privilege to care, not a duty. I am never inspired to act out of duty. I am only ever inspired to act because I care. Caring is not something that I switch on when I go to work and switch off when I go home. It is a state of being that I have the privilege of expressing as a matter of personal choice. When I personally choose to be caring, I attain the attribute of being caring.
Expressing care starts with Self care. Unless I consciously choose to care for, care about and take care of my Self, I cannot share this attribute with another person. It is only when I express the care that I have for my Self that others can feel that I am a caring person. When I express my emotional feeling of being caring, I allow others to share that feeling with my Self.
When I think carefully about whatever I am doing, I care about what I am doing and others know that I care.
When I take care of others in a caring way, they can see how well I am taking care of them.
When I care for others by being caring, they feel the care that I feel for them.
When caring is a duty, the patient intuitively knows, feels & sees that I am just doing my job out of duty, because I do not really care.
Will power, discipline, courage, bravery & persistence all allow me to carry out my duties when my emotional energy is depleted. Persistently running on low emotional energy is an expression of lack of self care. It is what I do when I have no real regard for myself and is therefore not beneficial for anyone that I am looking after.
My only duty of care is to my Self. The only duty that I need to perform is the physical, mental & emotional care of my own Self.