Caregiver Self-Care and Confidence With Amanda Huckabee

When most of your energy goes toward someone else's needs, caring for yourself can start to feel optional. Even a small appointment or a quiet moment may bring up guilt about everything waiting at home.

In episode 154 of A Time to Care: The Caregivers Podcast, Isabel Melgarejo talks with hairstylist and mentor Amanda Huckabee about caregiver self-care, confidence, and making room for your own needs. Their conversation looks beyond appearance to the way people see themselves when caregiving takes over daily life.

Watch Isabel's conversation with Amanda Huckabee

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZTU7nRaatg[/embed]

Episode 154 · Released September 25, 2026

Caregiver self-care can begin with something small

Amanda's work involves helping people feel good about themselves. In the episode, she and Isabel connect that experience with the challenges caregivers face when their own routines keep moving to the bottom of the list.

The conversation does not require a complete lifestyle change. Instead, it explores small moments of care that fit into a real day. That might begin with noticing what you have stopped making time for, or recognizing that a familiar routine matters to you even when it seems minor to someone else.

For caregivers supporting aging parents, a spouse, or a person living with dementia, that recognition can be a useful first step. Your responsibilities do not erase your preferences, identity, or need for attention.

Confidence is part of the conversation

For Amanda, helping someone feel comfortable when they look in the mirror goes beyond a haircut. Isabel and Amanda discuss confidence, self-worth, and the experience of remembering that you deserve care.

This is an invitation to consider what helps you feel more like yourself. It is not a requirement to look a certain way. Different people find that sense of connection in different routines, and the episode leaves room for those individual needs.

Communicating what you need

Another theme is the importance of finding professionals who listen. Asking for what you need can feel unfamiliar when you spend much of the day anticipating someone else's preferences.

Amanda and Isabel discuss communicating honestly, choosing support that fits your life, and asking for help. Those ideas can also open a broader conversation with the people around you about making time for your own care.