Three Generations of Caregiving

In this episode of Who We Become — Life Beyond Change, Amanda sits down with her mom, Aileen Smalling, to explore caregiving across generations, identity, faith, resilience, and what it means when the strong one becomes the one who needs care.Together, they talk about watching a mother fight cancer at six years old, stepping into the role of caregiver decades later for her own daughter during the pandemic, and then facing a diagnosis herself. They explore the quiet emotional labor of caregiving, the difficulty of receiving help, and how strength evolves when life asks you to surrender instead of push through.This conversation is for anyone who has been the steady one for a long time — the caregiver, the organizer, the strong one — and is learning how to allow others to show up for them too.