Book excerpt: Are you a sudden caregiver? When an unforeseen medical crisis robs someone you love of their health and wellbeing, do you feel caught off guard and ill-prepared for your role as caregiver? Plenty of research confirms what you may already know: caregiving is depleting, worrying, and exhausting, often leading to physical and emotional burnout, fear, and illness for the caregiver.Yet a growing body of evidence drawn from the field of positive psychology makes it clear that, while caregiving is depleting, it can also be a source of strength, well-being, meaning and purpose. And when caregivers reduce their own stress and increase their own well-being, they do a better job of improving the quality of life for the loved one in their care.Caregiving may be inevitable, but caregiver distress is not. You are not alone. Written by a family caregiver for family caregivers, The Sudden Caregiver, provides a roadmap for your unique caregiving journey helping you to:?Take control of the practical tasks and available resources your circumstances require.?Minimize unpleasant surprises and maximize well-being for you and your loved one.?Leverage "resilience builders" to protect yourself against stress and replenish your spirit. Karen Warner became a sudden caregiver when her late husband, Joel Kurtzman, was diagnosed out of the blue with stage IV cancer. In this book, she enters the complicated world of the informal, unpaid, sudden caregiver, offering guidance, resilience, and, yes, a playbook -- a rational approach for planning what is, essentially, unplannable. Here you will find a roadmap along with six pathways to well-being, designed to help you navigate your caregiving journey with grace and grit. Karen is an executive coach and President of Tangible Group, a coaching and consulting firm that focuses on leadership development and caregiver well-being. She received her Master's degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.For more information, and to receive updates on the publication of The Sudden Caregiver, visit www.thesuddencaregiver.com.