In one of the caregiver online support groups I belong to, a few people where doing the "when do I get a life?" thing and I replied with this ...
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"Ya know .... I used to spend a lot of time feeling sorry for myself becuz of the life I was missing while caregiving for my mom .... but then I realized that it's just a reality ... we CAN'T do many of the things we could do before .... so I decided I had to accept that and figure out what I COULD do, now that I was basically housebound ... and I came up with lots of things that are very good for ME and have nothing to do with mom, so I can treasure them as my own .... and they are all about taking care of me .... taking a walk (where mom can use her phone to call my cell phone) ... I'm never gone for more than 45 mins and she can always reach me ... these walks are not only healthy for me, physically, but really good for me mentally ... I'm ALONE ... ahhhhhh

Also, I'm taking time to get to understand myself better, thru groups like this and some other groups I'm in for weight loss (something else I'm working on, now that I'm basically housebound .... food, exercise, all good stuff for ME) .... Even stuff like taking care of my skin and feet ... stuff like that that is good for ME.

I'm figuring this caregiving role is a temporary part of my life .... when I come out of it, I really really really think it's important that I'm in good shape to go to the next part of my life .... so I focus on things that will help me be there when mom is gone.

That's how I deal with it best ... I'm sure it's different for each of us .... but, boy, I sure did see I needed to deal with it, cuz that was making me VERY depressed."
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This truly is how I feel lately .... no matter how hard this gets, I must continue to grow during the process or none of it will have been worth it.