Tags
bipolar disorder, strategies for managing bipolar disorder, strategies for managing mental illness
Sure, sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
You probably can’t imagine what it feels like to wake up not knowing that there is a world beyond the thick blackness of the blankets pulled up over your eyes.
And some days you’re excited. It’s the first day of a vacation trip. It’s Christmas morning.
You probably can’t imagine waking up five or six times that enthusiastic, without any reason at all.
Having bipolar disorder means that steady is as steady does. Because the feelings are almost random.
When blackness enfolds, I write down a list of tasks — even tasks as mundane as “wash the dishes” — and work through them. Otherwise nothing happens. At all.
When enthusiasm overwhelms, I have to choose to write down a list of tasks — especially tasks as mundane as “wash the dishes.” Because otherwise I’ll enthuse in 10 or 12 or 20 different directions, almost simultaneously. At the end of the burst, I’ll find myself surrounded by a clutter of unfinished projects and the clutter of an untended life.
I stay steady by trying to focus on what I need to do. And I stay steady by remembering that the way I feel today is not likely to be the way I feel in three or four weeks.
I ride my feelings like surf: the enthusiasm powers forward movement; the blackness cannot be allowed to fuel anything bleaker than anticipation. Happily, God has promised a future that is extraordinarily bright, and allows that I live this life in the brilliance of God’s presence, even when God is invisible through the enfolding darkness.
Steady is as steady does. No one is more steady than God.
The Church and Mental Illness 
Hello! I appreciate your honesty in this post. I love you have figured out lists to help you on the difficult days. I pray you will continue to rely on Him. Visiting from FMF. Happy Writing!
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I fond it important that you need the lists in both times- the highs and the lows. Routine and schedule are important parts of a steady life aren’t they? I hope you’ve been able to find a doctor and the right meds to help you through this. It’s a tough battle but one I’m thankful you are sharing. It does us all good.
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I’ll add a possibly surprising note to requirements for a steady life: finding a doctor who treats with minimal medications. During the years when I lived in a part of the country where overprescription is standard practice, the many attempts of different medications — 22 in all! — threw me from one mental state to another, with much more serious results than the changes creted by my underlying condition. Happily, I’m now down to 2.5 pills a day (from 15!!!) and doing much better.
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LOVE this one Carlene!
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I am familiar with bipolar. My mom is. I actually thought about her when I saw the word steady. Her struggle with unstable emotions and the way I can ride emotions out too
My heart goes out to you. Seriously. It’s a struggle. I’ve watched all my life.
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Yes it’s a kind of struggle. I can hear that you live with different kinds of struggles. We all do. It’s important to understand that we all struggle and avoid trapping some people in the idea that our struggles are just too much. As long as we all remember that the hurt felt by one part of the Body impairs the entire Body, we can work together to support and care for those of us who might represent feeble knees — but who can move when the highway has been made straight.
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The man who was married to my biological mother was bipolar – years ago – and I took care of his as best I could. I could not see the world through his eyes; I wish I had this post to guide me, back then.
#1 at FMF this week.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2017/06/your-dying-spouse-327-whats-heaven-like.html
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Although I am not too familiar with all that being bi-polar entails, I do know you are correct that whatever the day and whatever we face, God allows us to live it in the brilliance of His presence. Thanks for sharing so openly.
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Hey, Carlene! I stumbled across you in this weeks Five Minute Friday lineup–I don’t think I’ve connected with you before. My daughter went through a ton of trauma before she was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder 2 1/2 years ago. I love reading about how other people have coped and thrived. Thank you for sharing! (#83).
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Carlene, I appreciate hearing how you find a way to find a steady place. Certainly, the idea of steadiness in the face of Bipolar seems next to impossible. Yet, your steadiness is coming from a place outside this world and the flesh. “I stay steady by trying to focus on what I need to do. And I stay steady by remembering that the way I feel today is not likely to be the way I feel in three or four weeks.” You have found your balance. Thanks for sharing.
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I’m so glad I found your blog. My mom lives with bipolar disorder.
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