Living Bipolar (27 page)

Abraham Lincoln once said, “A man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.” How true this statement is for our lives. Although we may not feel happy all the time, and although we may not be able to change the way we are feeling, we can make our minds to be grateful for our situation. So if you don’t feel great today, you can still take action to make things better, whether it is staying close to others, journaling how you are feeling, watching a funny movie, or by changing your scenery by going outside for a walk.

Gratitude we have found is essential for a successful recovery. The people in this book are grateful for the important things in life:

We are grateful for others, for love, forgiveness, compassion, understanding, experience, action, for attitude adjustments, we are grateful for choices, opportunities; help, for good days, bad days, and everything in between.

We have learned that every day is a good day -- some days are just better than others. When we approach our lives from this perspective we will see we’ve never had it so good.

•
No matter what medication you're on, life is still going to show up.

•
Be aware. Recognize your body and yourself. Recognize what it all means.

• To be aware of what’s going on with your body it’s important to be honest with yourself, and knowing what is good for you and what is bad for you. To be honest with yourself, you listen to yourself.

• It’s not all about medications. It’s about
taking care of you.
You take care of yourself by

1. Listening to your body

2. Being verbal with what’s going on with you

3. Not letting anyone run over you

4. Doing the right things.

• Good living starts with good choices.

• Do not get too hyped up or get too sad.

• Work on living a stress free life. When your world begins to get out of control, take a break and focus on your breathing.

• Eat properly and exercise

•
Communication with doctors starts with everybody around you. Communicate with everyone around you daily to know when your illness is off.

• Ask your doctors questions. For example:

Will this medication interact with these other medications I’m on? What are the side effects? Will the medications cause me any long term damage to any organs? Will this medication stable me out? Will this cause me not to function? Will I be able to drive?

•
Create a schedule
, and
stick to a schedule
. Wake up at the same time in the morning, eat meals that are healthy and not too sugary, work out; go to bed at the exact same time. Be in the sunlight each day for a little bit, which will help you be a little less sad. Just a regular schedule you can stick to everyday basically.

• Find an outlet for your Bipolar energy, whether; it’s painting, writing, or exercising.

• Manic episodes happen, but you can make the episodes easier on yourself. Learn what agitates you and gets you upset. You have to learn, and discover, what frustrates you and then do the opposite of that.

• Your life will become easier when you love yourself, love your body, and when you do what’s best for yourself.

• When your mood starts flaring up work on calming yourself down.

• Stop beating yourself up! Change your thinking and perception on life to improve how you view your life and the world.

• Mold your illness to how you want to live your life, and view it as an asset, not a liability.

• Educate yourself on the illness. Read and learn about it as much you can. Know what medications you are taking and what they do.

• Have a strong support system that is educated on the Bipolar illness.

• Understand your illness. How does it manifest itself? What are the first signs of the illness? Is there a decreased need for sleep? Or is there some sleep disruption? What’s the cycling pattern? Do you go from a depressed phase to a manic phase? How long are you in a normal phase before you might switch -- how rapidly do you switch? Does the weather or the climate affect you? Is there a seasonal pattern? Is it more apt for you to get depressed in the wintertime or more in the summer time? Is there some specific pattern you know about with your illness?

• Use a therapist as a support, and use the therapist to bounce things off to, and work through painful experiences, because the therapists will be able to reassure you that things will get better.

• Hope is crucial because without hope we don't have anything.
There has to be that need to continue to hope that things will continue to get better, you’re your lives will be more functional, more manageable, and to realize there's always ways to deal with things.

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