Something I Am Proud Of:

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamt of being an author. Over the years, I made positive steps towards writing a book, but it never came to fruition. Back in 2013, my bipolar disorder was strangling me every single day. It seemed like I was never going to feel good again. I was sad, depressed, and suicidal. I attempted to kill myself at the end of June that year. I was at my lowest point. Even after they let me out of that horrible facility, I was struggling to find myself in every way. I decided to start a blog. Once I made it public, I started receiving messages from all over the world that my writing resonated with them. I decided to make my childhood dream become a reality and attempt to publish a book based on my blog. In August of 2015, my book was released. It was immediately #1 on Amazon in its category. I had never felt proud of myself until the day that dream came true. Not only had I survived a suicide attempt, but I made my dream come true.

Advice For Newly Diagnosed:

The best advice I can give is to be realistic about your symptoms. Accept that you may have to take medication for the rest of your life, but understand that there are millions of people in the same boat. Keep an open line of communication with the people you rely on for support. Always be 100% honest with your doctors about medications and side effects. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t spend any time online searching for your diagnosis. Half of what you read will be wrong and just freak you out.

Try not to isolate yourself. Even when you feel like doing nothing, at least communicate that to your parents, roommate, spouse, whoever. Your experiences with mental illness will be completely different from anyone else’s. Try very hard not to let something that has happened to someone else worry you or scare you. It may not ever happen and you’re just making yourself feel worse. If you do start to get scared or worried, ask yourself if getting upset about this is going to make the situation any better. Will it change the outcome of the event? Will Friday go better because I’m in tears about it on Tuesday? The answer is no, so try to keep that in mind.