Over the years of dealing with bipolar, I’ve had to learn a lot on how to manage this disease and not let it get the best of me. Stress in life is evitable; those who work face it from their bosses. We face it from our families, balancing the many responsibilities we hold. We face it from financial struggles.
We cannot control when the depression hits us, but we can learn to control how we react to a given situation. We can take back the control of how we react. This is different than letting this disease control us as a person.
Let me explain what I’m getting at. Bipolar tries to take a mind of own. It tries to make our decisions for us at times. If that monster of a disease comes over us and we find ourselves in an episode, we may not be able to get ourselves out of that deep dark pit of darkness, that’s when we either A. get help or B. tell someone who can get us help.
My husband and I are going through a lot of stress right now. It’s been years since my bipolar has been very bad, but I had to start going back to therapy again, so it would not get the best of me. I did not want to do that, but I knew I needed to take preventive measures to deal with the amount of stress were up against.
I told my therapist years ago, I just would act out my bad thoughts. Now I think before I react. I use the cognitive skills and coping skills I’ve learned to incorporate from over the years. I hope you understand as my readers, there is a difference in what we cannot control; and not letting bipolar control us. We are part of the process, the ongoing process of learning healthy coping skills!
Many times, we let our bipolar think for us; and this is dangerous. Having a plan of support and a plan of safety is key in living healthy even with bipolar. Bipolar is not a death sentence, but we have to be willing to do the work, we have to find a good therapist, one that you feel safe with, one that listens and shows true compassion.
Taking your medication on schedule. It’s taken a long time for me to get to this point, but I’m LIVING, I’m not just surviving with this illness. One of the best forms of treatment is to openly talk about your bipolar. The more we talk, the more we understand how our minds work, and what kind of stress sets us off and how to stay away from it. Some stress we cannot, it’s just there and we learn to deal. Other stress can be avoided; learning to have healthy boundaries helps in that in a very big way.
Readers think upon the serenity prayer, and accept you can’t change everything. You can choose how you will react and that’s taking back the control that bipolar tired to so hard to steal from you.
