For all of the people that think Bipolar is some sort of mental health illness that is 99% depression, well from my point of view it isn't 'all that'.
Yes I have my down days but I'm lucky because most of mine are 'up' days - or whatever you would like to call them.
We'll take a 'normal' day in the life of Sharon for a few minutes shall we?
Picture this - it's 3am and I wake with thoughts whirring around my head of how potentially epic my next weekend away might be with my partner! I toss and turn as I try to get back to sleep but by now I've paid a visit to the ladies, had a look out of the window to see which neighbours cat is crying to be indoors and probably written a list of what I need to take with me on my travels as well as a blog or two. Oh and I may have even raided the fridge!
Eventually I go back to bed! My mind goes round and round with what I've got to do during the course of the day ahead whilst the washing machine I put on five minutes ago starts it's cycle. I can now hear it from upstairs.
"Wake up, guess what, it's only 'X' amount of sleeps until..." is what I'll whisper to my other half during the night which inevitably wakes him up. I'll then proceed to tell him what I think we should do over the weekend ahead which is three months away!
It's about 04:30 by now. We talk for a short while then go back to sleep. Needless to say he is used to my sleep pattern.
It's 06:45 and the alarm goes off. I have to somehow drag myself out of bed due to the lack of sleep during the early hours of the morning. I do my voluntary work in the community doing home visits with CPN's and basically helping out wherever I'm needed in the mental health sector.
I'm also a mother of two so I have my usual daily duties to do like cook, clean and so on.
I also write for different newspapers, websites, magazines and I tend daily to my Facebook page which is called 'Me, Bipolar & I'.
So what I have mentioned here is just one of my average days. The moral of this is just because I have a label doesn't mean to say that I can't do things or that I'm not capable of certain tasks. I am capable and I can do things. I'm also a student.
I personally don't see Bipolar Disorder as a hindrance to my life (most of the time) and luckily I don't feel restricted in any way in regards to what I can achieve.
A lot of people I know only see the 'bad' in Bipolar Disorder, but I like to try and turn any negatives surrounding it into positives. I honestly don't think I would be where I am today without it as I honestly believe that it has driven me to be successful in what I do. So this for me is the 'up' side of Bipolar Disorder, so 'Hello from the other side' (not the depressive side)
I'll focus on the good, the positive and that's what keeps me going. If you concentrate on the bad and the negative then try to change your way of thinking and see how much of a difference that will make to your life. I wish you all the best.
Twitter: @mebipolarandi
Web: www.mebipolarandi.com
Facebook: Sharon Sutton
Facebook: Me, Bipolar & I
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