Bipolar Tomatoes

This year I decided to start a garden. Since I don't have any gardening experience, I decided to start with just a few tomato and green pepper plants. The green peppers never really had a chance, and died within weeks. The tomatoes, however, thrived despite my unpredictable attention to them. Eventually, the tomatoes had to be removed, for reasons obvious to my neighbors- they became humongous and unruly; my fault completely.

Bipolar disorder causes shifts in a person's mood and energy. Lack of follow through in projects is common. The trick to being bipolar and successful is to know which projects you can take on that will not be affected by your down time. Projects that can be attended to when energy and motivation are high, and then neglected later when energy is low are best.

Had I spent more time with my tomatoes, they would have been prettier and probably would have produced more. I still got dozens of tomatoes, which tasted far better than any you can buy in a store. Creative energy well spent.

You might wonder why the tomatoes were planted in front of the house, where the flower bed should have been. Had they been planted in the back of the house, where a garden is supposed to grow, they would have died; I would have forgotten about them altogether. The green peppers were planted in the back of the house.

Limit Contact With Negative People

Today's advice, for my beloved bipolar friends, is this, "Limit time spent with negative people."
This may sound like cruel advice, especially since we are not always a slice of cherry pie, but it's good advice.

Some people are not affected by people or their problems. They are able to keep clear boundaries between their own emotions and the emotions of others. Us bipolars are not always so fortunate. We tend to be extremely sensitive to the words and actions of others. Our moods are "Iffy" enough, and we must protect ourselves from energy vampires. We can not afford to let others bring us down; we are good enough at doing that ourselves.

On the flip side, surround yourself with happy people. But not only happy people, but also people who seem to have no mood fluctuations at all, people who are so stable they almost bore you to tears. You very well might find one of these super stable friends right by your side to pull you out of your darkest moments. You might learn that they are not so boring after all, but really the best friend you've ever had.

Don't feel too guilty about deserting your cranky and negative friends. I've learned that this type of person enjoys feeling bad. It is a comfort level. Try as you might, you can not change these people. Although they will be there for you when you are depressed, it is not worth it because you will anger them when you are happy.

Not Every Day Will Be A Good Day

In my quest for stability, I sometimes forget, that not every day will be a good day.
I didn't know that I had bipolar disorder until I was in my twenties. Years of emotional ups and downs have taught me to fear the downs.

The dilemma we face is control. We are as much terrified by happiness, as we are by sadness. But, we try much harder to stop the sadness. With bipolar, we can not predict how far our mood will fall off course, and that is a very, very frightening realization.

Those of us who are successful and bipolar, are only successful because we continue to play an active role in our treatment. Bipolar disorder never goes away. For the most part you can control it, but it is with you every second of every day.

I cope with my bipolar first with medications, next with understanding the disorder, then with self knowledge, and last with help from others - such as friends, family, and my therapist. Every successful bipolar has their own preferred method to control the madness.

My so-called normal friends yell, cry, lash out, and complain- all seemingly with no remorse. I,however, try ridiculously hard to smother any negative emotions- perhaps too hard.

I admit tonight I'm feeling blue, but tonight I need to let myself embrace the sadness.