The Bipolar Gift

[redblue22]

Certainly bipolar and other mental illness can be hard. Sometimes I think people are so afraid that they avoid telling us that there are good things about being bipolar and mental illness too.

What about you? Do you see any gifts in the midst of bipolarity or other mental illnesses? And why?

Stephen Fry, in his documentary on being bipolar, asks each person whether he or she would turn off being bipolar permanently.

Would you? Why or why not?

 

[CraftyTurtle]

No I would not switch it off. I have gotten used to living on the roller coaster. Imagine if I had to live on a flat level track all the time. Oh sure, my lows would be pot-holes instead of the valley of the shadow of death, but my highs would be mere speed-bumps instead of the upper atmosphere of countless possibilities.

I have learned (mostly) to live with bipolar. I would hate to be "blah". I am a high-functioning bipolar, but still, I'd hate to be "blah".

My gifts take on a whole new meaning when I'm manic. I am inspired to create, to craft. I will go out of my way to help people because its no problem whatsoever. I don't know that those gifts would be so prominent if I was "normal". By the same token, when I'm down, I feel that people can forgive me my slackness, because when I'm up, I'm running round doing everything. I know I notice those who go above and beyond, and when they are absent, it's like "oh, where's so-and-so, I hope she's okay."

Mediocrity is not for me. I don't have to try hard when I'm manic. I just do stuff. I also don't have to try hard when depressed, cos those who care, understand.

 

[Loven God]

Being bipolar has helped me be so much more kind amd loving to others and to show a lot more mercy . It helps me stay closer to God becouse when I have deep depression I need God close to me . Being bipolar has most deafenitly keep me closer to God then ever before .

 

[redblue22]

I feel like my mental illness is like having the gift of sight in a world that has always been blind. It is hard to exist because the world isn't designed for me. No one else seems to be able to relate or understand. At best I'm thought cute or sad and left to my own, or at worst I'm thought dangerous.

Try to imagine the world really that way and only you can see. They wouldn't know anything about colors or sunsets, and I would seem crazy sitting with my eyes aimed at the night sky for hours in the cold. If I were the only one, how could I explain the color of fire? Who would believe I can touch a tree miles away? I might be able to pick apples faster or run through a forest, but everything else would be designed for people who don't see. And there wouldn't be anyone to relate to or guide me. It might be scary to try to figure things out and make mistakes that everyone else did not. People might get mad that I don't pick apples the right way.

I could see someone else telling me what to do with my gift. Be an apple picker! But since I'm the one who can see, really I'm in the better position to know what to do with it. Maybe I would prefer to paint pictures or map stars or travel or go look at wildlife instead of being a fast apple picker.

What a great day if I met someone else to share my art and discoveries. No one would know what we were doing, but we could give rooms a splash of color. Everyone else would think we were obsessed with sealant. But so what? That sounds better than picking apples.