My mom has bipolar disorder like I do. Her psychiatrist told her that her bipolar will get worse as she gets older. Now, I’m not sure that I agree with that – but I’m not a psychiatrist, so who am I to argue?
All I know is what has happened to me. I don’t know, but that I seem to have gotten better as I’ve gotten older. Maybe it’s just me. I know that everyone is different.
I know that in the first few years, I really struggled with finding the right medications for me that would stabilize me and my incessant mood swings. So finding the right medications helped.
Then later, finding a really good therapist helped. Over the years, she really helped me deal with some of the underlying issues that seemed to keep my depressive episodes from returning over and over periodically. So, coping with those issues, I think, helped me to get better as well.
But I think, really, my age has something to do with it. I find as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more patient. More patient in general, but also more patient with myself. I don’t expect as much from myself, either. And I’m not as much of a perfectionist as I was. That takes a whole lot of stress off me.
I used to expect a whole lot from myself, and was a total perfectionist, doing things over and over again, wanting them to be perfect according to some sort of impossible standard I had set up for myself. Of course, I could never meet that standard, so I would fall into deep depressions over and over again.
So… as I’ve gotten older, I have let go of those standards, and mellowed out. I don’t expect as much from myself. I also don’t expect as much from other people as I used to. When I did, I always felt like they were letting me down. I was continually being disappointed by other people and by situations. I’m not any more.
So, because of all this, I’m just not as stressed as I used to be. And I know that has something to do with my not going into episodes, too. I think that’s what I mean by getting better with age – I don’t have as many episodes as I used to.
Being a rapid cycler, I used to go into more bipolar episodes than I could count, sometimes cycling more than once in a given day. I just couldn’t keep up sometimes! It was nerve wracking! But things are different now…
Like I said… I have mellowed with age. I don’t expect so much from myself, from others, and from life itself. If I get through a day without a bipolar episode… that is a good day! And I’ve had many good days, and for a long time now, so I am grateful. Thank God for stability!
If you are still struggling with your stability, maybe you need to let go of some expectations of yourself and others (or even life itself). Maybe you just need to mellow out.
Wishing you peace and stability,
Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele
My mom has bipolar disorder like I do. Her psychiatrist told her that her bipolar will get worse as she gets older. Now, I’m not sure that I agree with that – but I’m not a psychiatrist, so who am I to argue?
All I know is what has happened to me. I don’t know, but that I seem to have gotten better as I’ve gotten older. Maybe it’s just me. I know that everyone is different.
I know that in the first few years, I really struggled with finding the right medications for me that would stabilize me and my incessant mood swings. So finding the right medications helped.
Then later, finding a really good therapist helped. Over the years, she really helped me deal with some of the underlying issues that seemed to keep my depressive episodes from returning over and over periodically. So, coping with those issues, I think, helped me to get better as well.
But I think, really, my age has something to do with it. I find as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more patient. More patient in general, but also more patient with myself. I don’t expect as much from myself, either. And I’m not as much of a perfectionist as I was. That takes a whole lot of stress off me.
I used to expect a whole lot from myself, and was a total perfectionist, doing things over and over again, wanting them to be perfect according to some sort of impossible standard I had set up for myself. Of course, I could never meet that standard, so I would fall into deep depressions over and over again.
So… as I’ve gotten older, I have let go of those standards, and mellowed out. I don’t expect as much from myself. I also don’t expect as much from other people as I used to. When I did, I always felt like they were letting me down. I was continually being disappointed by other people and by situations. I’m not any more.
So, because of all this, I’m just not as stressed as I used to be. And I know that has something to do with my not going into episodes, too. I think that’s what I mean by getting better with age – I don’t have as many episodes as I used to.
Being a rapid cycler, I used to go into more bipolar episodes than I could count, sometimes cycling more than once in a given day. I just couldn’t keep up sometimes! It was nerve wracking! But things are different now…
Like I said… I have mellowed with age. I don’t expect so much from myself, from others, and from life itself. If I get through a day without a bipolar episode… that is a good day! And I’ve had many good days, and for a long time now, so I am grateful. Thank God for stability!
If you are still struggling with your stability, maybe you need to let go of some expectations of yourself and others (or even life itself). Maybe you just need to mellow out.
Wishing you peace and stability,
Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele