Going on Vacation

Hey, y'all --

I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks and not sure if they have Internet there, so if you don't hear from me, don't worry, ok?

I hope y'all stay stable and are ok. I worry about you, you know.

See you when I get back! :)

I wish you peace and stability.

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele

Everybody Needs a Vacation

Hey, y'all --

Well, it's true -- everybody does need a vacation, and I'm taking mine in the next two weeks, so I won't be posting on here (unless where I'm going has Internet access, which I'm not sure it does).

I'm going to an island in Florida. Now, before you go thinking I'm all rich and famous...

My aunt has an interval ownership at this resort in Florida, and she can't go this year so she's giving it to hubby and me for an anniversary present -- two whole weeks on the beach! I'm so excited, an actual break from work, which is always hard.

I'll be thinking of all of you, though, as I always do.

So, keep on doing what you're doing to stay stable, and you should be all right.

Like I said, I'll try to post if I can, but if you don't hear from me, just know that I'm all right.

I wish you peace and stability.

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele

Yard Sale Story

Hey, y'all --

This past weekend I spent 3 days having a yard sale (1 day setting up and 2 days running it), and I feel like I worked a "real" job! I am totally exhausted!

Of course, the yard sale was HUGE! I spent 2 months going thru my house to gather things together to sell at the yard sale (per my therapist's instructions), and had enough to have 3 loooong rows of tables full of stuff. I mean, we used tables, doors across tables to stretch between to make more room -- anything we could find!

My therapist told me that my house was too cluttered, and that was part of the reason I was so depressed (I think I told you about this) -- that just looking at everything was making me feel so overwhelmed that I couldn't do anything to unclutter it. I just couldn't clean my house at all! Which, of course, depressed me.

So she suggested having a yard sale, and taking one small area at a time. I was to go thru the one area, and take each piece, decide if I REALLY wanted to keep it, or if I could part with it. If I could part with it, I put a tag on it, and it went into the tub for the yard sale. And then I would go onto the next small area, until I'd gone thru the whole house. However long it took. (I told you it took me 2 months, a little at a time, so I was never overwhelmed.)

Once I had everything unpacked from ALL these tubs (there were around 10 of them!) and saw everything displayed, I just could not believe all this stuff came out of my little ole house!

But I tell you one thing, not one of those items was going back IN my house! I decided that once everything was packed up and my house was nice and neat and uncluttered. It's beautiful now, and I feel so peaceful inside. And no more depression, that's the main thing!

So, when the yard sale was over, instead of taking everything to the dump (and even tho we made our goal money-wise), or giving it to Goodwill, we donated it to a church rummage sale, which they're having next week.

We made more than enough money, and they still had to make 3 trips in a truck to take what was left over! I just can't get over how much stuff I pulled out of my house! That's how much of a pack rat I was.

Now things are so much simpler to keep track of, and my house doesn't look as "busy." It looks as calm and peaceful as I feel.

Anyway, that's my yard sale story.

Anybody else know what I mean?

Wishing you peace and stability.

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele

Holidays are Hard for Some People w/BP

Hey, y'all --

I hope you had a good Labor Day. Unfortunately, I know that for some of you it was a difficult day.

For people with bipolar disorder, holidays and family gatherings can even be triggers to bipolar episodes. These types of things can be added stress on the person, which is the trigger to begin with.

Then, having to deal with difficult family relationships, noise levels, being somewhere you may not want to be (and/or for longer than you want to be there), events you may have to participate in, expectations of you that you're afraid you can't meet...

And all the other things involved in family gatherings at the holidays, do not fare well for someone with bipolar disorder.

So this year I decided to stay home. Yep. No family BBQ's or anything. My youngest spent the day with his friends. My middle son moved back up to NY, so he's not here. My oldest son spent the day with his girlfriend's family. So it was just my husband and me and our dog.

We had a wonderful, peaceful, non-stressful day. We rested. We spent time alone together. We watched some TV (later he watched Monday Night Football while I watched CSI in the other room). I did crossword puzzles while he read.

It was a wonderful day!

Now, you might not find it very exciting. But we both have bipolar disorder, and we have to manage it the way it works best for us. So since we don't do well at family gatherings (for the reasons I listed above), we thoroughly enjoyed our Labor Day at home this year.

I hope you had a good day, too.

Wishing you peace and stability.

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele