Bad Weather Doesn't Mean Bipolar Depression

Hey, y'all --

Well, it's a gloomy, stormy day outside here today. And it's supposed to snow later on. But that doesn't mean I have to get depressed about it. It all depends on your attitude.

There's something called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that affects people with bipolar disorder during the winter months and causes them to be depressed, because of the gray weather with no sunlight most of the time.

But I think much of the time we can choose our moods. Oh, I'm not saying that there still isn't a biological element to it. Sometimes those chemicals just fire off whenever they want to and we just get depressed anyway. But like on days like this, I could easily get depressed looking outside my window at all that gray gunk.

Today, though, I choose to be positive. I've spent too much time in my life being the opposite. And I do mean choose. I had so much going for me (especially according to my mom, who says that I wasted every opportunity I ever had)... but I threw it all away. All because I made poor choices and bad decisions. Well, of course I did -- I had/have bipolar disorder!

Now I am stable, though. And with stability comes the ability to make better choices and decisions. So now I can choose to be positive and optimistic. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not realistic as well. I know that I still have the ups and downs that come with bipolar disorder itself, and the normal ups and downs that come with life itself. No one's life is perfect.

But I can still have a good attitude despite it all. That IS my choice. So today, despite the weather, I can put on my coziest pajamas, snuggle up with a good book, turn up the heat, and enjoy the warmth of my beautiful home... thriving upon the simple things in life. Like the fact that, today at least, I am NOT depressed!

Wishing you peace and stability,

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele