LAST POST HERE - MOVING TO NEW SPACE!!!
Hey, y'all --
Just wanted to remind you that this is going to be my last post here - the next post will be at my new space at: www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarsurvivorblog
I hope everyone will follow me over there!
I think you'll like it. It's already up, and it looks a little bit different, but it'll be easier to post comments there, and easier to read. Also, all my old posts will follow over, too, so you can still read on any topic you want, all the way back to 2005!
So, c'mon down to: www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarsurvivorblog and join me on Thursday!!!
Ok, so on to today's topic.
Somebody was talking to me about friendship and bipolar disorder. She was saying how hard it was to have or keep a friend if you have the disorder.
At first I got real defensive, thinking that wasn't true, but then I started agreeing with her. I have found it to be true, for the most part, in my life.
I have one friend, but we have been friends since 10th grade (over 35 yrs ago). Then I have another friend, who is like my sister, but she only understands me because she also has a mental disorder. Neither one lives where I do.
Where I live, I have absolutely no one but my husband, and he is my best friend. I'm very lucky, and I count my blessings every day. Because, as most of you know, he also has bipolar disorder, so he understands what it's like to live with "the dragon."
We don't have any friends, tho. Nobody else we can go out with, just for dinner or whatever.
No one else seems to "get" us. And we're not even that weird! (just sorta)
It's a good thing we're best friends, because we have to hang around each other alot, and we are each other's best entertainment.
But I was thinking about all of you, wondering if you've run into the same thing. Do people treat you different when they find out that you have bipolar disorder?
Have you been able to find and make friends? Have you been able to keep friends?
Or does it seem to not matter to other people in your case?
I'd really like some feedback on this one.
Wishing you peace and stability,
Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele
ps. See you next post at: www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarsurvivorblog
posted by Michele @ 3:31 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I have amazingly lucky to have a great friend, other than my husband and family. She was the one who took me to my first appointment, when I got diagnosed. She has always been supportive of me, and tells me when she notices any sort of down turn. She sort of helps analyze my moods.
I have tried to be very candid and open with people about this disorder. I don't hide it or anything. In fact, because I talk about it, one lady at church felt she had some similar symptoms and got herself checked out. Now she feels a whole lot better and we have even talked about bipolar and pregnancy - she didn't think you could while on medication! Lots of people don't understand it, and I don't want to be treated like I am made of porcelain, because I'm not, so I eplain what it means and how I am affected. Just in normal everyday conversation.
So far it seems to be working, this casual approach to it. I am not asking for attention or special treatment. Just understanding. And everyone I have talked to has been wonderful! I think I tend to be the kind of person that likes a couple good friends, rather than lots of casual friends, and I have always made friends easily, being very outgoing. I feel very lucky, and know that this isn't always the situation for some...
I have a hard time keeping friends...I usually don't tell anyone that I'm bipolar and when I do they say "but you seem so normal" ha! I seem so "normal" bc when i'm at my worst i dont go around ppl or call friends bc im ashamed. i know i seem like a horrible friend bc i blow ppl off or i say im going to show up and never do. im just scared to leave my house sometimes bc i dont want my friends to see me like this. i dunno i find it best to stay alone. i'm tired of always having to explain what im going through.
Philips Blu Light
Offer $10.00 off any order over $100.00 on www.lighttherapyessentials.com.
We also offer Free Shipping with the promo code "discount".
This is so true. About two years I honestly couldn't think of one person to call and hang out with. I started making an effort to change this and now I have several people I can call and go out with. I also hung out with a really good friend from high school this last weekend. She was so accepting and understanding of the bipolar. I really look forward to staying in contact with her. Anyway I made the conscious decision to BE a friend and I honed in on several people. Some of them responded and some did not. The net result was in one instance a really good friendship with a guy I met in a support group. On New Years Eve I found myself on the bipolar hot line with enough depression and anxiety to kill about a thousand normal people! Anyway the nice lady on the phone told me to go out that night with someone. I called this friend and without hesitation he was totally down with hanging out together for the evening. Later that night when the clock struck midnight and we were walking to his car to go somewhere else my depression, (which had lasted for about six weeks at that point), broke and I was in relief. That triggered my anxiety to come down as well. I could hardly believe that for the last several days I had wanted to die and was telling myself to just hang on about every ten minutes! I feel so blessed to have such a friend. I feel so empowered by the fact that I had taken personal responsibility to seek out such a friend and had figured out a way to do that.
Hey are you guys really offering...The offer is really very tempting..I also want to grab the opportunity...
Bryan
Depression
Well, making friends for me is easy;keeping them is a different story. Sometimes I've to end friendships, although I'm lucky where I've had a true friend that's always been there for me.
Post a Comment
<< Home