International Bipolar Foundation's blog

Fresh and New

January... The month of new beginnings and fresh starts. The slate is wiped clean of all past doings and the hope for a better tomorrow is so thick you can slice it right out of the air and serve it for dinner! Then what? When the bloom of change begins to whither and die, how do you get back the fresh start you were so desperately hoping for? When you start to drag your feet and pray for the end of the day to come swiftly so that you can retreat back to your room where you feel safest, how do you get past this urge to stay withdrawn?

The Word of the Year

Every year, instead of making a resolution, one of my good friends chooses a word to live by and grow with in the upcoming year. She inspired me to do the same.

. . .

Healthy [hel-thee] adjective: in good condition; a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity; free from injury, illness and pain.

. . .

How Positive Thinking Changed Bipolar Disorder for Me

 Flying home with a sinking feeling

by Deborrah Bédard 

I'm so tearful. I'm embarrassed sitting here at the gate waiting for a plane that will take me away.

 
Every Yin has its Yang!
By Corrin E.Ofori

While fishing through my old journals and day planners I came across something that I wrote on January 22nd of 2010:

 To The Max! – Extreme Living in a Bipolar II Mind
By Erica Loberg

Everything in my life has always been to the max! I want sauce on my pasta, it’s gonna be sauce, with some pasta. If I’m gonna work out, I’m gonna run five miles in the blazing hot sun. Everything has always been to the utmost extreme and I’ve never been able to temper it.

New Years is a time for a new beginning and a fresh start. It is a time to let go of the pain from our past and focus on today, now, and the future. I have a lot of pain from my past, depression, fear, psychosis, anxiety, emotional eating, and low self-esteem. 2013 is about improvement and progression in my journey of mental health recovery. I’m going to let go of my past and focus on three key coping skills-inner healing, spirituality, and self-love.

The end

We’ve finally made it to the end of the year.

First of all, I want to congratulate you for making it through one more year.

Glad you are alive.

Glad you’ve made it through 2012.

Having bipolar disorder… you really don’t know when you will just snap.

Snap and just do what you fear the most.

I always wondered how others felt when counting down from 10 to one
on NYE.

They seek hope.

 Opportunities, Resolutions, & Wellness in the New Year

Being bipolar we have a tendency to indulge. We indulge in shopping, adventures, hobbies, friends, worries, cares, causes and even eating out. Sometimes we eat out at very nice places. Often, we just eat anywhere. We swipe that card and then load up on what will inevitably be an over indulgence in unnecessary calories. This is unhealthy in two ways.