Turning The Silver Linings Of Bipolar To Your Advantage

About 2.6% of adults have 1 of the 5 or more types of bipolar disorder. If you ask many of them, "Describe some qualities of bipolar that you have.", the answers will generally be negative. But is that realistic? Are there instances when bipolar has meant or brought something positive to your life? Are we unaware of how bipolar has made us a better person and how it can be used to our advantage?

Dictionary.com defines a silver lining as such:

Silver Lining - 
a sign of hope in an unfortunate or gloomy situation; a bright prospect:
Every dark cloud has a silver lining.

The Silver Lining Playbook is a phenomenal movie. It taught me something important. Always look for a silver lining. And, there are more than a few silver linings we may not have thought of, even with bipolar. Once we realize a few of these, we can then find a way they can be used to our advantage to live a more positive life.

SILVER LININGS

Self Care
Upon diagnosis, we had to learn to be very concerned about how we manage our health. It is a life long learning process because bipolar, besides being fluid, changes and our self care is something we have to learn unique to ourselves. Medications stop working. Diet, sleep and exercise habits become crucial, and if you slack off, you exacerbate your individual bipolar symptoms. Negative influences also play a big part in our health as we do not process thought and actions the same way as most of those without bipolar. Getting rid of negatives is imperative to our health. That can be used to our advantage. During a stable state, the more closely you tend to your self care as mentioned above, the easier it becomes to manage during a manic/hypomanic or depressive episode. You won't be able to follow self care exactly the same as when stable, but keeping good habits will help you during these episodes from not dipping one way or the other so much.

Patience 
If we are realistic about ourselves, we have to learn patience with ourselves. Hallmark of bipolar is our tendency to shut people out during a depressive episode or simply to stop listening to advice during a manic/hypomanic episode. Use this patience when dealing with others. How many times have you stressed about something and found out later the entire situation situation was not as you thought? How many times have to ignored sage advice only to realize that not all of your plans are as brilliant as you thought? Others deal with the same thing, although not to the extreme we do at times. Look at the world from a realistic point of view and just as you need patience from others, offer patience. 

Change
Change is hard. Few people thrive on change. And even if we don't handle change in the best manner, we usually can see something positive from it if we try. Regardless, we adapt from that change in a better way than others eventually because we are forced to adapt and live with the changes that living with bipolar requires. Of course, it may take us longer to adapt, but we do eventually. To use this to our advantage, we need to assess a change first. What was the goal of the change? How much of the change was completed? What were the silver linings? How can we apply this to our life in a positive way? If you can't think of them right off the bat, you may be focusing on the not so positive. Make a pro and con list. Celebrate the positive. It will make accepting change in the future easier.


Wisdom And Perspective
Our perspective on life is different. We have to look at situations more closely and from a bigger point of view than others, seeing more options. We are wise by the fact that we can see the bigger picture and even use it as often as possible. Do you realize how valuable that is? You can offer this perspective to others in their time of need regarding things they may never think of. You can help people! That will make your life more fulfilling and positive. It will also improve your self esteem.

Empathy
Empathy is something many people lack. Yet, suffering with bipolar makes us empathetic from the standpoint that we need empathy at times. If we could actually express it during a depressive episode, we could educate people on exactly what we need. Since we are so aware of the empathy we truly need, we are more empathetic towards others. People will find solace in our words and actions.

Appreciation
When stable, we appreciate a lot more in life. Life is better. Use this to your advantage. Share your appreciation with the positive people in your life. Tell them what you appreciate and even consider going as far to tell them how that is different and what to expect during your episodes. You know yourself better than anyone else. Education can never go wrong with the right people.

Trust
Trust is not easy, especially living with a bipolar diagnosis. Use this to your advantage. Someone should earn your trust after careful consideration of their treatment of you regardless of your stability. So, be picky and choose lightly. And once you trust, you will have a more positive life from associating with the positive people supporting you. Additionally, their support will eventually lead you to learning a deeper type of trust.

Creativity
Researchers in Sweden studied 1.2 million psychiatric patients over a period of 40 years. They found a higher occurrence of dancers, artists, authors, photographers, researchers and scientists. Use this to your advantage! Take a class. Try to be creative. It improves your mood. Improved mood increases stability. And improved mood gives you extra time be productive!

Lived Experience
Nobody experiences bipolar the same way as you. You are the one filling the your bipolar shoes and you have probably walked a longer mile than some people, so you have lived experience. Share it, becoming a source of comfort to your friends that also suffer from mental illness. Both of you will benefit.

FINAL NOTES
Nothing about bipolar is easy. However, it is certainly possible to lead a satisfying life. Taking advantage of some of the ways we live life differently makes it a lot easier to be satisfied in stable times. A word of caution. Boundaries are important (a future blog will focus on setting boundaries). Don't overstep your boundaries for a person and don't allow anyone to overstep yours. Remain firm and keep your health the priority.

To balanced and productive days my friends,

Laura