A Personal Perspective: Knowing which one can help you flourish with bipolar.

Are you a rocking chair or swivel chair? Play along with me. Imagine you’re a chair. But what kind of chair? You need to know because it determines what you can and cannot do. No one chair is better than the other. They’re just different, with different abilities. This rocking versus swivel metaphor has helped me to be gentle with myself and realize I’m not broken just because I can’t do certain things due to theI live with.

The chair comparison was born out of my frustration when I first experienced the limits bipolar disorder, anxiety, and my propensity toSuch as staying up late a couple of nights in a row if I happen to, say be reading a great book, or binging on a Netflix series. Enjoying drinks with friends over dinner or having one in the evening while I make a meal. Forgoing my regular exercise for two or three weeks because I just don't feel like it.

I would never expect either kind of chair, or any other piece of furniture for that matter, to be something that it’s not. When I realized I was a rocking chair , I knew what I could and couldn’t do. It meant I could stop fighting myself. When I finally understood that I wasn't a swivel chair, it meant I could celebrate my unique aptitudes and skills and manage my bipolar more easily.

As someone who lives with mental health conditions, I have an acute empathy for others’ struggles. I have a stick-to-it-iveness to stay the healing course and to master things that are difficult. I’ve learned to be honest with myself and others. And I've learned to be vulnerable in healthy and safe ways.

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