“What does love feel like?”, he asked.
“Love? Well, dear friend, love…. Well, it’s one of the most confusing and misunderstood things someone can experience in life. It can make you feel strong, but yet, somehow, weak at the very same time. It can make you feel extremely hopeful, but at the same time equally hopeless. You see, we don’t get to choose who we fall in love with, it chooses us, it just sort of happens. When it’s mutual it’s one of the most beautiful and magical things you can ever hope to experience, but sometimes it’s not mutual…. and you can try to run from it, to distance yourself from it, but no matter how hard you try to ignore it, it won’t simply just go away. Don’t let that bring you down though, because there isn’t just one person you could potentially love in this world. There are plenty of, as they say, “fish in the sea”. So don’t give up, and don’t ever back down. One day you will find that special someone who wants to share their love and their life with you, and, when you do, you’ll see exactly what I’ve been talking about.”

“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.”
– Judy Garland

When you live with a mental health disorder it can be very difficult to “just relax”. You can try with all your might, but, for the most part, it’s practically impossible. Well, at least for me and my friend. We both have similar issues including; Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, OCD, Borderline Personality Disorder and for me Bipolar. So with all the treatment as well as just trying to cope from day to day it can be very difficult to “just relax”. 

I do count myself lucky though - at least I’ve got a close friend that understands. We  help each other as much as we can and just having that true understanding and support goes a long way. It reminds you that you’re not alone. 

Although, even that doesn’t stop the daily struggle. You can go to bed one night, after having been on a “high” for a few days, and wake up the next day feeling completely the opposite. The migraine sets in, you can hardly drag yourself out of bed and all of the sudden everything you did while you were “happy” makes you question yourself. Sudden overwhelming feelings of guilt, hopelessness, emptiness. You start to wish you could “just be normal”. 

It’s not all bad though - Having been this way for long enough, you start to notice the positives; the productivity, creativity, being able to see the contradicting extremes and starting to be able to level it out. It takes a long time and sometimes you can’t see the light. But in those times of darkness you have to look back and remember how far you’ve come already. Find inspiration in anything you can; people, music, art, poetry…. Anything that reminds you that it can get better. Above all of it - to never give up. For it’s when you feel at your lowest that you will surprise yourself the most!

“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”
– Winston Churchill

Run if you can, walk if you need to, crawl if you must, just never give up.

Mon the Biff !!!!

All opinions welcome.

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”
– Anne Lamott

“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
– Louis L’Amour