Hi,
Today I want to talk to you about: AN 11 LETTER MAGIC BIPOLAR WORD!
Now, I know I’m always telling you there are no magic words when it comes to bipolar disorder, so before you get out the rocks and start throwing them at me, let me explain! You will want to hear about this word, believe me! And you would never guess this 11 letter word, so I’ll just go ahead and tell you what it is:
CONSISTENCY
Bet you’d have never guessed that was the word, huh? But this one word is magical in the sense that when it comes to bipolar disorder it carries a lot of power with it.
Just like the story of the tortoise and the hare, and the lesson that we all learned about “slow and
steady wins the race,” we must then follow it with consistency.
Consistency in the thesaurus uses other synonyms for it, like: Symmetry, clearness, uniformity, agreement, connection, tenacity, and conformity. I think I would add another word to that list:
balance.
One of the definitions of consistency is persistence. So if you put all that together, you get someone who is persistent in their goals… Who has a real connection and conformity to their treatment. You see where I’m going with this?
If you have bipolar disorder, you need to be consistent with your treatment to be successful at managing your disorder. Actually, I’ll take it a step further, and talk to supporters – you have to be consistent as well, with your own “program,” your own regimen or routine, so that you can be successful as well.
Someone famous said, “If you believe it, you can achieve it.” But you cannot achieve it by sitting at home just thinking about it. You CAN achieve it by using CONSISTENCY and persistency, though! Think about it. Everywhere you’ve gotten, you’ve gotten there by consistency.
You graduated from school by consistently going through one grade at a time until you
finally graduated. Same if you went to college, consistently going through one course at a time until you finally got that degree.
If you are married (or in a committed relationship), you can only have a good, strong relationship
if you consistently work at it, like consistently communicating and things like that.
When you become a parent, the only way you can be a good parent is if you are consistent –
like with discipline and with listening to your child, or with going to school events, and supporting your child consistently.
At work, you get promoted based on how consistently you perform your job and your duties. If you consistently perform them well, you will advance in your career.
The same is true in friendships. If you prove to be a consistent, loyal friend, you will have many friends, because these are cherished characteristics in a friendship.
And if you have consistency in your life, you will stay balanced, and you will stay emotionally
healthy (or more emotionally healthy, if you have bipolar disorder).
The point is that having consistency is a good characteristic to have, as it will bring you many
good things.
Well, I have to go!
Your Friend,
Dave
Post responses below
I often delete the emails u send. Mostly because I don’t want to think about things I deal with or I think the emails are above me and not worth my time. Today I read it from beginning to end and after a really hard weekend in my head it was exactly what I needed. Not that I haven’t heard it before but repetition for emphasis, right? Thank you.
Hi David:
Yes, I totally agree with the 11 letter word. I have a great team psychologiest and psychiatrist taking care of my family and me.
I am concerned at the moment with health insurance and coverage of mental illness.
I watch pbs alot and the show I think I mentioned to you was mindsontheedge.com.
I am taking paxil, one son is studying to be a master in tai chi and the other son, a father and married, suffers from a recent breakdown. We are planning a family intervention at the moment.
If there is a petition or advocacy group on healthcare crisis in this country e specially that mental is not treated the same as physical illness, please let me know.
Wake up America with the many who suffer with a mental illness.
happy everything, laurie
OLGA AND MARLINE KNOWS
Consistency is such a fabulous word:
It is what wins the race alright David.
It is an attribute my daughter struggles to attain every day because she gets it!
Rachel lives with Biploar everyday and she knows Bipolar is the opposite of that.
and because I, her mum, am her supporterI know I have to be consistent too so she will continue to trust me.
Together we are working out strategies to look after her two children and go to work and live under the same roof, and pay the bills and everything.
we have to be cojointly CONSISTENT when we deal wit the kids , when we pay the bills when we clean the house when we go shopping for groceries, almost everything in our daily lives because there is no other way to be successful either as a person living with bipolar or a supporter.
And our lives may appear to be boring but the children have stability, Rachel says she has the comfort of knowing everything is being taken cared for – nothing is left to chance
So now each day Rachel takes care of more and more of her children’s lives , their schooling, their health their wellbeing – and I have so much joy.
regards
Shona
I definately agree with your 11 letter word. Thanks so much for your info. It has helped me understand my son’s actions & behavior so much more. I have printed several of your letters & etc & mailed them to my son. Thanks again:)
Inconsistency is my loved one’s main problem. Right now he is up to the neck in an episode, getting worse every day. His last episode 3 years ago took about 4 months to develop. 1. fun and sex, 2. creativity, 3. crazy spending, 4. religiosity (wanting to be a saint), 5. angry religiosity (wanting to be a crusader), 6. anger and paranoia leading to hospitalisation. This time there was a very short period of fun and sex, no creativity at all, crazy religiosity with paranoia right from the start all within about 5 weeks. I had hoped that this time, as he is not drinking and has been taking his meds up to now, it may not get quite so bad and avoid hospitalisation. But it’s even scarier than 3 years ago. Last week you could still have a normal conversation with him, at least some of the time. Yesterday was a little difficult and today totally impossible. I listened to his ranting for an hour, never got a word in edgeways, and then got yelled at: “You never listen to me! You don’t care about me!” and called all sorts of names. He is not himself at the moment and I know it’s the bipolar demon talking, not him. I am very upset. Not because he is being horrible to me (that will pass and he probably won’t remember half the things he said), but because he has got himself into that state again. And so fast this time. Just before Christmas he became aware of something developing and went to the doctor. He had some blood tests done which came up normal. From what he told me he seemed to be fairly well in control of everything. If it wasn’t for an upheaval in January, I think he may have got through just a mini episode and come out ok. But something major happened (I won’t go into it) which triggered it again, throwing him into a full blown episode very quickly. I have no authority to get him help. This time he is not living with me. And I don’t know how I can help him through this. It would be of no use printing your emails for him to read right now – he would just throw them in the bin. He is at the stage now that he refuses to go to his psych appointments and from what he told me, he is manipulating his meds again. I don’t know what to do.