Hi,

There was an article in Reader’s Digest that I read that talked about ways you can hide all sorts of things. For example: They talked about how to hide extra weight just by changing the way you dress, or by the way you accessorize the way you dress. And how to hide your personal identity (especially on the Internet) so that you don’t fall prey to identity theft.

This was an important one, and if you go online a lot, you can check with your Internet provider for help with this. There are also companies out there now that help with avoiding Identity Theft.

You can hide from phone solicitors by getting on the National Do Not Call Registry by calling this number: 1-888-382-1222. You can hide your phone number from people by having it unlisted by the phone company. Then it doesn’t even appear in telephone books.

You can even hide your bad breath by nibbling on a sprig of parsley or lemon rind, or drinking a cup of black or green tea.

But although this was an interesting article to read, and it did have some practical information on how to hide your things (and yourself), it didn’t tell you that there are some things that you can never hide. Like your bipolar disorder.

Telling people whether you have bipolar disorder or not is a personal choice. It’s up to you whether you tell people that you have it or not.

And even though that’s true, that it is a personal choice whether you tell people you have bipolar
disorder or not, and if you choose not to tell people you may be able to hide it from them…If you have bipolar disorder, you still can’t hide it from yourself. You’ll always have the disorder (unless they find a cure for it).

You can’t hide from the fact that you have to take medication every day for the rest of your life in
order to keep from going into bipolar episodes. Even if you choose not to tell others that you have bipolar disorder, they can usually tell anyway – especially those closest to you, like friends and family.

And you will never be able to hide your bipolar disorder from your supporter. Unless you’re perfect, which none of us are. Even with medication, there will be times that the signs and symptoms of your disorder will be there anyway. And you can’t hide them from your supporter.

You shouldn’t even try, because for one thing, the stress of trying to do that will just make you worse. But mostly because your supporter cares about you – They wouldn’t have stayed with you if they didn’t. They just want to help you, and they can’t do that if you try to hide your bipolar disorder from them.

Your disorder isn’t going to go away. There’s no use trying to hide from it (or to hide it). Are you still trying to? Is it helping you or hurting you? Have you stopped trying to hide your bipolar disorder?

If you are a supporter, there are things you can’t hide, either. Like you can’t hide your negative feelings. If you try, they will still come out in negative ways. So you need to try to talk to your loved one about them. Or at least write about them in a notebook or journal to get them out. This will lower your stress so that you don’t get sick or stressed out from it.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave