Bipolar: Hope – Good or Bad?

Hi,

I was thinking today about hope. But not in the usual way. I was thinking about how hope can be a bad thing.

See, I’ll compare it to the lottery. There are some people who all they do is spend their money on the lottery, hoping to get rich and be able to quit their jobs and have an easy life.

Those people don’t try very hard at work – some of them aren’t even able to hold down a job very long, because of their attitude, thinking that they’re not going to be there long because
they’re going to be rich this week, just you wait and see, this week is the week they’ll win the lottery!

See what I’m getting at? And that’s how they live their lives. On hope. From day to day. But it’s not a good hope. It’s not a realistic hope.

This “hope thinking” person will sit back and almost be (or might actually be) lazy, just waiting
for luck to find him, so he doesn’t think he has to do anything in order to get ahead and be successful at anything.

He won’t take responsibility for anything. He might even act like the world owes him a living!
Or if he’s got bipolar disorder, he’ll act like HE’S the victim! That way he gets to blame his bipolar disorder on his lack of success in life. And there he sits, day after day, buying his lottery
tickets, hoping to “win” his way out of poverty.

Now let’s take this same man who, ok, maybe he’s not rich, maybe his job isn’t the greatest job in the world, but it’s enough to put food on the table, and makes him feel good about himself because he’s being productive.

Sure, he’d love it if he won a million dollars. But he doesn’t sit at home waiting for it to come
to him. He works hard for the money he makes, and in his small world of influence, he is considered a success.

No, he’s not a millionaire, but he’s got a fairly decent life. He pays his bills, has a wonderful wife and family, a few friends, etc. And he’s happy.

Do you think the first guy, the one waiting around to win the lottery so he can be a millionaire and finally be rich is happy?

I teach many people about being proactive. That’s the second guy – he’s proactive.

So what does this have to do with bipolar disorder? Well, firstly, like I just said, that I teach people how to be proactive – you can’t just sit around waiting for help to come to you – you have to get out there and do some things for yourself.

You can’t just sit at home waiting to be a millionaire by buying lottery tickets, either. But you can still hold down a job outside the home, or work from home, start a home business, etc.

Bipolar disorder does NOT have to stop anyone from caring for their family. It’s up to you.
You can sit back and “hope” that your loved one’s bipolar disorder will magically go away by itself, or you can be proactive and see what you can do to help your loved one manage their disorder better.

Your loved one can sit back and blame their bipolar disorder for their not being a millionaire or as an excuse for other things, but you don’t have to. Hope, in your case, can be good or bad.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave