Hi,
I hope your day is going well.
I heard this funny story the other day.
This man looked up at the sky and said, what is the meaning of life?”
A big, booming voice came down from he sky and said, “Life is like a river!”
“You mean that it’s long and winding?” the man asked.
“What do you think?” the booming voice answered.
Puzzled, the man asked, “You mean because it has so many twists and turns?”
Again, the booming voice answered, “What do you think?”
Still puzzled, the man asked, “You mean because of all the things that get caught up in its way?”
“What do you think?” boomed the voice from above.
This time the man thought he had the answer.
He asked, “You mean because there seems to be no end in sight?”
The voice boomed, “What do you think?”
Frustrated by this point, the man answered, “I think I better figure out the answer for myself, that’s what I think.”
—————————————————–
I don’t know about you, but I thought the story was funny.
But I thought it made a good point, too. And, like always, I realized it could be related to bipolar disorder.
Sometimes we have the answers to things, we just don’t know that we do.
Like in my courses/systems, I give suggestions on how to solve problems:
NEW LEARN THE SECRETS OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WITH
BIPOLAR DISORDER?
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/bipolarmastersystem/
SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11
SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.survivebipolar.net
Sometimes we think we have the answer, but it turns out not to be.
Sometimes we get really frustrated, because we just can’t see any answer to our problems at all.
Sometimes the answer to our problems might be staring us right in the face, and we just can’t see it.
Sometimes we can find our own answers by learning from other people and how they found their answers.
Sometimes the answer seems to be so well- hidden that we think we’ll never be able to find it.
But just like the funny story about the man asking about the meaning of life…
The bottom line is, you have to find the answer to your problems for yourself, however you have to do it.
But I guarantee, the answer is there somewhere.
You just have to look for it.
Have you ever heard the expression, “The impossible just takes a little longer”?
Some people don’t try at all.
Some people blame their problems on other people.
Some people with bipolar disorder blame their problems on the disorder.
Some people try a little bit, but give up easily.
Some people try to make their problems into someone else’s.
And then there are those who won’t give up.
I like to think of most people with bipolar disorder and their supporters that way.
It’s not their fault that they have the disorder.
It’s not fair that they have to live with something they never asked for, or deserve.
And there are a lot of problems that come with having bipolar disorder.
It takes a lot of willpower and strength to deal with the problems that come with the disorder.
It takes a lot to fight the disorder, and it takes a lot to manage the disorder and especially to not let the disorder manage you instead.
Those are some pretty big problems, wouldn’t you say?
Yet I talk to or hear from people with bipolar disorder and their supporters every day, and they are doing it.
Most of them don’t complain about it, even though I’m sure they don’t like it, and would rather it didn’t happen to them.
But they’ve accepted the reality of their problems, and they do something about it.
They face their problems head-on, and they look for solutions for them.
They don’t blame the disorder for their problems.
They don’t try to blame other people for their problems.
They don’t try to make excuses for their problems.
They just accept life for what it is, and accept that there are problems that come with life.
Whether you have bipolar disorder or not.
These are the people that I respect the most.
Because these are the people who don’t give up.
Do you agree or disagree?
PLEASE POST RESPONSES TO THIS EMAIL BELOW FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT ME
Visit: http://www.bipolarcentral.com/testimonials
Well, I have to go!
Your Friend,
Dave
===>> Great Resources For You <===
Get Your Own Subscription To This Newsletter
Want your own copy of these daily bipolar
emails sent to you for F.ree? If so, visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/register3
Get More Help On Bipolar Disorder
Don’t forget to take a look through the
different programs I’ve put together… each
one is designed to help you with a different
area of bipolar disorder whether you have it or
you are supporting someone with it.
You can see them all and get the details by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentralcatalog.com
View Past Daily Bipolar Emails For F.REE
Check out my F.ree blog with copies of emails
that I have sent in the past and lots of great
information for you:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/supporterblog/
Get Audio Information On Bipolar Disorder For F.REE
Check out my F.ree podcast. Hear me give
mini seminars designed to teach you information
you can’t learn anywhere else.
http://bipolarcentral.libsyn.com
David Oliver is the author of the shocking guide “Bipolar Disorder—The REAL Silent Killer.” Click Here to get FREE Information sent via email on how and why bipolar disorder kills.
Post responses below
David, I totally agree. My daughter and I have battled this demon for 6 yrs. now. She has just turned 19 and she is doing the best she has ever done. Of course her and I know there will probably be set backs once in a while but we are prepared. I would love to share our story but after reading the e-mail you sent about nutrition and bipolar I won’t. I would just like to say though that she does continue to take her meds. Our prayers are for all those who battle this demon and for those who support and love them.
Dear David Oliver:My name is Linda Pinkerton and ihad a mom who is bipolar and she is still trying to deal with it at 75 in a nursing home in MA. At the time it was called chemical imbalance but several times she was hospitalized when she went insane over being that way. She can face life head-on but must make up stuff and lies that we all know aren’t true and then she settles back down again. I am finding your course to be most helpful and so much of what youm say is like my mnother and I feel better knowing someone knows what I lived through. Thanks, Linda Pinkerton-New Vienna, Ohio
Ten years of trying to deal with the ups and downs have ended. The mania is just too much to bear. His action’s are affecting my other loved one’s, not just myself anymore. I have had to get a restraining order due to his kicking my car and harassing me. Toxic. He now wants to “go in an asylum” for evaluation for 72 days to prevent losing me. He now wants to take medication. I told him thru a friend to do it for himself, not me. I can never trust him again. I feel so sad because I did/do love him. I really question his ability to love me or anyone else. Thanks for your insights..I have read and relayed what I thought would help to him. I have to save myself, I have to survive.
good morning Dave,
My daughter and I just talked about this same thing and she understood! I explained bipolar isnt her its a challenge that God gave her and she can control it not submit to it! She says she can handle it! So thank you for the story she didnt understand it but I said with God you need faith!
Dear Dave,
After becoming very disheartened about the relationship I was having with my daughter, both as her mother and as a business partner, and becoming aware that she was probaby bipolar, in desperation I came across your website and ordered many of your materials for myself and for her. I aksed her to look at them before I ordered and she agreed to read them. The fact of even finding something that we could both do to find some help relieved a lot of stress for both of us and gave us a common goal. Believe me, almost every encounter became a battleground before we found your materials. Reading them led us to pursue finding a doctor who was familiar with bipolar, and with whom we both felt comfortable. She confirmed that my daughter’s symptoms were most likely due to bipolar disorder, and started her on meds that initally did help. She also prescribed an EEG, as she thought there might be more to the problem than the bipolar. It was several months before we were able to schedule the EEG, and during that time, the meds were having to be changed, but still things were better than before. After the results came back from the EEG, we learned that she is not bipolar, but suffering from some type of brain seizures that not only are treatable, but which will not require life-long medication. I cannot tell you what a different person she is now. The meds are working….she had a problem with weight gain, quite a serious one, and it was undermining her self-image and confidance, but now that has also been handled. Some of the problems that became apparent during the time we though she was bipolar are now being addressed, and she is making real progress. She is a delight to be around now, happy, funny, someone I haven’t seen in a long time. We owe it to your materials and your daily e-mails that we pursued a solution to the problem, even though it turned out not to be bipolar. Many of her symptoms were exactly like bipolar symptoms, and just as extreme. The money spent for the course materials was more than worth it. I would like to pass on these to one of your readers who cannot afford to purchase them and would like to have them. I live in Mexico, so I would ask that whoever wants them would be wiling to pay for them to be sent from here. Is there a way for someone to contact me, or can you put me in touch with a person who needs this? Thanks again for the great help you have been to us….you are doing a very important job, and doing it well! Best regards, Vicki Dakini
I have a 79 year old mother that has bipolar. That’s what the doctors say. It seems every 3-4 months she goes either into “down” time or “up”; even if she taking her meds or not. We believe she is taking her meds. Why is this keep happening? One thing is she let her emotions, worrying get the best of her. She knows she shouldn’t let it!! But she seems helpless to stop it!!
Try to be supportive, it’s hard!! She doesn’t want to get “down”, but she doesn’t help herself either. When her mood change for the worse, she doesn’t even want to call the doctor. We have to do it. I just listen to a program about the mind and the “gut”. He thinks it’s alot to do with the gut more and the foods we eat; don’t really need meds, but supplements, healthy diet and lifestyle first. Then maybe meds, if needed. What do you all think? Seems she likes self pity, the attention. I don’t know. Will it be hard for her to change now, since she is 79 years old? This is getting old with us!!
What TIMING: To PAMELA: I just found out my biological mother (who I just found in 2004), has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 83 years old! I have been bipolar since 1968 (a 40-year grind..), and was searching for my “roots” to find out WHERE the bipolar came from, as my adoptive parents had no symptoms of bipolar. Come to find out, also, my grandfather on my Mother’s side, was paranoid schizophrenic! I found THAT out BEFORE Mom was diagnosed! Now – she feels a certain kind of FREEDOM that she didn’t have before. There’s a “clinical” basis for why/how she was feeling – constantly on the “up” and “down” rollercoaster. Now, she’s on meds, and, as far as I know, takes them religiously. She lives in WY, and I live in VA, so there’s no real close contact with her.
I met her in 2004, and have seen her 3 times since then. I look like her from the nose down – what a THRILL to find out you look like someone! And, now, she’s got MY diagnosis! We talk over the phone about our various symptoms, and how to get ourselves out of a “downer.” This has only brought us both closer together than we could ever have been. I’m DELIGHTED that they diagnosed her NOW, instead of having her live the rest of her life in “darkness” about her condition.
As for me – I feel like “s**t” today. It’s my boyfriend’s birthday tomorrow, and I just finished making his favorite spaghetti from scratch for his “birthday dinner,” as he has to leave tomorrow by Noon. I was doing OK while I was fixing the sauce, but since sitting on the couch and watching a movie, I’ve “deteriorated.” Thought going on the computer would help – nada. As Pamela says – it’s either the “head” or the “gut;” and right now, it’s the “gut.” I took a Percocet, which usually “perks” me up and alleviates my back pain, which is chronic. I only HOPE this “mood” changes by the time we have dinner; I haven’t seen him in over a month, and I missed him. I WANT to have a GOOD time with him; not subject him to my “down mood.” Any suggestions??
BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for my country.
I fight every day by getting up, exercising, eating well, rearranging my life to keep stress at a bearable level, and always taking my meds. I only give up when I am captured by a manic psychosis or prolonged depression. It skews my reality and impairs my judgement. I don’t know the solution to those situations. I have taken harmful actions that I only remember when I wake up in the hospital. Someone is watching over and protecting me – because at those times I am truly insane. I love my family and will continue to fight. I guess they have to be more vigilant when I am not well.
I liked the story but still have questions. I may not have enough knowledge yet, although I am reading and working on it, but here goes. If someone with bi-polar is not taking their meds and not in therapy, how do they alone stop the downward spiral? The person I know is very intelligent and can verbalize exactly what he is doing and not doing. He can also talk about the result of those choices. So, when do you step in to help? How do you help? I understand the stories of the elderly parents and how you intervene maybe based on age alone. What does that look like for an otherwise healthy adult?
Suzanne, I hope you are feeling better and had a great birthday dinner with your boyfriend. I wish I had the motivation to cook a spaghetti dinner! I am sure the percocet will help make your back pain go away…like me, temporarily, at least. Thanks for your response a few days ago. You are very sweet and kind to me — Thanks for your help.
To TRISHA: If your immediate family ISN’T your SUPPORTER, MAKE them ONE!! For Heaven’s sake, girl, allow someone to tip you off when your triggers are showing that you’re going toooo far in one direction or the other! Illuminate them with Dave’s emails about those things you CAN’T do anything about, and get you to a DR or ER as soon as they can. You CAN’T beat bipolar disorder on your own, when you’re IN an EPISODE. If your supporters don’t understand when/if you’re going into a hypomania or mini-depression, at least be AWARE, YOURSELF, that you are. Waking up in a hospital and NOT remembering what you’ve done, is a CRITICAL RED FLAG.
I’m only doing TOUGH LOVE here, girl, I’m NOT berating you. Your bipolar IS different from mine, as is the bipolar experience of everyone on this blog. Get yourself a psychiatrist/therapist, and get on the RIGHT meds. It sounds as if yours’ need tweaking a bit right now. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Hang in there, and things WILL get better.
To TRIED THEM ALL:) Yes, thank you, I AM feeling better. My boyfriend enjoyed the spaghetti (the sauce was the BEST I’ve ever done; I almost forgot the sugar!), and we watched a movie on the Turner Movie Channel with Joan Crawford. It was a nice interlude from working on the computer!
You’re more than welcome; I ALWAYS make it a point to be a friend to the friendly 🙂
HI….
HEIDE YOU ARE SPOT ON ABOUT THE CHALLENGE THAT GOD GIVES US…
HE ALL SO HEARS YOU CRY SO HE WALKS WITH YOU.
TAKE CARE LINDA X
Life is like playing a never ending game of cards. Ya play with what you are delt until ya get a better hand. Quitting is not an option. Accept the good days and be thankful. Ask for strength when the going gets tough. And be thankful again when things once again level out. Do not dwell in the negative. Look ever forward not back. Live one day at a time. Sometimes we have only this hour, sometimes this minute. Make the best of it. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Worry accomplishes nothing. Face it as it comes. I am a supporter but it works both for me and one with bipolor disorder. The Serenity prayer is my guide to problem solving. If life deals ya lemons make lemon-ade. It takes practice. But it works if ya believe ya can do it.