Hi,

I heard the saddest story about bipolar disorder the other day. This girl had bipolar disorder, and she went off her medication. She was stable on her medication, and was even going to see her therapist and psychiatrist regularly. She was ok for awhile, but then she started to get unstable, and then went into an episode. Then she committed suicide. The thing is, it’s not that I’m immune to hearing stories like this – I’m not, I still feel sad every time I hear one – it’s just that I hear so many of these stories, and I’m not surprised, because I know that 1 in 5 people who go off their medications are probably going to kill themselves.

But anyway, about this girl. When they talked to her friends and family, and asked them why she killed herself, they said that she had been telling them that she was feeling very overwhelmed by

everything lately. So that made me start thinking about something I want to talk to you about today. Feeling overwhelmed. Whether you have bipolar disorder or not, you can still feel overwhelmed sometimes. But there are things you can do about it. I know this may sound corny or over-used, but take things One Day at a Time. You take things as they come – you don’t dwell on the past, and you don’t worry about the future. You just deal with today.

Many people can’t handle more than just this one day (many people choose not to). Some people can’t even handle that, and have to do it one hour at a time (or one moment at a time).

And that’s ok, too. You can build from there. With bipolar disorder, I call it: One Bipolar Step at a Time. I got the idea from this movie I watched once with Bill Murray in it called “What About Bob?” where Richard Dreyfuss played this psychiatrist who was treating Bill Murray for these really big fears about everything. I mean, this guy was afraid to get out of the elevator and walk into his office! He was so overwhelmed by everything. So the whole idea of the movie was this concept called “Baby Steps.” He taught him how to do everything one step at a time, or by doing everything in baby steps, and building up from there. And eventually Bill Murray’s character was able to overcome his fears and not be so overwhelmed by everything anymore.

It was a funny movie, but you could take a lesson from it.

So…One Bipolar Step at a Time The idea is not to do too much, or you’ll be overwhelmed. For example, say you’re keeping a To-Do List as part of how you’re staying productive. If you have too many things on that list, and you don’t get them all done today, that might overwhelm you.

Instead, make a smaller list, and you won’t feel so overwhelmed. In fact, by completing the things on your list, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Then, in steps, as you can, you can add more things to your list.

Another example would be if you wanted to go back to work (first of all, I would advise not doing this without your doctor’s okay). In order not to be overwhelmed, start with a small, part-

time job with just a few hours a week. Don’t try to tackle a full-time job right away. It may be more than you can handle, and do you more harm than good. If being productive is what you’re worried about, set a long-term goal, and then your One Bipolar One Step at a Time would consist of the short-term goals you would set and take to reach that long-term goal. You can do the same thing with projects. You would decide on a big project you want to do, then do it a little bit at a time, like the long-term and short-term goal idea. If you’re wanting to learn how to take on more responsibility as part of managing your bipolar disorder, then start with smaller responsibilities (One Bipolar Step at a Time), so you don’t get too overwhelmed, and then build to larger responsibilities. If you’re in a bipolar support group, you don’t start with running the group right away, you start with setting up the coffee, see what I mean?

Now, here’s my biggest point with the One Bipolar Step at a Time idea: If you’ve been in an episode, and now find that you have consequences to pay as a result of things you did while you were in that episode, you might be feeling very overwhelmed by it. Take it One Bipolar Step at a Time. This is very important to your stability. If you have people to ask forgiveness from and relationships to repair, take it one person at a time. If there are consequences to pay (like paying traffic tickets, for example), do them one at a time.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave