Hi, how’s it going? I hope you’re having a good day.

I heard an expression the other day that I wanted to share with you: “Unless you change how you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.”

Too many people with bipolar disorder and their supporters get to the point that they take their

condition for granted. In other words, they stop being vigilant with bipolar. They get in a rut.

Nothing’s bad, but nothing’s really good, either. Just a kind of “in between” state, where nothing changes.

Like another expression I’ve heard: “If nothing changes, nothing changes.”

Think about it. Whether you have bipolar disorder or are supporting a loved one with it, this can apply to you. But you don’t have to stay that way. As a matter of fact, staying that way can really go against you. You have to continually maintain stability and change what needs to be changed in order to do that. Even if what needs to be changed is yourself. Nobody can do that for you – you have to do it for yourself.

Other people may notice what needs to be changed – they might even tell you what needs to be

changed. But it’s up to you whether you take their advice. You are the one who, in the end,

has to do the work.

There are some things you have control over, and other things you don’t. You don’t have control over the fact that you or your loved one has bipolar disorder. Therefore, you can’t change it.

But you can change how you react to it.

First of all, you need to change the way you think about the disorder in relation to yourself: Instead of saying, “I am bipolar,” try saying, “I have bipolar.” There is a big difference.

In the first case, you’re identifying with the disorder, and it can have control over you instead of the other way around, because you believe it is what you ARE.

In the second case, you are acknowledging that you have this disorder, but you are in control of

it instead of it being in control over you, because you believe it is what you HAVE (and not who

you are).

The difference is knowing who you are outside the disorder, and it can make a big difference in

how you think about yourself.

You know how I like expressions that apply to bipolar disorder. Here’s another one that applies

to what I’m talking about: “We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than

we are.”

Can you see how that applies to bipolar disorder?

It’s all in how you think about yourself.

You don’t have to let the bipolar disorder dictate who you are.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave