Failing to Do This with Bipolar

Hi,

I was just sitting around and doing some planning. What kind of planning? Well I was planning my workout and meals for the next 7 days or so. I do that a lot. Many of my friends think I am out of my mind because I do so much planning. But you know the old saying: “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.”

I was thinking about bipolar disorder as well and how many things that people don’t plan for. And with bipolar disorder you MUST plan.

First let me step back and say one thing about myself. The reason why I am so serious about health and fitness is because I realized about…hmmm…10 years ago how important it was.

Let me quickly tell you the story so you know it.

Okay, I was in my last year of football. I played football for 14 years and a bunch of other

sports. But football was my focus. I was also a power lifter at the time. A power lifter is a person that lifts very heavy weights. Usually in three major exercises: bench, squat, and dead lift.

I was, I would say, really strong. I could do 465 pounds on squat for 17 repetitions, which is really pretty strong (not to brag). I was also 282 pounds at the time. Some of my really

good friends were over 300 pounds.

We had no problem ever eating really late at night. Actually it was common for us to have a double from WAWA (like a convenience store that sells food). A double is 2 foot long subs with double cheese, double meat, double lettuce, double everything with two large drinks and two bags of potato chips.

We made up the term, but that’s what a double was. We used to do this about 12:00 at night, no problem. NO ONE ever thought about whether it was healthy or not.

Anyway, we all did well in football and we were in good football lineman shape. I was NOT low in body fat but could run really fast – I could sprint and I could do what a lineman had to do. Could I run 5 miles? No way! I would fall over!

So anyway, all we were into was getting bigger and stronger. We were what people call meatheads.” A meathead is a slang term for a person who only focuses on getting big and strong. A meathead is like a caveman from back in the day.

BIPOLAR DISORDER LESSON COMING….

So here’s what changed me. I remember it just like it was the other day. After our last football game, we had like a get together. Old football players from back in the day were going to be coming to school to hang out. Some of them were really, really good. Like legends.

I never met some but I saw them in films, on the wall, or in pictures.

I will never forget this. When they came it was scary. Most of the people looked – guess what? HORRIBLE! They were big and fat. I mean like 350 pounds fat. Some could barely move. I remember this one guy that was super good and looked like a machine in old pictures almost couldn’t move he was so darn big!

I asked around in a nice way what the heck happened to these people? It was like they all caught a strange illness that made them go from being super athletic to really big and fat.

My coached laughed, and said, and I will never forget this: “That’s how you guys end up.”

I said, “Huh?” and he said, “You guys get big and fat after you stop playing ball.”

Right then I said to myself, “This will NOT be me. There is no way I am going to let that happen to me.”

I felt like I had just gone through a sacred straight problem—you know when they take bad kids and bring them to jails and say, “Look at these people, if you keep being bad, you’ll be in here as well,” and the kids say, “Oh my God, I don’t want to be in jail, I will be good.”

Anyway, I decided I was going to stop the power lifting and stop being a “meathead” and get into super good shape, have abs, have low body fat, etc.

I just didn’t know how to do it.

What did I need? I needed a clear cut plan.

I went and like you can imagine because you know me pretty well now. I bought every book on dieting, body building and losing weight. I tried everything.

The books were not good enough. I could only get so far.

One day I met a guy who became my mentor. His name was Ismail. He taught me the real little secrets to getting the results I was looking for. He was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, smart and good at what he did. He is the one who told me that quote, “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” He gave me a plan.

Getting back to bipolar disorder, the problem with bipolar disorder is 99% of people don’t have a plan. Supporters don’t have a plan. Most people just throw caution to the wind and hope for the best.

When I’m talking to people, I talk about all the different plans they’ll need to have. I talk about the importance of planning and most importantly, I give them the plans to accomplish probably 95% of the goals they’ll have–no matter what their situation.

Today take a minute and ask yourself the following questions:

-do you believe in planning?

-do you have a plan to get to where you want to go whether you are a bipolar supporter or a bipolar survivor?

-do you have a clear picture of what you’ll be up against to accomplish your plans?

I want to warn you, if you don’t know the importance of planning and don’t know what you’ll be up against, how are you going to actually accomplish anything with bipolar disorder?

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave

  1. I showed this article to my married friend as soon as I got it……An answered prayer indeed! Thanks You!!!

    Yvette and Me

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