Hi,<\/p>\n
I used to have a friend in school who would get the words quality and quantity mixed up all the time! I just told him to remember that quantity has to do with amount, while quality has to do<\/p>\n
with how good something is. Funny thing is, he always got the difference after that!<\/p>\n
Today I just want to talk about one of them \u2013 QUALITY<\/p>\n
Like I told him, quality has to do with how good something is. Or, actually, the opposite can be true as well. Something can have good quality, or it can have bad quality. If you buy your child a toy and that toy breaks all the time, you\u2019d say that toy is of bad quality. If you stay at a motel, and the service was exceptional, you\u2019d say that the hotel was of high quality. See what I mean?<\/p>\n
Well, there is also a thing called the quality of life.<\/p>\n
Some people, because of the recession, have to struggle really bad right now. They hardly have enough money to pay their bills, much less to put food on the table. These people get their food from food banks and use Food Stamps to help them out. They live in government housing, because they can no longer afford to pay a mortgage payment for a house of their own. They get their clothes from the church hand-me-down store. We\u2019d say, then, that these people have a poor<\/p>\n
quality of life.<\/p>\n
Well, if you can imagine just the opposite of living like that, you can imagine what living a good quality of life would be. I\u2019m not talking movie stars\u2019 lives or anything, just your average person who has a good quality of life.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking about that because you shouldn\u2019t let bipolar disorder rob you of a good quality of life. What I\u2019m saying is that it IS possible to support a loved one with bipolar disorder and still have a good quality of life. Many supporters are able to do this. But it does take work, on both your part and your loved one\u2019s part. This is something that you both have to want, enough to put in the effort for it.<\/p>\n
In other words, your loved one can\u2019t just lay around sleeping in bed all the time because they are depressed and yet still expect a good quality of life. They have to be active, they have to be<\/p>\n
productive, they have to do things, go places, see people, interact with others. You have to be willing to go with them to these places, take them where they need to go, interact with others as well.<\/p>\n
You can both do things that you enjoy, either by yourselves, or with each other (or both). Just because your loved one has bipolar disorder does not mean that you have to stay still, stay<\/p>\n
at home all the time with the curtains drawn, and not do anything. What a poor quality of life that would be, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Within reason, you should be able to do anything you want to do and go anywhere you want to<\/p>\n
do, despite the fact that your loved one has bipolar disorder. Notice I said \u201cwithin reason.\u201d That means AS LONG AS they are taking their medication, seeing their medical and mental health professionals, keeping a good sleep schedule, eating right, exercising, staying productive, staying balanced, keeping stress levels at a minimum, etc. In other words, as long as they are doing all the necessary things to maintain their stability with bipolar disorder, nothing should limit them from having a good quality of life, and you right along with them.<\/p>\n
Well, I have to go!<\/p>\n
Your Friend,<\/p>\n
Dave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi,<\/p>\n
I used to have a friend in school who would get the words quality and quantity mixed up all the time! I just told him to remember that quantity has to do with amount, while quality has to do<\/p>\n
with how good something is. Funny thing is, he always got the difference after that!<\/p>\n
Today I just want to talk about one of them \u2013 QUALITY<\/p>\n
Like I told him,<\/p>\n