PERSISTENCE

If I had to use one word that I feel describes the problems with bipolar that word would be persistence. It means that no matter how hard things get I have to keep working at the problem, taking my medication, and realizing that eventually things will turn around. It would be so easy to just give up and quit because sometimes the disease manifests itself like a depressive cycle. The good feeling of the manic stage is one that I want to hold on to but after days or weeks of that cycle, the downswing begins and depression takes over. In fact that was the reason I saw a doctor in the first place. The meds weren't working on a long term basis. What one doctor saw as depression another realized that bipolar was more accurate. I'm thankful for the diagnosis and although it may not be what I was expecting, it at least gives me a better understanding of what really is going on.