“Learn to Work With Your Mind, Not Against It”

Introduction:

Having bipolar disorder can sometimes feel like my mind is working against myself. My goal isn’t to completely control every thought or feeling I have. I find it helpful to learn how to recognize what’s happening, challenge unhelpful thinking, and make healthy choices even when my mood says otherwise.

I’m not an expert. I still struggle with unhelpful thinking at different times, nobody is perfect; recognizing these patterns is the first step towards self growth.

Section 1 – Thoughts aren’t always facts

When I am depressed, my mind will tell me things like:

“Nobody cares about me.”

“I’m never going to get better.”

“What’s the point?”

When I’m feeling better or manic, my thoughts can also become distorted in a different direction.

“Feelings of invincibility”

“Reckless tendencies”

“Careless and impulsive behaviors”

A thought can feel incredibly real without necessarily being true.

A perspective everyone should consider when unsure of their thoughts being positive or negative is to think about this concept:

“I can acknowledge a thought without automatically believing it.”

Section 2 – Separating mood from identity

Thinking the surface level concept of “I’m depressed” can easily turn into “I’m a depressed person.”

With me having bipolar disorder, it’s something I live with – it isn’t everything I am!

My current mood doesn’t define my overall worth, personality, potential, or future.

Sometimes when I get overwhelmed and depressed, I have to tell myself that “I’m experiencing depression right now” rather than “I’m a failure.”

Section 3 – Don’t make permanent decisions based on temporary emotions

Strong emotions can make situations seem permanent.

When I get depressed, I want to isolate, quit something important, end relationships, and give up on goals.

When I’m elevated and manic, I love this feeling more than anything else in the world. However; I will make impulsive decisions that feel fantastic in the moment, and later on ask myself why I even did what I’ve done.

A key element is to give major decisions time when possible. From my experience it’s not good to rush an important step of life.

Rule of thumb: “If my mood is extremely high or low, I should slow down before making a major life decision.”

Section 4. Focus on what I can control today

Instead of asking myself this detrimental question of:

“How am I going to fix my entire life?”

I have began asking myself this motivational question of:

“What’s one thing I can do today that makes tomorrow slightly easier?”

Examples:

Take a shower.

Eat something.

Get outside.

Take prescribed medication as directed.

Go to a support group.

Text someone.

Clean one small area.

Get some sleep.

Complete one responsibility.

We have talked about how small victories count in this group previously. It’s important to give yourself recognition no matter how big or small of an achievement you’ve accomplished.

Section 5. Stop measuring yourself against other people

Bipolar disorder makes me feel like I’m behind in life.

I will sometimes compare myself to people who seem to have relationships, careers, money, families, or stability figured out.

I don’t know what someone else’s life looks like behind the scenes.

My recovery doesn’t have to follow anybody else’s timeline.

Key mindset shift: “I’m not competing with anyone. I’m trying to build a life that works for me.”

Section 6. Building a mindset around recovery instead of perfection

Anytime I’ve had a setback, it doesn’t erase any recent progress I’ve had.

A bad day doesn’t always mean I’m back at square one.

Recovery isn’t necessarily a straight line. There are many ups and downs throughout a recovery experience.

My goal isn’t “I will never experience depression or mania again.” My goal is recognizing changes earlier, responding appropriately, and getting back on track.

Section 7 – I want everyone to think about this question:

“What is one thing I can do differently this week that would be an act of kindness toward myself?”

No matter how big or small you want your act of kindness for yourself to be, the key point of focus is prioritizing YOU. It can sometimes be much easier to help others rather than help yourself, but at the end of the day we all need to prioritize ourselves at different points in time in order to grow into better versions of ourselves.

One thing I’d like to emphasize to our group is “We don’t have to love everything about our situation to believe that our futures can still be good.”

Bipolar disorder can change the way we experience life, but it doesn’t get to determine the value of our lives. We can learn our patterns, recognize our warning signs, ask for help, make adjustments, and keep moving forward.

And sometimes progress isn’t feeling amazing. Progress can be simply refusing to give up on ourselves on a day when your brain is telling you to.

Overall, this is my topic discussion on how we should work with our minds rather than work against our minds 🙏