Hey, y’all –
Well, moving day is this weekend. I’m excited, but I’m nervous, too. I know in the past something as major as a move has been a bipolar episode trigger for me. It’s always been because I try to do too much at once.
This time had to be different, because I need to protect my stability. Gone are the days when boxes would sit for weeks, unopened and untouched, and I was so overwhelmed every time I looked at them, that it would be weeks before I ever got to them.
I’m just not that person any more. I have learned to manage my bipolar disorder.
This time, we picked a moving day, and I had a definite goal. Then I used smaller goals to reach it.
The big goal, of course, was to pack up a 3 bedroom house to move into a 2 bedroom duplex. Big difference! I had to let go of many things — either give them away or throw them away. Which, at one point with my disorder, I NEVER would have been able to do. I held onto everything, and my house was so cluttered that it caused me to go into a deep depression at one point. But not any more.
Today it’s good to see how far I’ve come. I pick one area each day, and I work on only that one area, packing only what we’ll need, and leaving behind the rest. I take several breaks in between, so I don’t get overwhelmed. And I also stop when I feel myself heading that way or getting too tired.
I’ve been very fortunate as well that my supporter (my husband) is helping me with the move. But he has to do it the same way as me so that his bipolar disorder is unaffected – pick an area and box it up, in smaller groups instead of the whole house at once. Together we’ve come a long way.
It’s been by learning how to set big goals and then set smaller goals to achieving it that we’ve been able to handle this move. If we didn’t have our “baby steps” along the way, the whole move would have overwhelmed one or both of us, and we would be having trouble with our bipolar disorders.
Someone once said that a long journey begins with a single step. One day at a time, one step at a time, we deal with our disorder. And we learn to make short-term goals and work toward a long-term goal, so that we are not overwhelmed by the whole project, move, college degree, or whatever else we are putting our mind to.
Thank God for stability, and reasonal, rational ways of tackling big obstacles in our lives.
Wishing you peace and stability,
Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele
Way to go not getting overwhelmed! I’m like that with just plain cleaning. I can’t look at the whole house, or even the whole bedroom. Just the top of the dresser, is about all I can handle without freaking about all the work I have to do. Then I get to look at the clean dresser while I clear off my chair. And so on. It’s taken me a month to get all the baby stuff set up and cleaned.
6-8 weeks left, and still med free! It’s been hard, some days more than others. But just like with housecleaning I have been taking it one section at a time. I can do this one day. Great, I survived! Next one….. Structure and routine, bits and pieces. Deal with what I know I can handle and leave the rest for another day.
Good luck with all the moving stuff!
I feel for you with moving. We are going through the same thing right now. In fact everything is in storage other than a tv, couch and 1 bed. It is really hard to deal with my “things” being away from me. I cry every day trying to get through it. My husband has been a good support, realizing that sometimes I can’t focus or deal with certain things. But thank you for letting me know that even the baby steps I am taking are still steps forward.