Bipolar Survivor

Hey, y’all –

For some reason, I feel a little stressed today.  Maybe it’s the weather — I’m trying to work, while thunderstorms keep interrupting my computer time.  Maybe it’s the fact that the storms are giving me a migraine, which is also interrupting my work.  I don’t know.

Sometimes I think I expect myself to be perfect, you know?  I know the work will wait, but I still want to do it when I want to do it.  The weather is going to do what the weather is going to do, and I can’t control it.  And getting stressed about it is not going to do me or my bipolar disorder any good at all, and I should know better.

But sometimes we let little things get to us anyway, don’t we?  Things that are out of our control? 

Yeah, like other people.  We can never get them to act the way we would like them to act.  If only they would, life would be a lot simpler, wouldn’t it? LOL

It’s all about not having control over anything but ourselves.  We can’t control our lives, what happens to us, situations, people, places, and things — no matter how much we would like to.

Someone once said, “Life is 1% what happens to us, and 99% our reaction to it.”

Well, sometimes I don’t even think I can control my reaction to things! 

It’s like my bipolar disorder takes over, and either stress or my emotions are just out of control!  Then they do their own thing, and usually get me in trouble.

I think if I could control my stress, I could control my emotions (or is it the other way around?).  Maybe I just need to find creative ways to control my stress.

I have a girlfriend who uses coloring to control her stress.  Yeah, the coloring we used to do when we were kids!  And this works for her.  Maybe I should try it — I used to love to color.

She says that it helps her to stay focused and to concentrate, that it lowers her stress levels, and to be creative at the same time.  Hmm… all the things that I need to do.

Maybe I should put it in my “bipolar toolbox” of things I use to control my bipolar disorder and keep it managed.

Someone else told me that having a pet is a good idea to control stress.  Now, that idea I like.  I have a dog, Princess.  She is the sweetest thing in the world, and she loves me unconditionally. 

I could leave the house for 5 minutes to walk up the road to check the mail, and when I come back, she acts like I’ve been gone forever, and is all over me! LOL  It’s great to have that kind of love.  I mean, I am very blessed to have a wonderful husband who loves me as much as he does, but he doesn’t fall all over me quite like Princess does at the very sight of me!

I know this might seem like nothing, but when I’m stressed, sometimes just stroking her, petting her, calms me down.  Maybe it’s just the unconscious action, the repetitive action, that has a way of de-stressing me, I don’t know.  Either way, it works.

Sometimes, I watch old movies.  I LOVE to watch old movies!  Back then, they didn’t have the problems that we do today.  Imagine, no bipolar disorder to contend with!  No stigma!  No tons of bottles of pills to have to take!  I love Fred Astaire movies — I love to watch him dance, and I just get lost in the movie, and forget about my problems.  That definitely gets my stress levels down.

Oh, and I do crossword puzzles, too.  It helps me to focus and concentrate on something other than myself.  It also gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish them.  Of course, I do the easy ones — no New York Times in ink ones for me, that would frustrate me and make me even more stressed out!

I wonder if anyone else has other suggestions of any other ways to handle stress?  I’d love to know them.

Wishing you peace and stability,

Remember God loves you and so do I,

Michele

Related posts:

1. Bipolar Disorder and the Weather – Good or Bad?
2. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
3. A Sad Day

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under Opening Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.