Happiness
- Bipolar, Career, Feminism, Happiness, Health, Parenthood, psychosis, Race and Culture, Uncategorized
My first podcast interview is live!
Listen here! How High Achievers Can Mask Mental Health Issues (s3e07) Michelle Yang was a very successful teenager on paper. Michelle was outgoing, earned excellent grades, and worked hard at her immigrant family’s small restaurant. Her constant battle with depression, anxiety and insomnia was less obvious to the world. The stigma against mental health conditions, especially within her family, prevented her from accessing proper help for years. Finally, while studying abroad during college, she suffered from a serious episode that led to her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Michelle now wants to break that stigma and encourage others by sharing her own story of how a successful career, a happy…
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12 things I do for everyday wellness
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years living with bipolar disorder, it’s that everyone’s different in how we struggle and cope. Every person responds to medications differently and can have greatly varied symptoms. As a peer living with bipolar disorder (I’m not a professional), here are some things that have helped me find everyday wellness: Seek treatment. See medical providers. Is it a psychiatrist for medication, therapist, or just a primary healthcare doctor? Often a team is needed, but however you feel supported, it is so important to seek ongoing care. I’ve learned this the hard way. If I neglect making appointments when I’m well and busy,…
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Defining success
What is success? And what is success when living with bipolar disorder? Does there have to be a difference? From a young age, I worked. I saw my parents spend way too many hours toiling away. I toiled along side them. They gave up quality of life and neglected themselves and their children for the purpose of making and saving money. We were never rich and lived very modestly with frugal habits, but if we truly ever needed or wanted something, there was money to pay for it. As a result, I have relaxed relationship with money (a privilege, I know). I always believed that if I worked hard, I…
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A friendship lost
A few years ago, I lost one of my best friends. C* and I met in grad school and we were inseparable. When my ex cheated on me and I broke it off with him, she picked me up off the floor. When she and her boyfriend ended things, she was inconsolable. She moved in with me until she found her own place. I made sure she ate and was there for her the same way she was for me during my heartbreak. C was by my side as a bridesmaid when I got married. She was the gracious host of my baby shower. Then my pregnancy, though closely monitored…
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PSYCHO
My nickname in high school was not cute. It’s not something I can laugh about even today, nearly 20 years later. It was a name that stung, what people called me when my back was turned. PSYCHO I would show up to school crying non-stop, having gone weeks without sleep. I was a top student in the class, yet I’d doodled on my final exams instead of answering any questions. I screamed at my best friend during class with a bunch of nonsense. It hurts because the nickname was accurate. I hadn’t slept in weeks. I was having a psychotic episode. I had not been diagnosed with anything. My family…
