Bipolarity Is Relative

If I only had two minutes to explain Bipolar Disorder to somebody who’s never visited a psychologist, it’d sound like this:

Imagine water represents emotion. Most of the time, nothing really happens. Every once in awhile, there’s a wave. When you get a chance, watch the Interstellar wave scene…

That’s what Bipolar Disorder feels like for me. My moods seem to cycle like other people, but the gravity’s different, and that makes life on my planet complicated. The waves are overwhelming. Instead of 5-foot waves crashing every few moments, my waves climb as high as 1,000 feet. The swell is exhilarating and the crash is devastating.

Relativity further complicates matters. When comparing the wave data of a bipolar person with somebody who isn’t bipolar from afar, there could be similarities, patterns, and consistencies. Moods are cyclical; there are highs and lows. But, if one were to observe the different waves in person, it would quickly become apparent which is more sustainable for human life.

Bipolar waves require more time and energy to peak and break. For whatever reason, this is my normal. I believe I feel like everybody else, my moods cycle like everybody else, and the environment can always swing things in one direction or another. But most of the time, things are calm. That’s life, and it can be draining.

In theory, that’s why we created weekends and vacations, to pencil in time for ourselves to regroup and calm the waters. But Bipolar Disorder makes it difficult to follow schedules designed for the 99 percent of Americans without the condition. If the typical person is able to work 20 days a month, with four weekends, a bipolar person might be able to work 30 days in a row with no breaks, before confining himself to his room for a week or so straight. Overall, the same amount of work is completed in the same amount of time, but a bipolar flow is harder to justify to corporate.