Living With BPD

Eighteen years of intense mood swings, emotional breakdowns, and euphoria like this world has never seen: a brief synopsis of my life story. If you're reading this, I'm sure BPD (bipolar disorder) affects you - or has affected you - in some way. For some of you, it fluctuates more intensely than others. I, myself, experience intense fluctuations, so I want to use this a way of encouraging others to not only educate themselves on what BPD is and does, but also on how to get the necessary help. I've tried these things myself, and found that they work much better than I anticipated.

For starters, BPD is really an umbrella term for different emotional imbalances. Three different types of BPD are identifiable: bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder. I've listed these in order of severity, bipolar I experiencing the strongest mood swings, and someone with CD experiencing the least severe. I, myself, am diagnosed with bipolar I, so I've had to undergo quite a bit of therapy and social acclimation.

The reason BPD can cause such a roadblock in life's twisting road is because it affects not only your mental health, but also your ability to be consistent - at least, that has been my experience with it. According to psychiatry.org, mental health is essential for an individual's 'effective functioning' in productive activities, healthy relationships, and their ability to cope and understand diversity/a changing environment. Those are three major areas of everyday life, three that are not optional to a successful, productive, and fulfilling life. I know my experience with BPD has made it more difficult for me to maintain friendships, be consistently productive, and to keep an overall consistency in my own life.

But not all hope is lost. The 'great' thing about mental illness is that it IS treatable. Here are a couple of things you can do to combat your BPD flare ups, and keep yourself on track with your goals:

1. Seek immediate psychiatry/therapy. Having a therapist is one of the best resources you can have, and they can give you further education on the specifics of your condition, and even more personalized tools to combatting it.
2. Keep a daily schedule of everything that needs to get done, and make yourself stick to it. It might suck a lot, but keeping consistent, even through your depressive episodes, is important. Don't let your BPD control you. Your BPD is a part of you, but it is not who you are.
3. Never react on something in the moment. I saw a beautiful post on Instagram that said something along the lines of 'If it's not worth saying in 72 hours, then it's not worth saying now.' I think all of us could learn to have a little patience when it comes to others and our words.
4. Research! Go online and do some research of your own. Understand your BPD better.
5. Join a support group. Nothing is better than getting to know people who go through the same struggles that you do, and allowing their stories to inspire you to do better in your own life.

This is all a slow, gradual process. No one can completely overcome their BPD overnight. It takes months, even years, to see major progress. But you have to start somewhere; you have to start now. I know I was scared at first, scared that I might fail and never get better. But I have come such a long way in these past couple of months, just by forcing myself to remain consistent in life, and consistent with my treatment. I know you can do the same. You just have to believe in yourself, and take that leap of faith.