STRUGGLES-2-STRENGTHS BLOG

The emotional dysregulation I have experienced this week was apparent in most of my interactions, but especially in my relationships closest to me. Sleep disruption causes real difficulties: it changes my perception of myself and leads to distorted thinking. Communicating clearly with the ones I love when feeling dysregulated and “off” is the most difficult thing I will ever do. Experiencing this challenge is a deep point of growth for me. It’s the growing pains of trusting m

I'm becoming particularly apt at noticing the stress triggers for a bipolar episode or any mood dysregulation. One of those things is the old stories I tell myself and how old triggers from past traumas can swing me out of sorts immediately. The tool that has allowed me to become aware of that link is my mood tracker (or mood chart). I also like to call it my “face-the-facts chart”. Mood tracking is a simple daily observation tool that has changed my life and created space fo

The most difficult thing I do on a daily basis is changing my thoughts . My depressive self-talk. It wasn’t admitting I had a substance abuse problem or getting sober. Or healing past traumas. Or grieving tragic losses. In order for those positive shifts to happen in my life I first had to choose to think differently. I had to see things from a different perspective and change the way I speak to myself. That was, and is, the basis for how I change and move through life. When

Lately I’ve been experiencing that double-edged sword of gift and curse wrapped in one. We all experience in some part of who we are an asset that can feel like a liability. However it can also be the other way around- a liability that is an asset. A superpower. For me, that double-edged sword looks like the excitement and potential devastation of hypomania, a mood state experienced in Bipolar Disorder. This mood has started creeping up for me these past weeks, a state that i