Spotlight on Stigma... Welcomed but Not Accepted

December 17...  I'm sitting at a local church, getting ready to cover a Christmas concert with a well-known Christian artist and I should be really happy. But I'm not. I'm sad. I'm incredibly sad. What gets to me the most is there's no reason to be sad. It's been 2 1/2 years since I was diagnosed with Bipolar Type 2 and even before I knew I had it, I've had these cycles of depression and hypomania for as long as I can remember (it just took a while to be diagnosed).  So, in other words, this isn't new. I know that this will eventually go away. I also know there's not much I can do to make it go away... I can just ride it out. But it truly sucks that it's the worst it's been in a while  - and it's during the holidays... December 18 (morning)... It's my dad's 84th birthday. My family is meeting at a Mexican restaurant and then they are coming back to our house (I live with my parents) to celebrate.  However, I'm still in a low c

I am the main writer and editor for a newsletter for one of my support groups. Earlier today I emailed the group its 38th edition. When you are the main writer of articles sent to mostly the same group of people every month, sometimes it's difficult to think of a topic.   However, it came to me pretty easily this month... I realized I've never written about New Year's Resolutions. I pretty much avoid making them myself as when (not if) I stop working on them, I beat myself up for a while. That said, I don't think they are a bad thing. Staying realistic about how much you can do as well as remembering that life-changing support group that says, "Progress, not perfection," makes attempting them worthwhile. On a side note, this is the 100th blog I've posted. This is another reason I chose to use the article on New Year's Resolutions for this special post.  When I started this blog, I couldn't imagine even getting to 25. The idea of writing 100 posts c