How I Manage My Disorder

I went six years between my first (2007) and second (2013) hospitalizations. I pride myself on that. Through my three hospitalizations and three IOP's I've met people on their 10th or 15th hospitalization. Some people are chronically unemployed or on disability. They've let their illness dictate the course for their life.

It doesn't have to be this way.

To make sure I stay stable and highly functioning, I do a number of things:

1. For the past 7 years, I've seen my therapist every 3 weeks and my psychiatrist every 3 months.
2. I'm a compliant patient; I take my medicine faithfully, go to all follow up appointments.
3. I make time for leisure (reading, hanging out with friends, going out to eat, getting massages, shopping, watching TV, etc)
4. For the past year I've been getting acupuncture regularly. I'm trying to balance out my reliance on Western medicine with more holistic practices.
5. I'm protective of my sleep. Not getting enough sleep can trigger depression or mania.
6. I exercise two to four days per week. There are numerous health benefits gained from exercise.
7. I try to eat healthy. I can definitely do a better job at this. I'll be going to see a nutritionist next week.
8. I try to minimize my stress triggers. Grading my students' essays normally stresses me out. So I try to manage my procrastination. I don't always succeed at this. But I'm trying.

Leisure Activities

I recently went to Walmart and bought some leisure items. I picked up a coloring book, crayons, a scarf loom, and yarn.

In the hospital I started making a hat on the loom, but I didn't finish it.

Hopefully the scarf comes out nicely. I'll post a picture of it when I'm done. Probably at the end of the summer.

Last year I took a drawing class through the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School. We had to draw with our non-dominant hand. It was a great class. I'd like to do more drawing in the future.

Last summer I made a glass paperweight at Newark's Glassroots. It was a lot of fun! It was very hot though. We were encouraged to drink a lot of water.