The Secret to Bipolar Wellness is to eventually master and use ALL these techniques at the SAME TIME. If you only use some of them you will most likely reach less of your recovery potential .
There’s a lot of material that I want to share with you but I understand that many of us have limited attention spans so I’m going to make it as simple as possible for you to start and allow you to dig deeper as you feel comfortable and as you are able. Don’t try to do too much at once, this is a journey and not a race. It doesn’t matter how long you take to get to grips with all of this, you have a lifetime to improve, but make sure you begin today.
1. Understand your reasons for wanting to control your bipolar condition. If you want to keep motivated to make progress you’ll need a very good reason when the going gets tough.
Why should I control my Bipolar?
Being Better versus Feeling Better
2. Take full responsibility for yourself. This condition belongs to you, not your family, your doctors or anyone else. You need to be in the driver’s seat. More about this…
3. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise. I won’t lie, this is probably the hardest part but unless you make it a regular part of your life you’ll probably not control your depression, moods and stress in the long term. More about this…
4. Practice mindfulness. You’ll need this to be able to realise what mood or state of mind you’re in before it controls you. This will help you stop both positive and negative rumination that will greatly reduce your ups and downs. I’ll show you how to do it and keep doing it.
Mindfulness for Bipolar
Mindfulness Exercises for Bipolar
The 9 Attitudes of Mindfulness
5. Brain Training: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Emotional Intelligence and more. You can make massive changes in the way you think by understanding your own thoughts and cognitive distortions. The more you practice, the more you’ll be able to control your emotions and be able to relate better to others. (We will be adding more about this soon)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for Bipolar
The Wise Mind
Cognitive Distortions/Biases in Bipolar
6. Get your routines right and achieve daily goals.. For people with bipolar routines are often a mixture of love and hate. We love the freedom of doing what we want when we want but often we need structure to thrive long term. I want to show you how to create sensible routines while still allowing for fun and excitement. Boring lives suck, right? Reaching some simple goals each day can also have a massive effect on your long term mental health.
Routines and Planning for Bipolar
7. Change your diet. I always suspected my moods were affected by diet and now I’ve proven it. Find out how I cut out extreme anger and irritation and at the same time feel more connected with my family and other people. It’s down to eliminating inflammation causing foods and balancing the flora in the gut.
8. Understanding your triggers and behaviours. If you know why you’re doing certain things you may find it easier to control them. Also learn to monitor your moods and how to create an emergency plan in case you slip into an unwanted mood, emotional state, depression or manic stage.
(We will be adding more about this soon)
9. Other. Learn to minimise your social media use (depression and triggering), minimise alcohol and other substance use, connect with real people, form better habits, get out into the real world, medication and supplements, join support groups, volunteering, keep your living areas tidy and more.
(We will be adding more about this soon)
10. Get up one more time than you fall. No one said it would be easy and you’ll have great and not so good spells. If you have a bad day, week or month, know that you can get back on your bike as many times as you need. Keep on trying, it’s worth it and you can do it!