Are you a rocking chair or swivel chair? Play along with me. Imagine you’re a chair. But what kind of chair? You need to know because it determines what you can and cannot do. No one chair is better than the other. They’re just different, with different abilities. This rocking versus swivel metaphor has helped me to be gentle with myself and realize I’m not broken just because I can’t do certain things due to the bipolar disorder and anxiety I live with. Understanding which chair I am has allowed me to flourish despite, or maybe in spite of, my mental illnesses.

The chair comparison was born out of my frustration when I first experienced the limits bipolar disorder, anxiety, and my propensity to psychosis placed upon me. Things I took for granted I could no longer.

Such as staying up late a couple of nights in a row if I happen to, say be reading a great book, or........

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