Missing Mania, Preparing for a Crash, and Silencing Your Inner Critic (and more!)
The newest content from the week ending June 1, 2024, and Scott’s weekly update
Links to last week’s content are at the bottom of the newsletter.
New Writer
We welcome one new writer to our family this week. Welcome, Tarek!
Tarek Rakhiess: “Hello, I am Tarek. I joined Medium a year ago. I am passionate about writing about mental health and self-development.”
June 2024 Writing Prompt
- Is self stigma part of your mental health journey? How does it affect you? Have you learned to control it? Prompt inspired by Josh Feinberg’s How Society’s Wrong Views on Bipolar Affect the Afflicted.
- May 2024 writing prompt replies
- April 2024 writing prompt replies
- Please tag me (@speakingbipolar) in your response and mention this prompt, so I know to add your story to the list. Thanks!
Announcements
Scott’s Weekly Update
When I chose “change” as my word for 2024, I knew some of that change would be painful. And so it is.
Last Friday (May 24), just after dinner, with my mom and I and two of our dearest friends sitting by his side, my dad exhaled for the last time.
No matter how ready you think you are, you never are. Every loved one is taken from you too soon.
I was so grateful to have my newsletter for last Sunday already written and scheduled because there was no thinking after that.
In the next few hours, I did what had to be done, dealing with the hospice nurse and the funeral home, but then I struggled to think clearly about anything else.
I notified my family, and frequently checked to make sure my mom was okay. Then I just kept moving, feeling like I couldn’t sit still.
Now that we’re a few days into our grief, I’m thankful for two things.
One, I’m amazed by the love of my friends. There were very few times we were alone in the last few weeks. The support made everything much easier.
Two, I’m thankful I planned ahead. I had a feeling it would be my dad’s last week, especially after he stopped eating Monday. From the funeral home to my online content, having a plan in place made it possible for me to do all required of me.
Those two things are the most important parts of managing your mental health. We all need a support system, whether it’s friends, family, a spouse, or whomever else we’re close to.
We also need to plan ahead. While other people change plans in the blink of an eye, those of us with a mental illness have to have a plan in place.
We have to know which situations we can handle and which will be too tough. We have to make sure we’re managing our medication properly to maintain stability, even through the hardest times.
I’m sad, but not broken. My dad was suffering a lot, and he hated being in the hospital bed. In many ways, it’s a relief that he’s passed away. The weight of caregiving is gone as is all the worry about his discomfort.
I know I will miss him every day, but I also know how blessed I am to have had so much time with him. There were no things left to say or do.
My dad was a man of love. He had a natural ability to make others feel loved, even when he didn’t use the actual word.
When I asked him two nights before he passed if there was anything he still wanted to say, he told me to tell everyone how much he loved them. I hope that’s the legacy I leave when it’s my time to go.
What better legacy than to leave love behind.
Amid my sadness, this week came with good news. Health Union announced their list of 2024 Social Health Awards Finalists, and I made the list. Thank you to all of you who voted for me. Winners will be announced on June 26, so I’ll keep you posted.
This week, keep love in your heart and share it with everyone in your life. Every day is a gift, so cherish today and the people in it.
Until next time, keep fighting.
Scott Ninneman
Last Week’s Content
- 10 Supportive Things You Can Say to Someone With Bipolar by odawni
- Bipolar Brings a Friend by Jezebelle Darling - Healing through Writing
- Finding Calm: The Crucial Role of Relaxation in Managing Depression by Karsten Ramser
- Hard of Hearing and Bipolar by Travy Dean
- Health Union Announces the 2024 Social Health Award Finalists by Scott Ninneman
- How I Found Myself in the Wreckage of Schizophrenia by Leon Macfayden
- How To Learn To Enjoy the Dance and Love Your Mistakes by Scott Ninneman
- How to Recognize the Early Symptoms of PTSD by Leon Macfayden
- I Miss Mania but I Don’t Want It Again by Ayomide Olasoji
- I’m Preparing for a Crash by D.D. Marshall
- Just One More… by Betty Van Cleve
- Silence Your Inner Critic by Aidan McCarthy
- Sonar by John Hampton (MaggotsX)
- Still Riding That Bipolar Train by Wendi Lady - It's a Wendiful World
- Surviving Others’ Mental Health Crises by Alisa Childress
- Vortex Vertigo by Wendi Lady - It's a Wendiful World
- Who Am I Without Depression? by Julio Angel Rivera
New writers welcome. Share your mental illness journey, poetry, and mental health tips by writing for Speaking Bipolar on Medium. Click here to find out how.
