Christiana Daneva

Having been quarantined for 9 days at home in Sofia, Bulgaria made me realize how being bipolar is helping me in this mindful game, the fight against COVID-19. Many people who have never been in a depression do not know how to stay alone and most importantly sustain themselves alone for a long time.

In 2015 I had severe mania which put me in a hospital where I was literally locked for wanting to cleanse the other people in the hospital with water. I believed I was a disciple of Jesus Christ and had super powers. I was locked to a bed, which I managed to unlock like Houdini by taking a small part of the bed and freed myself. I was released from the hospital and went to our summer house at the seaside to recover. The recovery took much longer than expected. The whole of 2016 I spent at my parents’ house where I put myself in self isolation for months.

Thinking back about this time made me realize that people with bipolar are a lot more equipped for this difficult time of self isolation.

Knowing that after a “down” comes an “up” is essential for keeping our sanity in this difficult time for all humankind. Just like the severe moods we have to tackle, do we have to accept the ups and downs of the current situation.
Now we have the chance to open our “drawers” and empty their hidden content. Be it material stuff that we have put away or certain memories that we do not want to deal with. It is a time for transformation, both internal and external. By putting everything on the table we can transform it and give new life and meaning to what we have found in order to draw a line between past, present and future.

Even though I was in self isolation for so many months without the desire to do anything I made myself go to the gym twice a week and managed to lose weight. And now the whole of humanity is bound to stay at home, this is a chance for us to reinvent ourselves, to find routines at home, to manage to stay active physically and psychologically.
Being bipolar has given me the chance to experience a much worse isolation, a prison of my own. Now the restrictions come from the outside world in order to save the lives of those we love. And now more than ever we should realize what a gift we have been given.

Contact us if you are interested in hearing more about being bipolar and if you are looking for a support group.