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Mood Management: sitting small
Some rough days may be coming. Paula sits on her couch pulling a pillow to her chest. She makes a mental list:
My sleep hasn’t been so great for about a week.
I just want to lay on the couch during the day,
I’m not walking Charlie (her collie).
I felt super awkward at the potluck with friends and couldn’t connect.
She feels worried and guilty about all that is not getting done and at the same time wants to watch old sit com reruns for about a year and forget everything. Oh man, it looks like it’s time to sit small.
Paula has lived with bipolar disorder for a number of years. She recognizes that she is moving into a period of depressive symptoms. Paula does well most of the time, but stress, a new relationship, seasons and light changes- who knows maybe even the alignment of the stars- can throw her moods off balance. She has learned over time, and painfully, that these mood changes weave in and out of her life. She used to hope that she would simply one day be cured. She still hopes that deep inside.
In the meantime she has strategies. Paula has become a master of recognizing these changes and putting her sitting small plan into action. Read the rest of this entry »