Work & Charitable Endeavours

It is possible to hold down a job while suffering from bipolar disorder (BPD) - I certainly did for twenty years - unless and until our BPD becomes too severe.

Difficulty in, or even total INABILITY to:

• Focus and concentrate
• Be stable and predictable in our behaviour
• Keep turning up reliably on a daily basis
• Be able to travel to and from work every day
• Have a brain that functions well enough for us to have a reliable memory
• Feel stable enough to ‘function normally’

All the above means that having a job becomes an impossibility.

Plus we must not forget that, however good our work may have been up to that point, three months off work to stay in a psychiatric hospital or hospitalised at home are not seen as a desirable quality by most managers and company directors….

And this is why most Bi-Polar Landers end up unemployed, which is a great shame because there is considerable talent being ‘wasted’ in Bi-Polar Land. And of course our sudden lack of income adds a great deal of stress and the financial pressures that ensue are not great to keep us from falling into deep depression.

The one thing we CAN DO is change our definition of ‘work’ as indeed we may change our definition of fitness. Work is not just a fee-earning activity - it can also be a ‘brain-using’ and ‘joy-giving' activity. [Bi-Polar Girl falls into that category for me].

We can set goals that we decide on ourselves, and we can get into a daily routine of communicating with other Bi-Polar Landers, or indeed other people who share our interest in a particular area of activity that is totally separate from the realm of our illness. We can keep learning and sharing what we know with our friends online or in person. Aside from financial stress the worst aspect of losing our job is our drifting into isolation so any ‘communication work’ is very helpful.

We can also write for ourselves - it may not sound helpful but getting into the habit of writing out our thoughts and feelings every day is an excellent way to help keep our internal ‘landscape’ clear and clean. All that is work, and it is helpful.

Even if we cannot be officially employed, if we are well enough, we can offer our services to charitable organisations. Getting into a routine that takes us out of the house is very good and it offers us the possibility of friendly socialising.

This is brilliant PROVIDING WE CAN BE RELIABLE because even charitable organisations need people they can count on.

And so we are back to fluctuating energy that might keep us in bed and anxiety that might keep us locked indoors because the outside world is too scary.

We are back to working online when we can manage our little charitable projects while living with the vagaries of our illness.

There are plenty of opportunities to:

• Use our hobbies and sell our ‘products’ to raise funds for a chosen charitable organisation
• Post little ‘educational videos’ online on any one of the major internet platforms
• Do sponsored activities that are possible and even fun for a Bi-Polar Lander
• Sell anything that is no longer needed and give the profit to charity

All we need a lot of the time is a little IMAGINATION and SELF-BELIEF but I am well aware that both can be in very short supply when we are going through the worst episodes of our BPD.

If all we do is make a mental note of all this and then revisit it when we feel better then we ARE doing valuable work that might just benefit a charitable organisation as well as benefit ourselves.

It is just worth remembering that if we are kind, generous, helpful human beings, then living in Bi-Polar Land does not change who we are at our core :0)