Hi, welcome
Sometimes I think "birds of a feather flock together" is one of the most accurate quotes. So I really get you.
We are different and your stay in that hospital is evidence of that as is our behaviour. As the star Stephen Fry once said (he has bipolar) - "when I died and had a choice to be reincarnated, I would want to come back with my bipolar because thats me and I wouldnt want it any other way"
The above is the best example of someone with a crippling condition (I'm bipolar too) that has embraced his uniqueness and individuality. For a person with MI that is the ultimate goal.
To achieve that goal we are placing our own hurdles ahead of ourselves by trying to mingle among those without MI (although many have one but are in denial) simply because our emotions, thoughts, etc are more erratic and less controllable. IMO the only ways to counter this is
IN PRACTICAL WAYS- dont mingle too much with clubs, councils and groups that wont have the level of empathy needed for us but make it limited eg limit a conversation with a person we know that walks by to say 2-3 minutes.
Find a passion, a passion meaning a hobby or interest that absorbs your mind so you remain distracted from your problems.
IN MENTAL WAYS- To grow confidence by embracing your abilities and become an "expert" at something, anything. This could be a ability you have like sewing, building model aircraft, cooking and so on. It is also very important that during this confidence building process that you shy away from people that think they know how to guide you when they have no idea how to live with a MI.
SELF TRAINING - We cannot rely on professionals for all of our needs to survive in society after all they dont follow us around so we can consult them all the time. You can investigate on the www some youtube videos that are really helpful. I recommend Maharaji Prem Rawat. He is religious but wont mention that. His best one I found are- All is well, sunset, the perfect instrument and so on.
I hope that helps
Reply anytime
TonyWK
