Hi, so you can call me Nemo. I have a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, but that's not who I am. I'm an artist and an intellectual and I have a wonderful family and two wonderful friends, one who lives across the city river and one who lives across the world. I've found it difficult to integrate my experience with Bipolar Disorder with my story in a social context. Its not only the fact that I have experienced mania and spent time in the hospital, but also the fact that I've had depressive episodes that happened mostly at home, alone, quietly. Or the fact that sometimes I get very anxious for no external reason other than the fact that I have a mental illness and that can be part of the gig.
How do I own my story without alienating others, making me feel like an outsider? Has anyone else managed this? Just existing with it but not letting it be a defining thing about them. I think Carrie Fisher and John Green do a great job of this, but I'm wondering how other 'ordinary' people deal with acknowledging their mental illness without it becoming a definitive part of how others see them?
