Bipolar: Black Friday

Well, it's Black Friday, an exciting day for some and a nightmare for others (then there are those of us who avoid it altogether).

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. We did. We went to my husband's grandmother's house for dinner at noon, but only stayed a couple of hours.

Family gatherings are hard for us with our bipolar disorder. There is usually a lot of stress with all that family around. Like yesterday, when my husband said that we were going to leave because his leg was bothering him (he has chronic pain in his leg), his grandmother accused him of faking it.

Before some of the rest of his family could chime in (and before he could act out on his anger), we got out of there! I can just imagine how that made him feel. I know how it would make me feel.

But it was still a good time (until that point, anyway) - my middle son came with us, and my stepdaughter met us there and stayed for around a half hour before she had to go to her other grandmother's, so it was nice that my husband got to see his daughter for at least a little while (he hardly ever sees her - she is at college).

The main thing was that we took care of ourselves and our bipolar disorder, though. We know that these family get-togethers bother us, make our stress levels go up, so we never plan to stay for very long. So we made our escape early this time, like usual.

We know that the family questions it, even makes comments about it, but we have to take care of ourselves first. If we stayed just to please them, or to quiet their comments, our bipolar would suffer.

Just like today, Black Friday. I know that crowds are a trigger to my bipolar disorder, so to take care of myself, I stay away (far away) from the stores on Black Friday. In fact, I had all the rest of my Christmas shopping done on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Whether you do Black Friday or you don't, I hope you're getting into the Holiday Spirit now. Just make sure that you take care of yourself and your bipolar disorder first.

Don't forget to check out my bipolar book at: www.brokenroseministries.com

Wishing you peace and stability,

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele