W:

How would you describe this chapter of your life, and what do you think its teaching you?

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I feel like this chapter of my life is a juxtaposition of new discoveries and healing from past trauma mis-identifiers, let's say.

I am on medication for the first time with a bipolar diagnosis. All the signs were always there, and I had no idea how to come to terms with that, to identify that, to see that through, to see what medication would look like and feel like for me.

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So there's fear involved, there's educating myself involved, and then it's an identity crisis right? For the first time in my life, I have one voice in my head instead of five, and I feel free, and it's exciting. But I'm also grieving who I have always known myself to be

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Grief is not, sedentary, linear. It spirals always; it's circular. I think you can grieve and feel loss and still not feel despair. I think they're too often associated with one another, and you can grieve and still feel hopeful. Even if you’re a dark soul, you can still try to move forward in your grief.

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W:

That's a really interesting and important distinction, between grief and despair. I think it's often associated with terrible tragedy, but in your case - it is tragic in a sense, but it's also liberating.

That's where grief is all relative, because it's not the pain Olympics. We don't have to compare our grief with one another.

We have to be empathetic and compassionate. Show someone understanding, even when we don’t understand what they're going through. And so when we offer the people around us a little bit of grace, for that which we don't understand, I think we get further, we grow further.

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