Second, get your sleep. Like Angie said a few months ago, "Get your beauty sleep or things will turn ugly." I love that quote, and I use it often. Anyone reading these shareposts for any length of time has to be sick of reading this, but I can't stress enough how critical sleep is for maintaining stability. A lack of sleep can feed a hypomania, and possibly push it into mania, or into depression. Since we're so high already, there aren't many options when it comes to our frame-of-mind - we escalate, we crash, or we stay the same. We want to maintain those good feelings for as long as possible, and the way to do that is to take the steps to maintain stability. Sleep is most likely the largest single factor in that stability, and also the easiest to monitor.
Third, find a passion or activity to keep you occupied. For most of us that's not a problem, but for many their energy levels and feel-good desires will push them into risky behaviors. Hypersexuality is one of the highest risks for many. It can be an all-consuming behavior for many when they're in a hypomania. For us over-40 folk, well, the desire is still there, but we're better able to deal with those feelings, and less likely to act on those desires. But no matter what, an outlet for the passion and energy is critical. In my case, I have projects that I start when I'm hypomanic and walk away from when I'm down. Household projects, web projects, programming projects. Currently my project is a web site I'm building for bipolar disorder resources. News feeds, blog feeds, resources, and so forth. It's still a work in progress, but it keeps me from getting into trouble.
Fourth, don't let that passion or activity consume you. In my lifetime I have let my passions run rampant. I have abandoned careers and lost jobs to chase passions and follow dreams. I have pursued leisure activities to the exclusion of family and jobs. I have started, and eventually lost, businesses due to chasing hypomanic fantasies. Be so careful not to let your interests become obsessions.
Fifth, make up for lost time. My wife spends much of the year in hell trying to live with me. When I can, I try to make it up. When things are good, I can be a lot of fun to be around, in many ways. I want her to understand that even though the bad times are bad, the good times are so good they overshadow the bad.
Sixth, don't forget to enjoy it! The true hypomanias roll around so infrequently that we really need to take full advantage of them when they're here.
The next time you're tempted to complain about a hypomania, don't forget to include - "But it's just the way I like it!"
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