So, recovery is possible, even if you are unable to return to the life you had before your illness. If this fits your situation, recovery is more likely to be a journey rather than a destination. We are very rarely the same person once we are well along into the journey. Along the way, many of us experience a profound healing, a coming to terms with ourselves, in closer touch with our own humanity and divinity.
In this sense, even living within certain limitations that our illness may impose upon us, recovery may actually translate into a life better than the one we had before, rather than a mere return to where we once were.
I conclude every talk I give with a passage from my book, “Living Well with Depression and Bipolar Disorder,” and it is appropriate to do so here. It comes from a very wise woman I call Jane. I never met Jane. She simply posted this on my website, and it has profoundly influenced me ever since:
“Bipolar is not the problem,” she writes. “The problem is the problem. If you suffer with bipolar, you will suffer. If you merely cope, you will merely cope. If you live with bipolar, you will live.”
