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scs20160118225718118Screenshot_2016-01-19-00-57-16_20160119005853078.jpgPerfect timing. I realized that in my last couple of posts, I inferred that last week was negatively affected by a mild episode of hypomania (such as a delay in posting my Funny Friday post), so I thought it was time to focus of something positive. The WordPress stats office sent notification that our blog reached the 100-follower milestone. For new bloggers like me, these milestone ‘trophies’ provide encouragement and motivation to continue through the ‘crawling’ stage of a blog’s development. I appreciate everyone who has followed, read, liked, reblogged, and commented: this list obviously reflects increasing levels of appreciation! As often mentioned by fellow bloggers, followers are not the ultimate goal – connection with blogosphere friends (new and old) is the most meaningful.

While in the thankful mode, I really appreciate my wife’s support of this blog, which has grown steadily over the last couple months. Although she is yet to post directly, regularly, she is consistently suggesting things for me to share – it’s only a matter of time. I am especially thankful for the progress in her recovery, which is particularly apparent in the incredible shift from denial (which was the focus of this blog in those extremely difficult weeks in October 2015) to the gradual acceptance of a mood disorder diagnosis…

An amazing example of this new openness and curiosity about her condition, happened just tonight.  After I shared a blog post about an inspirational couple who describe an uncanny similar situation to us, my wife showed me something she wrote in her diary today: “I love my husband and really appreciate him”.

I am not sharing this to ‘blow my own horn’, but as in intro into what came next.  Her short, simple validation of my efforts to live up to my role as soul mate brought me to the verge of tears.  This seemed to have touched her deeply,  prompting her to share the following profound thought (and gave me permission to share here):

As she reflected on her presumed bipolar disorder, she wondered whether it affects her perception of herself in relation to the normal/abnormal spectrum, to the point that everything she experiences may be a false reality.  She used the example of the premise of The Truman Show movie, in which the main character is unaware that he is living on a Hollywood film set, with everyone else in his life having insight about his ‘abnormal’ life circumstances.  My wife is contemplating whether her mood disorder is obvious to me and everyone around her, while she continues to live in relative obliviousness to the ‘abnormality’.

The conversation then flowed into the oft cited potential for creative brillance this condition is associated with.  My wife has that creative spark.  I reminded her of examples of fellow bipolar disorder sufferers such as Vincent Van Gogh, who’s painting The Starry Night,  depicted the view from his mental hospital in France.  At this time, sleep appropriately overcame my wife, before we could delve any deeper and I immediately set to work on this masterpiece of a post.  Hope you enjoyed – don’t forget to let me know 😉

starry-night

The Starry Night: Vincent van Gogh