Creating Things to Look Forward to with Bipolar Depression

I believe you have to create things to look forward to when you have bipolar depression. It’s not enough to wait for things to look forward to like holidays, birthdays or promotions at work; when you have bipolar depression you need to create everyday things to look forward to. Here’s one way I do this.

What I’m Looking Forward to with Bipolar Depression

Last night was The Walking Dead Night. You might know it as “Sunday, October 22^nd.” It’s the day on which the eighth season of The Walking Dead premiered. If you watch this show, you probably excitedly set your DVR.

Now, I looked forward to this premiere. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and looking forward to it for a while. I’ve even watched all The Walking Dead shows (Behind the Dead and so on) that have been airing ahead of time just as teasers.

Please understand, I’m not a superfan. I don’t dress up. I haven’t been to a convention. I don’t swoon over Norman Reedus (although, yeah, he’s pretty). I’m just looking forward to it – on purpose.

I say “on purpose” because I have actively made this something to look forward to in order to fight the bipolar depression. Depression wants me to look forward to nothing. Depression wants complete apathy. I totally get this. That’s why I won’t let the inertia of apathy win.

Looking Forward to TV Shows with Bipolar Depression

And The Walking Dead isn’t the only show I look forward to. There are others. Mr. Robot and Project Runway come to mind. And again, I have purposefully made these things to look forward to. I’ve purposefully layered meaning onto these events. I’m completely aware that TV shows really aren’t meaningful at all, but that doesn’t matter. I’m creating meaning because I know I need these small things to keep me going. If you happen to have other things to look forward to that, perhaps, have actual meaning, then so much the better. But, in my experience, these things aren’t regular or reliable enough to rely on.

I look forward to other things with bipolar depression too. I look forward to going out to breakfast on the weekend, I look forward to seeing my friends and so on. These are real things worth looking forward to.

Bipolar Depression and Creating Things to Look Forward To

But I still like increasing the anticipation for TV shows. It doesn’t matter what they are. The Walking Dead happens to be a pretty good one, if you ask me, and millions of people feel the same way, but, really, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that it’s something you can create into a positive event. Maybe you can always make popcorn when you sit down on Thursdays to watch Project Runway. Or maybe you can always call a friend after Scandal to discuss how crazy it was. Or maybe you can get together, have a girl’s night and watch The Bachelor (just kill me if I ever do that). Whatever. These are things to look forward to because we say they are.

So don’t wait for something to happen in order to look forward to something. Make something to look forward to. It’s one way of keeping bipolar depression from sucking, well, the life out of your life.