Why It's Hard to Be Confident When You Live with Bipolar

It's hard to be confident when you live with bipolar disorder. We live in a society consumed by bipolar stigma which makes us feel insecure and unlovable. Confidence is an essential part of living a good life with bipolar disorder or any mental illness.

It's Hard to Be Confident When You Live with Bipolar

When I went into the mental hospital, my pants were sagging off of me, and my chest hung low in a t-shirt that was given to me when I got there. The nurses took me to my room and when I looked in the mirror, I saw someone unfamiliar. I saw a girl who was unkempt, lost and insecure.

I realized it was going to take a lot of work to regain my identity and build my confidence as someone living with a bipolar 2 disorder. When you live with a mental illness, you are not given the tools for building self-esteem.

Shortly after my diagnosis, I started researching bipolar disorder and reading stories about people who lived with a mental illness. People such as Virginia Woolf, Van Gogh, Carrie Fisher, Winston Churchill and Demi Lovato (Famous People with Bipolar Disorder). It gave me a sense of hope and pride as someone living with a mental illness.

When I learned how to love the parts of myself that many people deemed as flawed, my life and mental health changed forever. I felt empowered, and it has allowed me to thrive in life. It's hard to be confident when you live with bipolar disorder, but it is not impossible.

You Feel like Bipolar Makes You Unlovable

You cannot be confident if you think you are unlovable and this is a significant struggle for those of us who live with bipolar disorder. Building confidence as someone with a mental illness starts with reminding yourself of what you are capable of doing.

Over the last couple years, I have taken on different hobbies such as collecting vintage love letters, designing furniture and doing crossword puzzles. I started writing fiction and reading different types of books, biographies and historical writings. It helped create the foundation for me to build confidence and realize that I am a lovable person regardless of my mental illness. Instead of believing that my mind is what makes me unlovable, I started telling myself that my mind is what makes me lovable.

If people reject you because you have bipolar disorder, it has everything to do with them and nothing to do with you. Keeping your mind busy and practicing self-love techniques reduces the noise that tells us we are unlovable. When you love yourself, the people who have made you feel insecure or unlovable suddenly have no more power over your life.

Building confidence takes time when you live with bipolar disorder. It starts with loving yourself and accepting the mind you were given.