Don't let your personality define you as a person

I wanted to make an episode on not letting your disability define who you are as a person, but I'm in a bit of a low, so it's just a short episode. I plan to make a series out of it, but I'd like to hear from you guys and hear what your tips are on NOT letting your disability define you.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, I wanted to do an episode on not letting your disability define who you are as a person,

(00:16):
but I'm having kind of a hard time with that right now.
I always believed that we are more than just having a disability, like we're more than
just our disability.
But the more I go along, the more I realize that for some disabilities, you kind of can't

(00:37):
help but let them define who you are, at least partly.
Having bipolar is hard not to let it define me.
At any minute, my brain could turn on me.
Yesterday morning, for example, I woke up in a decent mood, but after about an hour
being awake, I just couldn't do it anymore.
I had to go back to bed and I ended up sleeping pretty much most of the day.

(01:04):
I mean, that's not what defines who I am, but the irritation, the highs, the lows, I
can't control them and they have a grip on my personality.
I don't mean in any kind of disrespectful way, but for certain things like ADHD, which I
also have, you can still live your life as you and still retain most of your personality.

(01:31):
Meaning that you can go through your day to day having ADHD.
You can still go to work.
You can still function as a person.
You might be scatterbrained and I'm not saying that there aren't exceptions where ADHD isn't

(01:51):
a crippling disability or something like that, but for somebody it might be.
What I'm saying is that on a normal day to day basis, if you have ADHD or I'm just using
that as an example because it's the only one I can think of, but if I only had ADHD, I

(02:12):
know I could take my medicine and I could still function throughout the day.
With bipolar disorder, even though I take my medicine every single day, it doesn't guarantee
that I'm not going to go manic or that I'm not going to go depressed.
Here lately, I've been pretty low.

(02:35):
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to let your disability define who
you are.
You are so much more than whatever yours is, like whatever your disability is.
But there are certain disabilities that take over your personality and turn you into a
person you don't want to be.
Being bipolar is like having this evil little asshole living in your head that likes to

(02:57):
pop out at random times.
Sometimes he comes out and he seems coped up because you feel full of energy and you
want to do everything.
Other times he comes out and drains all your energy and makes you feel like you're the
lowest form of life on earth.
I've been in functional low for over a month now and it's like every other week or so,

(03:21):
I fall into a little bit lower and a little bit lower.
I ended up having something like yesterday, I ended up having to miss class because of
it and I just didn't have the energy to get out of bed.
I even tried to watch TV yesterday and I just had no interest.
I've lost interest in almost everything and the only reason I'm even doing this is because

(03:41):
I think it's important to document the highs and the lows.
I think it's important for people to see not just somebody sitting here spouting off
information like some kind of encyclopedia about what bipolar is or what...

(04:04):
I mean you guys can do your own research, you can get on all kind of different...
You can find your information out there about bipolar disorder.
There's tons of information or any disability really.
There's all kinds of information about any of it but what I think is important is for

(04:25):
people to see what it's like to have a disability, to actually see it.
People can read about it and they can hear about it and they can learn about it but until
they actually see it or are living it or are living with it or see it first hand then people

(04:45):
just don't understand it.
That's why I think it's important to...
For me, this is one of the reasons why this show is so important is because of that.
I think people need to see what having a disability is like.

(05:09):
Not everybody knows.
I mean people have...especially with bipolar there's a stigma that we go up and down, up
and down, up and down and sometimes that's true and sometimes it's rapid and sometimes
it's not.
Sometimes it's like I said I've been on a functional low for like two or three months
now.
I'm depressed but I'm not so depressed that I can't get out of bed.

(05:34):
Yesterday was not one of those days.
Yesterday was a low, a real low.
Today I'm not entirely sure how it's going to go.
Right now I don't know.
I mean I've got a little bit of energy because I've been drinking coffee and woke up and felt

(05:54):
compelled to make this video so I'm making it.
I'm going to open it up to you guys though.
I want to know how do you live with your disability and not let it define who you are as a whole
person.
Leave your tips and your comments in the comments so that it might help someone else also.

(06:19):
I think if you leave your comments and your tips and you have something to say that might
help somebody else I think it's important that you share that.
I think it's important that we build a community together and try to support each other and
help each other and this is one way to do that.

(06:43):
And I guess I'll just end it by saying if you're feeling like you're in this fight alone
know that you're not.
Like I always say you don't have to sit in the dark alone.