I recently made my own forum posts about having less than obvious forms of hypo/mania.

I can never identify a time period where I was "hypomanic" or particularly any time that I believed I was "Up." However, I do experience extreme shifts in energy in the sense that I go from tired and depressed to anxious, panicky, and restless. To me it all feels like the same misery, just experienced in two different ways.

I don't think it's right for someone to have to analyze their life in order to spot potential manic periods. Anyone could color so many periods in their life that way if we told them to look for it and do it. Self analysis has helped me but not by forcing me to recognize periods that look like obvious hypomania but by recognizing mood and anxiety shifts that indicate bipolar.