This is the first time since I was diagnosed that I've been stable long enough to have the chance to figure myself out. LOL

Seriously, with the exception of a brief (~10 days) manic episode in early July, I've been in relatively good shape since late May. I know that doesn't sound like very long, but this really is the longest stretch of 'normal' I've had in years. And despite the upheavals in my life these past few weeks, the illness has been behaving properly and hiding out under a rock---all the ups and downs have been related to life stresses, not bipolar. It took a long time to recognize the difference!

I still think about it daily---I blog about it pretty much every evening, and then there's my BID medications to contend with. But it's not an obsessive thing with me at this point, and after a year-and-a-half of being focused on the illness and what it's done to my life and career, it's refreshing to be able to feel something without going into "OMG, what if this is the beginning of another_____episode?"