I too have a tendency to over-share when I'm hypo/manic, so when I was diagnosed I let the cat out of the bag pretty quickly. I was so happy at first---it explained most of my oddities and why I'd had so much trouble 'playing well with others'.

Once the novelty wore off, however, I had a hell of a time accepting it, especially the 'forever' part. I was used to being the kind of sick where you take meds, get better, and stop taking pills; I didn't like the idea of taking meds for life. And I HATED the idea of being bipolar for life.....until I figured out that I've probably always been!

Now I'm at peace with it, and I'm open about it. I do a lot of advocacy now for people with mental illness and even write a blog that's mostly about bipolar, although I have branched out in recent weeks. BP is part of who I am, but it's not all of who I am; it took me quite a while to learn that.

Do I wish I didn't have it? Of course---who would choose to be stigmatized and to be seen as unstable and unreliable? But it's also part of what makes me smart and funny and caring, so it's not all bad.