I actively stopped being engulfed almost 3 years ago.

Living eating and breathing Bipolar was unhealthy for me. It made me one dimensional, which personally I find sad and boring (besides I need to work really hard at balance) and then more importantly, I was way more symptomatic during that time. Always in and out of my pdocs office for a med tweak, always cycling through some type of epic episode, there was just zero reprieve. For me.

Since I'm no longer engulfed I'm less symptomatic, but I don't by any means ignore my disorder, its just not my central focus anymore, it simply is.
Kinda like my eye colour.