hmmm... I'm still learning to distinguish between the two. i think hypomania for me is what i considered my norm for most my life without knowing any better. now i notice that when coming out of depression I'm a little more happy and energetic than most peoples "norm". which usually leads back to depression after being really productive for a few weeks or sometimes crashes into mix like somebody else mentioned which is the most uncomfortable state of being I've ever experienced.

only a few times has hypomania led to mania for me. and its clear to me when it happens because i can literally feel the high going through my body from all the feel good hormones being dumbed. its kind of like doing coke but the feeling stays. hypo is the tricky one. am i hypo or just happy? but with mania it gets weird. i get socially awkward and can't direct my energy anymore and it starts to direct me. I also can get paranoid and social anxiety the matches the social anxiety i get when depressed once i switch over from hypo to mania. i think I'm more likely to be delusional while depressed and thinking the whole world is ending than while manic though. while manic i just want to do a butt load of off character activities that have nothing to do with my day to day life or main goals.