I wrote a blog post today called "Lost years in my life? Not nearly as many as I originally thought!" It was a response to a blog post on the Bp Magazine website www.bphope.com. It really made me think about the idea of "lost years" because of my bipolar disorder. I used to often refer to most of my 30s as those "lost years". It seemed to me that if he was in my shoes, he would have considered my 40s, even through today, as lost, as well.

I'm in a new place today than I was a while ago. Or maybe today I'm just in a very optimistic mood with a positive outlook. I compared what the author of the bphope.com blog post wrote to how I currently feel about this topic. I also looked very closely at the periods of my life that I previously considered "lost years". As the title implies, they're not all so lost after all.

If you're interested in my blog post, and/or want to find the link to the bphope.com blog post I mentioned, click the hyperlink (my post title) above. Or if you'd just rather comment on this thread topic reflecting on your view of "lost years", please do. I'd love to hear how others look at the tough years of their illness.

[Unrigged64072835]

I've had quite a few "lost" years, but it was more than bipolar. Like you said, I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't go through that fire. So those years were important as well.

[Tucson]

At one time, I was doing very well in my career. I had pride about my accomplishments. Others have recognized those accomplishments too. Then came disability. The first few years were rough. I then went on autopilot, getting by from day to day. This is when I was losing years in my life. However, as my daughter grew, I formed a very good relationship with her. Later her brothers did the same with me. Even my ex is relating to me very well. Even though these years are lost years with respect to a carreer, family became more important to me. That filled the void inside of me. So the years afterwards became meaningful to me. However, I do miss my career.

[Nammu]

My lost years were more due to the over medication by Pdocs and PTSD than the bipolar.

I have a lot of lost years.

mainly my childhood years

question is, even if I wasn't diagnosed bipolar, would I still have those years?

probably... I was abused terribly by my family.

it's sad

A lot of great points and realizations here.

shattered sanity, your response to your own question clearly indicates that there is more to certain times than just bipolar illness. It also made me think of a slightly different, but related question that either you or I should ask on the forum sometime. What do we all think our life would/could have been like if we had never developed bipolar disorder? Of course we'd never know, and plenty of other challenges could have taken its place, but what if they didn't until much later in our lives?

[cool09]

I have 40 lost years not all due to bipolar but derealization and Asberger's. Derealization was the worst, I couldn't feel myself and felt unreal and detached. I'm still struggling with it. I just dragged myself around and was a shell of a person and didn't know who I was.

[pirilin]

Lost three full years to a deep depression. What a waste. I have not many to lose. I'm 68. Good luck.