[sometimes I rant, forgive me for that. In bold are the important parts of the post. Sorry again for the length and disconnect between ideas.]

So – just to make clear the relevance of this topic on this thread, according to one study I found there are connections between childhood trauma and the development of bipolar disorder (link to article below).

My point? Lots of us have mal-adaptive behaviors that can be exacerbated by our bipolar. I’ve developed quite a few measures that aren’t exactly ideal and have really complicated my life. Comorbidity with other issues or disorders are common (Borderline Personality Disorder or substance abuse for example – I won’t link an article relating those, I’m not trying to bog you down with academic studies lol). The complexity of the human psyche is beyond my ability to comprehend, but I still try. The concept here is bipolar is an aspect of an often much larger picture. Every person is unique and cookie-cutter advice just doesn’t always cut it.
Alright – so my bad attempt here is to preface my actual post.
I wanted to address the idea of resilience and coping.
Resilience is a buzz word in mental health that I’ve seen recently – essentially, it’s the acquired skills to cope with trauma, stress, anxiety, depression etc. in a healthy manner. That’s clearly easier said than done, but it’s worth investing some time into. Besides the generic advice you get, I specifically was interested in how many people think about their daily life as opportunities for strengthen your mental health resiliency? This can get pretty specific, so let me generalize a few ideas of what I’m talking about. Perhaps spirituality is important to you and to deal with anxiety meditation or prayer really helps out, so you set yourself a goal – when I feel anxious I’ll [insert strategy here] . Or maybe you’re really into photography and use it as a release and a way to express specific emotions that words may not capture for you. Maybe when you are manic you convert that energy into a product – like maybe write a song, or poetry….
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Man, this is getting a little lengthy and off topic. Nothing here is new or something innovative – I’m just curious what techniques you guys have developed and what interests you may have you can use to deal with mania/hypomania or depression.

The role of childhood trauma in bipolar disorders | International Journal of Bipolar Disorders | Full Text

[Merlin]

Something that helps me stay well, or become well again, is to socialize, both with my supporters and new people. Sometimes I want to unload on someone who loves me and other times I just want to play Settlers of Catan.