Two days ago I got a job for the first time since I dropped out of college 2 and a half years ago.

Story time: I had to leave my dream school because I was diagnosed with #Bipolar1 after a month long #ManicEpisode that was one of the scariest periods of my life.

I was hospitalized for a month and a week I missed Halloween and my dad and sister’s birthdays. I home for thanksgiving but I stayed home alone and ate cold chicken. It was not the worst moment.

After about two weeks I had to be #Involuntarilycommitted to the same #Mentalward for another month and a half. For the first week I was on constant watch. Which means you have to be in a trained babysitters sight at all times. They can’t pay as many of these babysitters as they need so we had to share. That meant I had to wait to go to the bathroom until some nurse could come watch which was very hard because I had to constantly drink a ton for my meds.

I spent Christmas, New Years and my little sisters birthday in the hospital. My dog died while I was in there too. I stayed up all night and sadly watched as Donald Trump surpassed Hilary Clintons number of electoral college votes in the 2016 election.

When I finally left I left 17 pounds heavier than I came in. I was prescribed a medication depakote that made me gain weight retain a ton of water and it only kept getting worse. In two and a half months I had gone from 140 pounds to 175. It was terrible on my joints. I couldn’t do anything physical and I almost developed diabetes. Thank god in May of that year I stopped taking that medication.

It’s has been a crazy road since then. I have been very sick physically because of medications, #Manic again, in more #MixedStates than I can count. Had bouts of depression and anxiety and barely barely escaped being #hospitalized again.

I have lost a lot of the weight. I have improved my medication combination and am on a lot less heavy and sedating medication. After trying to go back to college again three times I decided to take a break from that and get a job and two days ago #Igotajob !!!

This is only a very brief snippet of my mental health journey, which started when I was five but my message to you is #Ihavebipolardisorder and I am succeeding. I didn’t think it was possible but I am beginning to learn how to be bipolar and have a life I can be proud of.