The most common response to revealing my bipolar disorder to “the world” has been from people who don’t understand mental illness. People who haven’t encountered enough people struggling with their sense of identity, and sanity. These people say things like “just think happy thoughts” or “you should just go out more.” I wish I could take such advice (and that such advice worked on any practical level, beyond letting the speaker feel good about themselves), instead I’ve always coped in much more damaging ways.

I’ve never been good at thanking people or accepting help, but over the past year (especially since coming public with my illness) a number of people have stepped up and kept me from falling back into a really dark place, and I thought I’d thank them here.