bipolar

This is my response to MacAddict’s comment on my last entry:

No, I am not “bipolar”, but thanks for asking.

If you read more than a few of my entries, you’ll see that I am extremely thankful for the good things in my life. I don’t have a “crisis of the day”, but like many people, there are periods in which things are less than optimal, and I write about them, just like I write about the wonderful things. After all, this is my journal. I never pretended it to be otherwise.

What’s interesting to me is that you thought it both appropriate and important to leave a comment — not “trying to rip into me”, of course — expressing your dissatisfaction with my portrayal of my own emotional state. Why do you read this journal, then? If it’s to watch someone deconstruct her own life for your own schadenfreude, then by all means. But if you want to participate in a discussion with me, you’re going to have to do better than your last comment. You’re not the first to criticize me because of the things I choose to share here, and you won’t be the last. Why not try to transcend the dimestore diagnoses and actually connect with me? I bet it will be more fulfilling for you.

You might also want to look up the psychiatric definition of “bipolar”, too. I am neither manic nor depressive, just a person with normal, healthy mood-swings, figuring out her own life.

Cheers!

About Halsted M. Bernard

Halsted, a/k/a cygnoir, does stuff with words. Her favourite things to do with words are keeping this diary, writing stories, and organising information. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, two cats, a few gadgets, several fountain pens, and many books.

Posted on 17 Sep 2004 in Diary
  • Ryan

    I’d just like to add to Mr. Random Fuckwad: What the hell is your deal? I can’t even fathom the kind of mind that actually thinks that being critical of someone’s expression of their feelings is somehow useful. Although I suspect that R. Fuckwad here is really someone who’s got some grudge against Ms. Bernard and just wanted an anonymous way to be a total dick. Mission accomplished. Now bugger off.

  • http://www.logrus.com/~merlin Merlin

    Blogs aren’t an accurate snapshot of a person’s identity; they’re a window into whatever that person wants to let out. If someone has emotions they want to express, they get magnified on blogs, because you only see a fairly small slice of what’s really going on with that person. When all you see is someone expressing the louder emotions, you miss all of the quieter, more normal ones that the blogger doesn’t feel are noteworthy, because they’re
    just day-to-day things.

  • davmoo

    I’ve got to add a “yeah, what they said!” here. People with journals are going to write about what’s most on their mind. And that’s not always happy happy joy joy thoughts. Plus I’ve been reading ‘sted writings in various places for a *long* time (at least 6 years)…she posts about happy things at least as often as she posts about sad things.

    Finally, there is an easy explanation for the mood swings…she’s a woman :-) (suddenly I hear the voice of one of my elementary school teachers yelling “duck and cover!” for a bomb drill)

  • http://www.pixiepurls.com pixie

    there are a lot of jerk heads in cyberspace, just like in RL. Cept here it’s easier for them to be jerk heads. More “accessable” i suppose you could say..

    DOWN WITH THE JERK HEADS!@

  • http://fosterbass.livejournal.com Foster Bass

    I think a lot of people probably seem bipolar in their journals because they only blog the extreme moody stuff, either up or down. I don’t think you fall into that category though. Some of your posts are just “here’s what I did today” or “here’s where I got stuck in traffic again today” kind of things. That’s what I’m here for.

  • e.

    the internet is full of knee-jerk pop-psyche dimestore-backseat-shrinks who do nothing but whine and complain if you aren’t writing nonstop unicorns vomiting sunshine pills into a rainbow toilet.

    the best part about interactive blogging is the people.

    the worst part about interactive blogging is the people.

  • habitatgirl

    I just love the word “schadenfreude”. There’s just no word in English that comes close to it’s meaning.

    And btw, Macaddict is a useless git.

  • Ryan

    Okay, I just about lost it with:

    > nonstop unicorns vomiting sunshine pills into a rainbow toilet.

    That’s some beautiful imagery, man.