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Hi Warriors! It’s been a little over a year since I started making these videos and I couldn’t be happier with how people have responded to them. I get a lot of questions from people who reach out to me and sometimes they are topics worth making a video about. This is one of those…
I get a lot of great questions from the community and have noticed a pattern with some of them. I’ve had many people ask me lately what medications I’m taking, who my therapist or doctors are, how I’m able to make videos like this, etc. I realized that most people only see me when “I’m at my best” on video! They see a guy who “looks healthy and has his shit together enough to help others.” That’s not quite the reality of things in my life. This can create a “false standard” or expectation of what “Bipolar stability” is for people looking for direction. I wanted to share a little bit about my system of how I continually work on content – only when I’m well.
As a great analogy, just think about people’s Facebook walls… You don’t see pictures of divorce paperwork, kids fighting, or bank account statements in the red. We only see people’s best smiling pictures, their new car after they cleaned it, the perfect happy family, you name it. We have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes of people’s lives. I care so much about authenticity with my channel and thought it would be helpful to let all of you know that I’m human! I go through the exact same difficult struggles that we all do. I’ve learned a lot about managing my Bipolar Disorder and that’s helped a LOT, but that doesn’t mean it will go away for good. There are still plenty of days (or weeks) where the sky is falling in my life and that’s ok. It’s part of our life experience living with Bipolar Disorder. It took me a while to holistically accept this. The bad times are normal and why we should all work together in Communities like this to talk openly about those times.
You are NOT alone fellow Polar Warriors!
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“I realized that most people only see me when “I’m at my best” on video! They see a guy who “looks healthy and has his shit together enough to help others.”
WELCOME TO POLAR WARRIORS: If this is your first time visiting my website or channel, welcome to “the Polar Warrior experience!” My channel is completely dedicated to helping individuals, families, and friends who struggle with, or know someone living with Bipolar Disorder. My goal is to provide actual Bipolar tools and to discuss topics which can potentially help “Polar Warriors” grow to live a more balanced, peaceful, and fulfilling life.
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Rob are you in a relationship and if so, how does your significant other handle it? The reason I ask is I use to work at a psych children and youth hospital and a few of the kids would act out and when security came for them, they would start screaming for me to come help them because I was one of the secretaries that would talk to them to get them calm. They didn’t want to talk to the doctor or security guards but they would talk to me. I don’t know why, but I could always get them to calm down. There’s a guy that I like and I wanted to ask you about something because I think he’s bipolar, but I will stop here because I don’t want this to be too long.
Hi Thelma! I offer private coaching sessions through our website if you would like to arrange a phone or video chat. I’d be happy to answer your questions and help in any way I can. I also have an amazing Community on “Patreon” where people can message me directly for support. I hope you have a peaceful week and stop by Polar Warriors anytime =)
-Rob
Rob,
What I have to say is similar to a lot of what you hear from people. But I don’t think I have seen a video or comment regarding my part in the story and the question that plagues me. A little over 5 weeks ago my daughter, age 28, packed up her clothes and left her live-in boyfriend and her beloved dog. Her boyfriend has been there for her for nearly 3 years and understands her more than anyone. She has left before and made horrible life choices. Each time she seeks him out when the mania fades and she wants stability in her life. Last year I agreed to help them both by moving them to the state we live in now to be near us and to remove her from the trigger heavy atmosphere she was in. I bought a ‘fixer-upper’ that they have lived in for over a year. She only just recently was able to go back to work in her trade. Her anxiety and depression make it nearly impossible for her to function enough to work for very long. Just this year she agreed to seek professional help again and has been on a mood stabilizer for months, as well as something for her anxiety and to help her sleep. The doctors were working with her to find the right cocktail for her symptoms before she left. Just one week before she left she expressed how much she loved me and how well everything was going. Now she has cut us all off and we have no way of getting ahold of her. She thinks we are the enemy and trying to make her into someone she can’t be. We know approximately where she is and who she is with.
She was diagnosed at 14 as bipolar non-specified. She took medication and went to therapy until she turned 18 and left home. She is bipolar 1, rapid cycling and suffers horrific anxiety. She has struggled with alcohol for years and right before this last episode, she had a relapse and revealed to me that she was also using cocaine when she went out drinking. From what we see she uses alcohol and now cocaine when she is manic and doesn’t want any of it when she is fairly stable.
The twist in this is that I am also bipolar, but type 2, and mainly suffer from depression. We both appear to be serotonin sensitive which has made it difficult taking mood stabilizers. I have been on an anti-anxiety, anti-depression medication for nearly 12 years. My dad was diagnosed bipolar after he attempted suicide in 2006. All I ever knew is that he drank quite a bit and took pain pills. He killed himself as soon as he was released from the mental hospital. My brother killed himself the same way my dad did this last March, 2020. He was depressed and in a lot of physical pain. My first cousin killed himself in April. From what I learned he must have been bipolar as well.
Your videos have been so helpful for me and for her boyfriend over the last weeks. We appreciate your approach and insight. We hope that she will return at some point and we want her to watch all of your videos. It is validating and comforting to know this illness we deal with is real and there is hope. But I am extremely concerned what my daughter might do to herself. I’ve been told to ‘let her hit bottom’ and to stop ‘enabling her’, but I know she is sick; not just an addict or alcoholic. Some say I should have her taken to a hospital for evaluation even if it is against her will. Rob, you said you had to figure it out for yourself and no one could have helped you until you were ready. And you have also said your family took action when needed. This is the question that plagues me daily – should I let her figure it out the hard way or do we attempt to find her and get her the help she needs? This is as short a version I could come up with, but I know there must be others who struggle as we do out there.