Receiving a diagnosis such as bipolar or depression or ADHD or whatever can sometimes feel like a hit to the self-esteem. When I received my diagnosis of ADHD I handled it much better than that of my diagnosis of bipolar. Bipolar, for some reason, knocked my self-esteem down quite a bit for a while. I now realized that a number of things I was struggling with were never going away and that I would always have an extremely hard road ahead of me. It felt personal. It felt like somehow I had failed.
It wasn’t until I learned about the true nature of my diagnoses, coping mechanisms and a lot of self-care that I was finally able to see the other side. Being bipolar, depressed, hypomanic, anxious, ADHD, whatever, has nothing to do with me. They certainly have nothing to do with my self-esteem. They are merely components that make me part of the unique individual that I am.
Now, this is not to say that I still don’t get down on myself but I have found coping mechanisms to help get my by through the tough times. Some of the major players are exercise, eating healthy, staying engaged with friends and having extra compassion for myself when things just don’t seem to be going right. None of these disorders hinders my abilities or self-worth as a human being. Yes, I may have to find a more creative way around certain obstacles to get what I where I want to go but there is no way that they are going to stop me from achieving my goals.
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