Mental illness; well, any illness, is never by-the-book. Every case will be different and every individual will handle their diagnosis and symptoms differently. Some with humor and enlightenment. Some with fear and isolation. Some like the superheroes that those with a chronic illness have a tendency to be.
Me? I have a tendency to vacillate between humor and isolation in said handling of my bipolar disorder and all that comes with it. Okay, so mostly the isolation part, but I can be humorous, damn it! No, it’s true, you have to learn how to laugh~ at yourself, at life, at your reaction to life. I know, I know… there are times when others aren’t laughing with you. We’ll just not talk about those times right now, though.
What could possibly be funny about bipolar disorder or any of its symptoms you might ask? I’ll be honest~ not a lot in the moment, but if you allow yourself I bet you can look back on some things you may have done or said and find a giggle or two hiding in there somewhere.
Maybe I shouldn’t make light of it. Maybe I should. I don’t know. I just know that I have a tendency to laugh at the most inappropro of times and at the most inappropro things (much to my mother’s dismay) ~ including myself and the various shit I have said and done over the years when I’ve been hypomanic. And I’m okay with that.
It keeps me sane.
Greetings From A Squiggly Mind 
I’d rather laugh than cry 😀
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Me too 🙂 Some days are harder than others, but it’s so worth it to find those moments where you can laugh at yourself.
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You’re damn right that to ‘find the funny’, I HAVE to laugh at myself and my mental illness related conundrums and unthinkable situations, because if I didn’t ’find the funny’, then I’d just be fucked on its own. I’d rather be so fucked it’s funny AS fuck, because, well, THANK fuck my brain can still manage to achieve a comedic angle in its self analysis and often excruciating existence due to neural networks built upon trauma, so you can imagine that metaphorically as a ‘road’ which is built upon terror, and so all the drivers and travellers who have to navigate this path, are filled with repetitive terror.
Sometimes, my humour could be considered a tad ‘too dark.’
I’ll risk giving you a non fictional real life example: I once had to conclude that ‘cakes save lives’, because when I dropped from my bannister with a ligature tied around my neck, the bastard snapped under my weight and I was just left on the ground, furious to not only still be alive, but now also officially too fat for my own noose, with two broken ribs, and an absolute misfire of an attempt to end my story there.
Take it as you will, I personally think: whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and funnier. Xx
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