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This includes avoiding drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and energy drinks that can be overstimulating. Maintain healthy habits that promote both physical and mental wellness: Eating healthy and exercising regularly can improve your overall wellness, including your emotional wellness.

For example, if you want a new job, the goal wouldn’t be “get a new job.” Smaller attainable goals would be: write a resume, write a cover letter, spend 20 minutes a day to research jobs, apply to one job a week, make one new contact a week, etc. This is especially important for your bedroom so you can have a relaxing, restful place to sleep.īreak down your goals into smaller, attainable tasks: If there’s a large goal you want to achieve, each step towards that main goal should be a small goal you can accomplish along the way. If you need help getting control over your finances, talk to a financial advisor, accountant, or even a responsible friend or family member.Ĭreate a calm environment at home and avoid over-stimulating environments: If you have fewer things around to distract you and you keep a clean home, it will encourage a peaceful atmosphere and mood. Stick to a financial budget: Keep a close eye on your income and, in particular, your spending. In a sleep journal, write down how much sleep you get each night. Keep a sleep log: Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Nowadays you can schedule your meds to be delivered automatically, so there’s no need to manually refill the order every time.Īdhere to a daily routine or schedule: If you write out your schedule and have a similar routine every day, it will be easier to notice when you start to deviate from it. Refill your medication before it lapses: When you have a week or so left of pills, refill your prescription so there’s no gap. Everyone is different, so it’s important to know yourself, your baseline, and your common symptoms for when mania sets in. You may experience none, some, or all of these. Keep in mind that not everyone will experience the same symptoms. This feeling on its own is not dangerous, but is a good indicator that mania is setting in. Risk-taking: are you engaging in risky behaviors that you normally wouldn’t do? This can include driving fast, increased promiscuity, substance abuse, or other thrill-seeking behaviors.įeeling euphoric: when people come out of a prolonged depressive episode, mania can seem enjoyable because of the feelings of euphoria that often accompany it. Knowing your baseline level of self-esteem can help you determine if what you are experiencing is healthy self-love and self-esteem or if it’s mania. Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity: while it’s important for everyone to have a healthy self-esteem and love themselves, people who are experiencing mania have an elevated self-esteem that is more like overly confident and arrogant to the point they feel like they’re on top of the world or invincible. Overspending: if you start to be careless with your money, buying things you normally wouldn’t, or making huge purchases without talking to someone else about it, it could be a sign that you are transitioning into or experiencing a manic episode. Are you having a difficult time sticking to your routine or keeping appointments? Not keeping commitments or sticking to a schedule: it’s important to stick to a schedule when you have bipolar disorder. Inability or unwillingness to sleep: have your sleeping habits changed recently? Even if you feel like you have lots of energy, any changes in the amount you’re sleeping could be an indicator of a manic or depressive episode.ĭisorganized or easily distracted: have you started a project but haven’t been able to follow through? Are you bouncing from task to task and can’t focus? Are you taking on more than you can chew? Can’t stop moving? It could be the onset of mania. Are you able to sit still? Do you need to keep moving your fingers or tapping your feet? Test yourself by taking a moment to sit still in a quiet room. Restlessness or fidgety behavior: stop and notice what your body is doing. Irritability and frustration: if you find yourself more easily frustrated or irritated by others, especially over matters or incidents that normally wouldn’t bother you, this could be a sign that mania is setting in. Are they having a difficult time understanding you? Are they asking you to slow your speech? It may be easier to test yourself by picking up on others’ cues.

One way to test this is to ask yourself if everyone else around you seems like they’re speaking slowly. Talking rapidly, unable to be understood easily: it’s often difficult to be able to tell if you are speaking quickly.
