I found your post very painful and identified with. I felt so good on friday with Maria. I wonder if you could do teaching as a second language. I bet you would be awesome at it and you already know at least two languages. I wonder what the requirements would be. You love to help people. Your creativity would come into play. just a thought. I do have confidence in you and feel strongly that down the road you will find something that will give you a purpose. It might not be following your bliss but it will relieve pressure so you can then follow your bliss in music and art.
love
bobby

Dear Bobby,

Years ago for one year, I taught English as a second language at a middle school in a relatively expensive neighborhood. The students had just arrived from South America. They were the nicest group of students I ever taught.
I was having a very hard time that year with med changes. Those students were good to me.

M

Dear Bobby
indeed, that is what i figured i'd have to try. i have academic background in languages but a cert course is also needed. but before that can happen i have to get feeling "ok" again. :o i have taught before (English, French, and computers) and found it rewarding. it can be frustrating too, but it's human. i need something human.

love

~ waves ~

Dear Bobby,
Probably some non-bipolar people move in and out of jobs and positions to some degree. . . . Maybe your lawyer was pointing out how many times you re-invented yourself.
I think it is great you studied Latin and did well. I wish I knew some Latin.

It's a bipolar thing. Mine manifested in my mid 20s. I got hit with depression and debilitating anxiety. Meds mostly alleviated both, but now I have brain fog. The brain fog seems to be worse this weekend . . . and just when I have to get some work done.


M

Dear Waves,

You sound confident in your decision about the next road.

M

a bipolar work record--there is such a thing?
 

As much as I keep reading & asking, the pile of what I don't know just seems to grow outrageously. My first job was a dream come true, my next job amazing, & the next *through the sky* unbelievable. Even with my drinking at alcoholic levels, I kept getting work at top money.
The drinking was to squash the situational depression. I couldn't handle my husband's & daughter's deaths. Finally a producer cared enough to take me to AA. Drinking quit working. When I quit drinking thru AA, things got better ... but I could never get back to the professional level. Never tried; knew I no longer had it.

I've done fine in my new careers, but I've always felt them failures. I thought this was as good as it could be. Could the alcohol have been hiding bipolar whatever-it-is? Was it maybe never depression but something bipolar then?

Oh, well. Curious. Doesn't matter. Things are good enough, considering.

Oh, but Bobby! How I wish I'd been with you in college when you met your prepschool Latin teacher & reported your college Latin grades: A's!! Yep, wish I'd been there then :p!

Dear BlueCarGirl,
I'm making a guess here because I don't know 100% what the lawyer meant. I think that lots of people with bipolar move around, but other folks move too:

According to gov stats one age segment of the baby boomers held an average of 11 jobs from ages 18 to 44. I'd like to know how many different careers they entered. (Maybe that is too hard to determine -- to figure out what counts as a separate career.)
http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsfaqs.htm#anch41

Yes. Very likely. Many of us who are diagnosed bipolar have lots of depressives and alcoholics in our families -- at least I do.

M

mymorgy has started a new thread to continue this discussion, as with this one over 1000 posts, it slows the speed of the forum

here is the link to SAD/continued http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread159248.html