Hello all, I go by Quinn. Here’s a short introduction for those of you unfamiliar with me. I am young, 21. A college student studying the hard sciences. I am ambitious and highly goal-oriented. At the same time, I am very lazy. My dream is to be a psychiatrist, not just to help people, but to truly understand mental illness and the treatments we use.

I myself have bipolar, type 1. I also have a few other unknown mental disorders, things I won’t talk about just yet. Most of what I will talk about will be personal stories- how my bipolar has affected my life. But don’t think that means I have wild, crazy stories. I am not the thing of movies or books. I am very real. Every bipolar person is different. But for the most part, I am just average. I have my tales but mostly, I am just a student trying to get through university while living with this disorder.

It can be interesting and it can be boring. Bipolar is not always being the glamorous but “crazy” girl they portray. Sometimes it’s just the quiet girl who sits next to you in organic chemistry. Or the weirdly talkative lab partner who can’t focus on counting marbles for the population experiment in biology lab. It is your friend who can magically turn into the life of the party, making everybody laugh while she giddily bounces around with energy. And at other times, she’s the friend you know who mixes her Xanax with alcohol, or cuts herself, or engages in any dangerous behavior… but then smiles at you, and says she has it all under control- “Don’t worry.”

Again, every bipolar person is different. That’s why it’s important to remember that when you read one account it does not invalidate another’s account. My story is different and unique. But at the same time, I possess a certain set of qualities that qualify me as bipolar. We are alike, but that does not deny us of uniqueness.

I am Quinn and I am here to share my story.

-Quinn

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