Illustrating What Bipolar Depression Feels Like

It’s been a difficult week.

I have a mental illness - bipolar disorder. It’s difficult to do much of anything during a depression but painting whenever possible works wonders. It gives me a rest from my brain.

Describing the extreme highs and lows of bipolar disorder can be so difficult. This illustration, titled The Hole, is my attempt to show what a bipolar depression feels like. It's like falling into a black hole far below a world where the sun shines for everyone else because they have their shit together.

It’s lonely in that hole but I have a list of actions to take when despair is all I feel:

• take a shower and brush my teeth even when I don’t feel like it
• call someone who thinks I’m awesome
• tell myself that this is a storm that will pass even though my brain tells me otherwise
• eat some comfort food
• watch a favorite movie or tv show (When Harry Met Sally, The Office, Seinfeld)
• listen to some calming music (personal fave Miles Davis, Kind of Blue) 

What do you do to make it through a bad day?