Trusting Yourself Despite Bipolar
When you have bipolar disorder it can be difficult to trust yourself, whether it is in making big decisions or small ones. Being able to evaluate why you want to do something can lead to better decision making and, as a result, better decisions.
Trusting Myself to Buy a New Car
When it comes to decision making, I distrust myself for the smallest decisions, like getting my hair cut, to the huge ones, like buying a car.
I’ve needed to get a new car for a while now and a friend who sells cars has been helping me find the perfect one. I finally found one I loved, it looked as if it was in my price range, and it was everything I wanted in a car, plus I loved the color.
When faced with this decision I knew I need to get a new car, but the idea of actually making this huge commitment was nothing short of daunting. After all, what do I know about buying cars — or cars in general?
Why Do People With Bipolar Disorder Have a Hard Time Trusting Themselves?
When you have bipolar disorder, your relationship with reality can sometimes be strained. Once you have been proven wrong one too many times, you stop trusting yourself — sometimes in everything you do.
Suddenly, getting through the day and making decisions as simple as whether or not to buy a new dress to wear out with friends becomes an internal battle over whether or not you’re symptomatic.
Hypomania, mania, depression, and everything in between causes our brains to tell us things that aren’t true. When this happens enough, you start to doubt you brain and whatever it tells you.
How Can I Trust Myself?
I really wish I knew a foolproof way to trust yourself when you know your brain is untrustworthy. If I did, I would use it immediately and never have this problem again.
I do have a few tips on how to stop, look around, and see if your decision is a good one or a bad one. Before making a decision that’s causing you anxiety, ask yourself the following questions:
- Why do I want to do this? What is your primary motivation? What thoughts, emotions and ideas are driving you?
- What are the possible outcomes of this decision? Think of the best and the worst thing that could happen. Can you live with either one of them?
- What information do you have about this decision? Do you have all of the information needed to make this decision? If you have to guess, are you making educated guesses?
- Can you wait to make this decision? Are you feeling impulsive or is this something you really want to do? Wait and see if it still seems like a good idea in the morning.
Next page: overcoming distrust to make big decisions
