Being diagnosed with a disorder as mysterious and stigmatized as bipolar can be scary and even devastating.

I was psychotic the day I was diagnosed. I was in the hospital, and I never saw the psychiatrist again. I didn’t have the capacity to really let the words sink in.

It was after I got home that I realized the impact of my diagnosis.

As a teenager, I made everything tougher than it needed to be.

I argued when I was asked to do chores. I was miserable just to prove a point. I wouldn’t listen to good advice.

I was also a teenager with mental illness.

This year, I am actually well enough to put something worthwhile into Mental Health Awareness Month.

At this time last year, I was coming off of severe episodes of depression and mania after having to leave my Master’s program (more on that in a future article).

I was just starting a new job, and I was unsure of myself and what the future would hold.

“And I claim I’m not excited with my life anymore,

So I blame this town, this job, these friends,

The truth is it’s myself.”

-Modest Mouse, Talking S*** About a Pretty Sunset

Wanderlust. It’s a pretty word. The dictionary defines it as “a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.”

A large number of people with bipolar disorder have coexisting conditions.

It could be anxiety, a substance abuse disorder, an eating disorder, or in my case, ADHD.

Unless you’re well-to-do, your early to mid-20’s most likely consists of scheming to live on the cheap.

You’re pinching pennies everywhere, from grocery bills to mark downs at the department store.

But saving money when you’re bipolar can be especially hard.

I got my nails done for the first time in a while yesterday. I debated the idea this past week, knowing that it was an extra expense but I wanted to treat myself.

I’m glad I did it.

Living with mental illness is rarely easy. Everyone faces their own challenges, but perhaps being diagnosed with a serious mental illness — like bipolar disorder — is most difficult when you’re younger.

So that’s why I’m pleased to introduce Her Bipolar Life, with Kat Dawkins. I’ll let her explain the purpose of the blog in her own words:

This is the chronicling of Kat — and all young Bipolar women — navigating through life a little more creatively than most of the female population. It makes us stronger, it makes us more interesting, it makes us who we are.

How, as Bipolar women, do we blend the inevitable difficulties of Bipolar with the necessary demands of life—work, education, dating and marriage, relationships, children, self-care, body image? We will explore these issues and then some. I will provide young Bipolar women with something to relate to and something to learn from.

A new bipolar blog from a woman’s perspective focused on women’s issues? Sounds like a valuable addition to the Psych Central family (as well as for the Internet as a whole!). Please give her a warm Psych Central welcome.