Mania may feel good in the moment, but afterward, it can leave you feeling full of regret. Romanticizing mania is never a good thing.
Mania Feels Amazing …
Mania, in my opinion, has the greatest public relations team in the history of the world.
Let me explain why. See, when I’m manic, everything looks and feels amazing. Take this scenario, for instance …
I’m standing on the bar while a band is playing, and I’m rocking out.
People are cheering and yelling, and it’s wonderful. They’re all like, “This guy is great!”
And the band — which was hired to be there — is so amazed by my awesomeness that they completely stop playing.
Now everybody’s chanting, “Gabe, Gabe, Gabe, Gabe!” It’s incredible.
I buy everybody a round of whatever it is they’re having. Then, finally, the crowd carries me out of the bar, and everybody’s like, “Whoa.” And I’m like, “Yeah! Feels amazing!”
And everything is amazing.
And then, the next morning, I wake up, and all of my friends told me, “You got kicked out.”
Flat-out, “You got kicked out.”
“The band had to stop playing because you were so disruptive.”
“Security came.”
Meanwhile, I think, “I don’t remember it that way.”
Mania’s Encore: Bipolar Depression
Then I look at my credit card statement: a few thousand dollars! Now, I can’t pay rent, and the whole thing falls apart.
Everything just feels awful and terrible. And I’m so depressed.
Because of mania,
But what do I say?
“Bipolar depression is awful. It’s just so awful.”
And mania just skates on by.
Reality Check
The things that we do when we’re manic are often terrible. But we blame other forces for it, and we have to stop doing that.
Mania is destructive. Please stop romanticizing it.
UPDATED: Originally posted October 5, 2021