The Man Behind All The Mischief

First of all, I want to extend my gratitude to Our Lived Experience for providing me with the opportunity to become a part of their awesome team of bloggers. They have built a strong network of readers by educating the masses about bipolar and encouraging readers with or without bipolar to take control of their lives and people whom they know, for the better.

Some info about the man behind My Mind Mischief:

I am a high school (English and Social Sciences) teacher by trade – though it was not my preferred career choice, I have come to love it. I always imagined myself as a historian and a scholar in the field of history (I am working on it). So yes, I was the one of the dorks who took history with them (after completion of school) into my undergraduate studies.

Two of my most prized possessions are World War 2 books – one based on articles from A South African newspaper and another from a British Newspaper. Besides for that, my two cabinets at school are also filled with lots of history text books. One has to have many references, right? History always captivated my mind. I remember growing up as a child, I would be enthralled by my father’s Reader’s Digest books and documentaries (tried it on my kids and they preferred Cartoon Network instead).

So, what is it with me and bipolar?

I was diagnosed with bipolar type II a while back. It’s always around (from as early as my childhood days) and I could tell that I was not like everyone else. I would be happy one moment and the best person to have around, but then go to being the last person you’d want to think about. I have mixed episodes on a daily basis where I switch between mania and depression. I am often afraid to admit it, but I am nothing without my medication (though it may sound as if I am giving up). That is why each day I challenge myself to understand bipolar in its ever-changing shades and find a way to manage it without the dependency of modern medicine.

(For more info check out my post: A Bipolar Of Worlds to know more about my life with bipolar).

The people who form part of my nation of maladies:

Besides for being a teacher (never getting a break from children) and bipolar type II (never getting a break from all the mania) I have two children and a beautiful wife. So, our house is almost about knee-high deep in scattered toys and my drawers are inhabited with my wife’s cosmetics.

My wife and children are important elements in my life as they constantly encourage me to take care of my health. It is important for me to do so as I need to care for them too. My wife always finds something encouraging to say to cheer me up and tends to understand my illness better than I do at times. She committed herself to be more educated about bipolar after I was diagnosed with it, and for that I am thankful – for all the support she has given me.

We have a dog (named Bailey) which we adopted from TEARS. The first time we went to see the litter of puppies, we were immediately intrigued by one particular puppy; the one that kept on hiding himself behind the wooden door. We knew then and there that the shaky and sniggering caramel-coloured puppy would find a perfect home in our ‘bipolar house’.

The mind behind all the mischief:

My Mind Mischief (my blog) strives for a simple objective – taking all that bipolar embezzles us in – from long spells of depression to those dreadful manic episodes – to a place where we can make sense of it all.

We could all equate to the fact that bipolar is an illness that is snowed under with the obscurity of ‘mood-swings’ and ‘insecurities’ – its anonymity is overlooked by many. Thus, I created a blog to challenge and confront this notion of bipolar – through educating people not just about the disorder, but also providing alternative ways for people to manage bipolar.

It’s not all doom and gloom, trust me. My Mind Mischief looks at bipolar from a bipolarian perspective – taking into consideration the angle of spouses’ and family members – providing some wittiness to the blanket of darkness that consumes us.

It’s a blog where Grey’s Anatomy meets the Bill Cosby show – but mostly, where you can share in the comedy of bipolar and feel comfortable living with it (without Bill Cosby of course).

I hope that My Mind Mischief becomes fruitful in the future, as I continue to blog about the subject of bipolar along with all the miscellaneous experiences as I try to find my feet and help many others too.

That’s the man behind the mischief. A blog.

You can follow me @mymindmischiefblog.wordpress.com and ourlivedexperience.wordpress.com

Frank Moody