Sharing Deepak’s inspiring story~
I am assuming that all of you visitors on the Bipolar India website already know what bipolar disorder is. But a Bipolar Champion? Yes! A champion who has conquered Bipolar Disorder.
When I was working in a job which was stressful (my choice of being workaholic), mechanized and overdoing my work, it led to a burn out. I couldn’t sleep well, thinking about thousands of students in their turmoil, continuous changes in the ERP system, loads of logistics to be managed and new responsibilities adding on too fast.
In computer lingo, my system crashed at the age of 33.
When an operating system crashes it needs a reboot. I went on a sabbatical but enrolled for an MBA program as I thought I lacked management skills. This helped me a great deal to start life with a fresh perspective.
I knew I was Bipolar thanks to information from my Internet searches and my mood swings. I understood quite early that something is really wrong with my lifestyle. What was more astonishing was that I was meeting more people of similar lifestyle trauma who were burnt out in their stressful jobs and were being diagnosed as Bipolar. Though I am not an expert on this subject but I will just share my personal experience.
What essentially led me into trouble was overdoing things which I should not have been doing. With the advent of Internet I was in office 24×7, 7 days a week, Non Stop. Come on, even machines do need a rest. I was only human.
Later, I discovered by reading that I was an empath, sensitive and prone to emotional bouts. Hence instead of taking regular vacations and recreations I was searching google for answers about life.
I am currently in my job and I do have insecurity about this article getting published in public domain. I couldn’t justify rise in my income level with career gaps and frequent job changes in interviews. But now I would like to come out in open and declare that yes I was detected as a person with mood swings. I didn’t get a certificate for being a Bipolar but yes that’s what my doctor told me what I was.
He has been a great support and to tell you frankly, he hasn’t charged me any fee since 2004!!
I could muster the strength to tell the world about my experiences because Dr. D. M. Gulabani of Pune has been instrumental in my recovery. If I could become a Bipolar Champion the credit goes to him and also to my family who supported me through my struggle.
I came across Bipolar India website on google search and found a common ambition to create a peer group of Bipolar Champions. I would also like to create an awareness in corporate circles for sensitizing them about the challenges employees face due to high stress environment. In case you have any ideas or suggestions about it, please feel free to share with us.
Ultimately it’s just mind over matter.
XoXo
Deepak M.
Bipolar Champion
(This is a true account shared on a voluntarily by Deepak to inspire our tribe.
Bravo, Deepak!)
