Dear Bipolar and Depression

Dear Bipolar and Depression,
I think by now you know how much I hate you both! Just the thought of you makes me sick to my stomach. My mind swirls with outrage at what you do to people. You try so hard to take lives and spin them out of control. You debilitate and cause amazing people to really feel the hopelessness that you have to offer.
You try to cause confussion, anger, sadness, frustration, outrage, and extremely low self worth. You try to make relationships fail by tearing apart loved ones who stand in the path of your destruction. You try to torture innocent people with your unending attacks on ones mind. You work and work day in and day out, you are tireless at executing your plans.
But let me tell you something dear bipolar and depression...You will NOT take me down without a fight! Just when you think you have me in your grasp I promise to wiggle my way out and when I break free I will come back at you with a vengence.
You cannot control me because I am strong...I am a fighter...I am your worse nightmere. I have fought this battle with you for so many years and I know what it takes to survive. I know your little tricks and I know the turns you take. But you know what? I am smarter, braver, and have more passion inside of me then you can even imagine.
The world is full of innocent people that you try to devour, but these people are strong too. Like me they know how to wage this war against you both. They are survivors as well. They have hope and determintation that puts you to shame. They have stood up time and time again only to have you try to knock them down. But guess what? They will continue to stand up and eventually you will feel their wrath.
I want you to know you have not won this battle of our minds and you never will. The world is standing up together and making some noise. We are who we are, we are loud, and we are proud! So understand this, you are NOTHING, we are EVERYTHING, and we will continue to put YOU to shame until our time on earth is done!

I Will Fight

I get mad, furious, and so outraged I can throw a dish across the room. I get sad, depressed, and cry so much that I run out of tears. I get overwhelmed, frustrated, and discouraged to the point of feeling hopeless. But I also can be so happy that I feel my soul will overflow with joy.
I have experienced abuse at the hand of someone I thought loved me and felt the pain of being left to stand on my own. But I have also felt the warm embrace from a man who truly does love me. A man who holds my hand when I am scared, who wipes the tears from my face when I am sad, who lifts me up when I have fallen, and who challenges me every day to fight my battles with everything I am.
At 37 years old I have already fought an overwhelming amount of battles that no one should ever have to fight, but yet so many of us do. We fight and we fight and we fight some more. And no matter how many times we hear those words...fighting makes you stronger...we have a hard time believing it. But it is so true. With every battle we fight we do gain strength. It isn't the battle that makes us strong, it is the fight within us.
I am unique, creative, loving, kind, caring, supportive, loud, and proud. I am proud of who I am, proud of where I have come from, and proud of where I am going in life. I am proud of how hard I have fought to win this battle against mental illness. And I will continue to fight with all that I am. I will fight for myself, but I will also fight for others.
I will fight for those people who feel they are alone, abandoned, and afraid...I will stand up to those who call us "psycho", "crazy", "insane", and let them know exactly what they are up against. They are  up against individuals who never know, from one day to the next, what they will feel or experience, yet they survive. Individuals who can be in the depths of despair, yet pull themselves out and survive. Individuals who never stop fighting no matter what the odds and no matter what the battle is. Individuals like you and me! Fighters with the greatest will in the world to survive!