Envision for a moment, if you will, and that you are visiting the Grand Canyon. It's a beautiful day; the sky is clear; the sun is gazing down upon you, and you think to yourself, "This is a good day!" Suddenly you are approached by a man who points to the rim of the canyon and politely informs you that you must traverse the canyon on the wire suspended across it. You have no choice in the matter. Your very life depends upon it. So you slowly and carefully climb over the guardrail and peer down into the canyon. The rocky floor waits, approximately a mile below. It is a long way down. The man reminds you that you have no choice, you must cross. So you ask, "But where is the wire?"

"Right in front of you."

He laughs and then leaves. Finally you see the wire, but it isn't a thick wire as you might have imagined. It's so thin you can barely see it. Surely it will not hold you. But you must cross; you have no choice. Ever so carefully, you place your foot upon this wire that resembles fishing line, and you start to make your way across. It will take a lifetime to cross the canyon. You will, most definitely, slip off the wire from time to time. If you are lucky, you will somehow manage to hang onto that thread and pull yourself back up. At other times you will float above the wire, again, hanging on for your life so that you aren't hurled into space. From one day to the next, you don't know if you are going to fall or fly away. It's a precarious situation, at best; a deadly one at worst.

I have just described a typical life of someone who suffers from bipolar disorder. Stability is the wire, stretched across the canyon. At any given moment you can slip off the wire. It may happen in the blink of an eye, or it may creep up on you over a period of time. When you do slip, it's usually a drop into the canyon, where you encounter depression, or a mid-air flight, where you experience mania. In some instances, you hold onto the wire and spin around it, enduring what is known as rapid cycling (frequent shifts between depression and mania). In a few instances, the wire bisects you, leaving you half in depression and half in mania, otherwise known as mixed episodes. Whatever type of episodes you experience, know that you must constantly monitor yourself or you will lose your fragile grip upon the wire of stability. This means utilizing every resource available: from medication, to mood and sleep diaries, to diet and exercise, to educating yourself on the nuances of bipolar. Find a good psychiatrist and a good therapist. And whatever you do, don't let go of that wire.