My survival guide for living with Borderline personality disorder-
- Identifying and confirming that you have BPD.
The VERY first step, because how can you work on something that you don’t know is there? Knowing is literally almost half the battle. Read as much as you can on the subject. This is important even more so for the family and loved ones trying to support the person with BPD. In a lot of cases, it is the unknown we fear the most, and when we shed light on to the unknown it takes some of that fear away.
When people act and make decisions based on fear is when bad choices are made. Also when someone with BPD might feel most out of control and impulsive.
I am more inclined to have a manic episode when I feel backed in to a corner. When I feel like I don’t have any choice or way out of whatever seems to be plaguing me at that moment. The more we can understand and know about the illness, the less scary it becomes. As a person with BPD, I know the symptoms can be very extreme and it can make the situation 1000x worse if you have no idea what is going on.
When you know, okay this is my BPD not me, then you can begin learning what triggers those horrible feelings within (because they can FEEL horrible to the point of pain).
I would also like to throw in a disclaimer that I am STILL learning how to identify my OWN triggers, and not everyone’s illness presents itself the same way either. Mine just so happens to manifest itself as extreme manic episodes of anger and rage. Even though I have made a lot of progress over time, and it happens less frequently, it still happens.
That’s why education and identification of the illness and triggers is going to be step one on this survival guide.
I plan on making Step 2 in a separate post, because the point of this is to resonate and stick with people who need to see it the most, and still I want to make the message clear, and concise. I want to reiterate the fact that I DO still struggle with my own Borderline personality disorder (BPD), and everyday I work towards building a healthy, stable life of value. Something I like to say is, We’re gonna get there I promise. I haven’t been able to do this alone, and trying to go it alone doesn’t have a very high success rate, BUT the good news is you really don’t have to do it alone.
Allow strangers, who are completely unbiased and have no reason to lie in order to stroke your ego, to help and create an atmosphere of positivity, and support.
They are the best, because they have no reason to go out of their way to say those nice things other than out of their own desire to do so.
I am an admin for a Facebook page that revolves around humanity being kinder to one another as a whole, and working together as a team. Not an “every man for himself” kind of mindset. So far I have not needed to filter out negative content on that page, or dictate what can and can’t be posted, because it seems that the people who would even be interested in the group would not be those who spread more hatred in to the world.
That is my plan for this blogging site. To create a safe space. A place where the users are genuinely caring and non judgmental, and I believe I can create that for those in need of that kind of support network. As much as the internet has caused a rift in society, I say we can and should really use this tool to work in our favor. Not against us.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Things are better when we work together.
You, Me, and Borderline 