The "Normal" Pieces

You all know I strongly dislike the word normal. I feel that 1.) there's no such thing and 2.) being like everyone else would probably be boring as all hell. Maybe I'm just used to being one of those people that makes you go "hmmm".  But I rather like my uniqueness. There are certainly things about my life that I wouldn't choose if I was building it from scratch, but that doesn't mean I dislike myself overall.

However, I feel I focus a lot on my condition on this blog - since indeed that's the theme of it - and that I may at times come off as somewhere between an alien invader (albeit a cute one) and a side show circus act. Obviously, I'm exaggerating here. But I do realize that it may appear as though I'm always acting out or having a difficult cycle or being hypomanic or freaking out and truthfully, that's not the case. So, I thought I'd point out the ways in which I'm not that different from the rest of humanity. Because I really do a lot of every day things. Here are a few examples:

• I go to the gym and care about my general health and appearance. 

• Sometimes, I sleep in instead of going to the gym. 

• I go out for happy hour or hours or entire evenings. Hence bullet point #2. 

• I love dogs. I know most breeds, even mutts, simply by looking at them. Ok maybe that's not so "normal." But still, I love animals, like a lot of other people. 

• I have a coffee addiction. I fully admit it. No cream or sugar. I like the hard stuff. 

• I love music. Especially live. I wait all year for summer concert season.

• I travel every chance I get. 

• I get upset. It's not always because I have a condition. Sometimes, someone is being a jerk. Or I'm bloated and feeling gross. Or I've just almost gotten into an accident because some ass cut me off in traffic. Or I have a sinus infection and struggling to breath and who's happy when they can't breathe? Or I'm tired or hungry and it makes me grumpy. 

• I take off a nice Friday once in a while simply to enjoy the weather and some "me time". 

• I'm a huge sports fan. Sundays (and Monday nights and some Thursday nights) in football season are practically sacred. 

There are plenty more examples. But the point, that I'm sure you get by now, is that I'm not a alien-invading-side-show being. I'm a human being. I do stuff that everyone else does. I get happy about things that everyone else does. I get upset about things that everyone else does. I'm not a condition. I have a condition. I'm not defined by it. It happens. Not all the time, just sometimes. Less often than not in the general scheme of things. Like someone who has slightly clumsy tendencies and trips more the average person. Once or twice they might fall into your bookcase or china cabinet and break something important, and apologize profusely and you forgive them. They're still Bob or Mary Smith, who is a bit clumsy.  They're not "the-expensive-china-breaker." And I am not my condition.