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Introducing Righting The Ship

We steer the boat of our lives into healing and recovery. (from a former X account @CombatstressVet on March 26, 2021)


When I read that sentence, I immediately thought of the name I've given this blog, Righting The Ship. To me, this sentence perfectly captures why I chose that name.


Righting The Ship is about weathering storms, about correcting the list towards depression or hypomania caused by those storms. It’s about grabbing hold of the helm and steering the ship towards healing and recovery.


The name is three small words that evoke hope, balance, and future. I can imagine approaching the rocky shoals of depression and despair, or the oncoming rogue waves of overwhelming hypomania.


The ship is storm-tossed, yet I see the lighthouse shining ahead, directing me to the safer path. It offers solitude ahead thereby preventing me from capsizing, from sinking, and from losing my way.


I admit I did think of being clever with the name, calling the blog Writing the Ship. This, I felt captured the importance that writing has offered to my healing.


But that clever name, perhaps too clever, diminished the image I had in mind of the tall ship, battered and wind-tossed, alone, desolate, struggling to remain upright and afloat.


This lone ship is me, finding a way to prevail through my illness, Bipolar II Disorder.


That lone ship is YOU as well. You prevail, just as I do. You find a way to weather your own storms, right the lists of your own ship.


Bipolar II Disorder is one of many illnesses that are difficult to navigate, but not impossible. There are ways to manage, to steer.


I believe that it’s incumbent on us to share how we manage, how we steer.


In Righting The Ship, I try to do this, for you and for me. Together, we can manage the storms of our illnesses. Together, we can weather the storms of Bipolar II Disorder.

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Location: Ontario, Canada

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