You don't hear about mental illness much in the blogging community, though I'm sure a fair few of us deal with it on a daily basis. Part of that might be because, as bloggers, we strive to share the good parts of our lives: our interests, our adventures, and things that make us happy. It's hard enough to talk about mental illness in our every day lives; it's even harder to address it in the happy little worlds we have created for ourselves and our readers.

Depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder... These are terms that most people are somewhat familiar with, but we don't always understand how they can affect the lives of those who have them. For example, some people may experience being depressed without having depression and, because of that, it is often used as a synonym for sad. Thanks to Katy Perry, a lot of people think bipolar disorder is just a case of being hot and cold... And, as someone who struggle with being bipolar, that is far from the truth.

Okay, it's actually not that far from the truth. If you wanted to really simplify it, that would be a decent way of putting it. But, for me, the best description comes from what it used to be called: Manic-Depressive Disorder. That's what being bipolar is: a cycle of ups and downs, periods of being manic and periods being depressed.

You may notice that on my blog I go through times of regular activity followed by periods of complete and utter inactivity. That is an effect of my bipolar disorder. I have periods of depression, which doesn't always translate to sad. Sometimes it just means I lose motivation and drive or I feel lackluster, so to speak. Then I will have manic episodes, which are usually when I'm most motivated and productive. That doesn't mean manic episodes are great-- though, they usually feel that way. Manic episodes also come with impulsive behavior. That behavior was a lot worse when I was younger; now it mostly just shows itself in some reckless spending habits.

I also have generalized anxiety disorder, similar to Zoe and Tanya of YouTube fame. For me, this most presents itself socially. I don't like making phone calls, I'm awful at regular conversation... I always fear that I'm doing or saying something wrong. It also manifests itself in other ways, but these are the most common.

Mental illness is something I think we need to address-- in the blogging community and in society at large. Often I've felt that, because of my mental illness, I can't be successful in the blogging world. But I think that the more we talk about these issues and support one another in these discussions, the better off the blogging community will be.