Fortunately, I’m now quite aware of this phenomenon.
Nothing can stay aloft forever.
The highs of a a bipolar manic episode might feel good, but the dip can be horrifying, as many of my readers know.
Think about all the times that you expected life to stay a certain way, that you wanted life to stay a certain way.
Did life ever obey your commands?
No, because it never does.
And that doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
It just means that you’re experiencing a dip.
And “dip” doesn’t have to mean bad. It doesn’t have to mean you’re stuck in a rut.
The dip is just the dip.
We are the ones who give meaning to it when we label it with our thoughts and emotions.
In fact, we assign meaning to absolutely everything.
“Dip” is just a word, just like “2021” is just a number.
How you interpret what is happening is the antidote.
It always has been, and it always will be.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to interpret yourself into a better state of mind.
But it’s necessary.
The dips in life paint the landscape. They give you perspective.
Without them, it would all just be one wide-open blur.
You may not appreciate the dips when they’re happening, but the dips are necessary for you to develop your appreciation muscle, period.
Think about that fact.
But not for too long.
Because the goal isn’t to obsess over the dips.
It’s to learn to see where you are.
Because once you know where you are, it gets much easier to see where you’ve been–and where you’re going next.