I’m writing this plan casually. I didn’t organize everything ahead of time with pen and paper. Instead, I’ll freestyle since I know the main categories.

Mastering Bipolar Mania

The primary objective is mastering and managing manic episodes. My last experience showed progress: for the first time, I was able to ride it out without major disruptions in my personal or professional life, and I even supported a friend while managing my own condition.

So what am I going to do to refine this mastery?

Internal Family Systems

This is at the top of my list. The work I did with IFS was the main differentiating factor that got me through that last manic episode. IFS gave me the internal clarity to bring different parts of myself to different situations. This was crucial to keeping my job. It wasn’t perfect, but I did my best to leave all of the “weird” parts at the doorstep when I got to work.

I didn’t originally decide to do IFS as a means to help manage bipolar mania. I was just working on becoming a better version of myself. Managing bipolar mania was an unintended effect. Now the gears have shifted. I’m actively using IFS specifically for mania. I recently saw my therapist. She gave me solid advice on how to use the system for mania by exploring the parts that show up during a manic episode. These are parts that I hide when I’m “normal” because I associate them with mania, so I’m afraid to really face them. Now I’m working through decoupling the parts from the biology of a manic episode.

Manic episodes aren’t about being “crazy”, although they present themselves this way for many people around the world, including me. Manic episodes are biological changes that increase energy and alter brain function. My thesis, and has been for a long time, is that if my brain is “organized,” I should be able to go through a manic episode without incident. I’ve been looking for a framework to organize my brain for a long time. IFS is a huge missing piece. IFS honestly might have practically everything I’ve been missing.

Interpersonal Social Rhythm Therapy

This was designed specifically for people with bipolar 1. It’s simple. Go to bed at the same time. Eat at the same time. Let the people around you know you’re managing your mental health. This makes it easier to do healthy things. I’ll lay out the exact protocol for this on the Flow page.

Watching Biological Metrics

Sleep is one of the biggest indicators of an energetic shift. I was tracking it with a sleep app on my phone for the longest time. Last year, I realized I needed to step up my game and get a sleep tracker. I got a Fitbit. When I looked at the historical data from when I was manic, I got a very clear signal from sleep. It wasn’t just that I was averaging 3 hours a day for the week. Way before that, I could see sleep dropping slightly. That’s something I’ll now pay attention to on a weekly basis. The other stat that indicated an energy shift was resting heart rate. It would either rise or be erratic.

I’ll be using these two measures to help me know if my biology is shifting towards a manic episode.

Feeding My Parts

Going back to IFS, two major parts that go into overdrive during a manic episode are the art and spiritual parts. I’m very artistic and spiritual, but those sides of myself are suppressed because I associate them with mania. If I start getting artistic or spiritual, I get worried. Instead of suppressing these parts, I’ve made a routine for them. I do a little art in the form of drawing every day. I do a little spirituality in the form of divination with oracle cards. I’ve been doing this for about a week already, and it feels great. These new routines will also act as a litmus test for how my energy is. If I stop them, or start spending more time on them, it’s all data for where my energy is.

I’m sure there are other parts to discover and feed, but these are the two I’m focused on right now.

Health

One meal a day, fasting style. That’s worked out well for me and feels good. It also forces me to eat healthier. If I’m just eating once a day, it needs to be good!

No refined sugar. Sugar just… isn’t good. I’ll only have sugar with fruit during my one meal a day.

No alcohol. As far as physical health goes, alcohol is all bad. Especially the way I drink! It’s also super bad for mania. It messes up sleep, and messed-up sleep can trigger manic episodes.

Evening and morning routines. The most important of these routines is going to be and waking up at the same time. Apparently, the science on how impactful this is for people with bipolar 1 is very strong. Take meds at 10:30 pm and up at 8 am.

Start cooking again. Two cycles ago, I was cooking for myself every day. It felt really good. This is while my wife was away. When she came back, I fell back into my old, non-cooking habits. Time to reboot and enhance that habit.

Meditation. I like meditation, though I haven’t been practicing it lately. When I do meditate, life seems better. I’m not sure if meditation makes life better or if I meditate because life is better—it’s probably a bit of both. I’m also continuing to experiment with different meditation styles.

Hip exercises. I’ve seen some therapists and learned some exercises, but nothing really stuck. I’m now working on some exercises Gemini came up for me, and they’ve been great! I’m only a few days in, but I can already feel the results. I’ll keep these up and see if I make progress.

Conclusion

This is a lot of stuff! Doing these 108-day cycles over and over has taught me something. My capacity to start a bunch of “new” habits has increased a lot. This is because the habits aren’t brand new. I’m restarting old habits. Even when I add something new, like drawing every day, there’s already a similar habit: journaling. The new habit can “learn” from the old one.

This is my plan for the next 108 days. Wish me luck!

Note: I made the hip seem like a footnote here, but it’s a HUGE part of this 108, and the 108s to come. Getting full mobility back in my hip is my top priority, right behind figuring out how to successfully navigate mania.