Smartweed, with the folk name "smartass", has a behavior problem. Taken out of context, the stuff is attractive but then so are a lot of other things I can think of that are not always so nice or easy to take care of: my hair, my employee's, my sister.:) Apparently smartweeds are not so charming when you've pulled it up for the fifth time in one month either.
I finished reading Electroboy last weekend and I am still trying to process it all. Andy Behrman who is manic depressive and something of a "smartass" himself, tells of his raging mania into his thirties. He would make a spur of the moment decision to hop a plane to go see the Berlin wall come down, just because he felt he had to see it! While I certainly have impulses and obsessions, these are a bit over the top for me.
He changed jobs from filmmaker to go-go boy to opening a public relations business to working in a fashion house to a painting business. He made millions, only to find himself flat broke shortly thereafter. I have been running my own business since I was 21, I am now 45. I could list all the differences and some similarities, it's not important.
My point: Mental illness looks, acts and is different on everyone. I guess that is why it is a disorder in the BRAIN, and why unfortunately there is no cure yet. For some silly reason it is the last organ we still haven't figured out. Hummm? It is just so blasted complicated. I wonder if that is WHY we are so scared of these types of illnesses? We fear what we do not know or understand, it's natural.
The media and things you hear about are only going to be the sensational. That's called NEWS! Don't be sucked in, don't let it scare you and don't believe all of it! I'm not saying Andy Behrman's story is not true, I am saying it is unusual.
Smartweed and bipolar illness have one thing in common. You don't get rid of it. Controlling or managing it might be more achievable. In an interview with Stephen Fry, Andy Behrman gave these statistics: 20% of people with bipolar illness commit suicide. 40% never function well enough and must live with family members. 20% don't function at the level that they expected to function and end up working as clerks and cashiers. 20% stabilize, recover and go on to lead extremely productive lives.
Life can be at the very least sometimes...well, confusing?
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