Super Intense Marisa Imon

This is the preface to the book, "Super Intense" - please do not begin the book until you've listened to this preface. In this introduction I give backstory about living with Bipolar Type 1 and insight on my views about medicine and provide medical disclaimers. 
If you must skip it, just read this:
I'm not a licensed mental health professional. I'm just a human sharing my experience of living with intense emotions. This is not medical advice. This book (and myself) is neither for nor against medications - that's a decision between you and a mental health professional (and has nothing to do with me or this content).  This is essentially a quick-use handbook on how to live with intense emotions as a superpower.

Chapter 1 of the internationally bestselling book, "Super Intense: How Working with Your Emotional Intensity Makes You A Total Superhero", by Marisa Imon.
Narrated by, Marisa Imon
Learn more here.
Follow Marisa here. 
Discover your superhero name here.
Be your own superhero here.

Chapter 2 of the internationally bestselling book, "Super Intense: How Working with Your Emotional Intensity Makes You A Total Superhero", by Marisa Imon. 
Have you ever felt like your emotional intensity is "too much"? It's time to take it back as a total superpower because it is a strength worth celebrating.
Narrated by, Marisa Imon
Learn more here.
Follow Marisa here. 
Discover your superhero name here.
Be your own superhero here.

Chapter 3 of the internationally bestselling book, "Super Intense: How Working with Your Emotional Intensity Makes You A Total Superhero", by Marisa Imon.
Narrated by, Marisa Imon
Learn more here.
Follow Marisa here. 
Discover your superhero name here.
Be your own superhero here.

Chapter 4: It Starts...
Listen to Chapter 4 of the International Bestselling Book, Super Intense...
 
I don’t remember a lot from my sophomore semester in college when I experienced my first manic episode. That moment where I was overlooking the swan pond, I knew for sure that I was a superhero here to fight all injustices in this world.
 
Unfortunately, on any given moment I also believed I was an evil villain sent to destroy the superhero version of myself. As soon as the hero would get to work, the villain would do whatever she could stop her. You can imagine how messy this became. 
 
At this point in my life leading up to this, I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In fact, I had only just been diagnosed a few months earlier with depression, anxiety, ADD, insomnia and bulimia - even though the earliest I can remember feeling long-lasting, life-impacting depression was age ten, and I started binging and purging at fifteen to cope with anxiety. I never could focus in class and got by because I had friends who always made sure I knew what class to go to when and what homework was due (heaven forbid I kept track of my own schedule!). And I never would have considered myself someone who sleeps - even as an infant (sorry for all that night time screaming mom and dad!).
 
Looking back on my life now and recognizing how I experienced extended periods of intense lows and highs all my life, coupled with difficulty sleeping, it all feels so obvious. But at the time I thought bipolar just meant someone who was “moody” - something I thought was totally lame, because I proudly was way more intense than just being moody.  I had no idea it was a serious condition that could result in clinical insanity.
 
And then, there I was. 
 
Convinced my friends were plotting against me any time I wasn’t around. 
 
(Who “plots” against people anyway?)
 
Watching my face shape shift in the mirror every night after my roommates went to bed.
 
Listening to aliens talk to me through my headphones that weren’t plugged into anything....
 
And of course...spending time as a hero here to save the world, or an evil villain trying to destroy the hero version of me.

“You think you know how the world works? You think that this material universe is all there is? What is real? What mysteries lie beyond the reach of your senses? At the root of existence, mind and matter meet. Thoughts form reality...who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr. Strange?”
~The Ancient One, From Doctor Strange
The first lesson in your hero training is about how important it is to understand the power of your mind.
You create your own reality.
The last time you were depressed (maybe it’s right now), did you have people telling you that you should be happy? Isn’t it the worst?
You know their intentions are good. You know they mean well. You know you probably should be happy.
So why is it so annoying to be told that?
It’s because it goes directly against a belief you are holding within you. A belief that you are depressed. A belief that it’s too hard to change. A belief that it’s hopeless.
It annoys you for the same reason you feel like scratching someone’s eyeballs out when you play them your favorite song - you know the one that gives you goosebumps all over? - and they go, “I don’t really like that song.” How could they not like the best song ever? What is wrong with them???
It’s the same annoying feeling we have when we wonder, how could they tell us to be happy when we clearly can’t be? We get frustrated because it goes against what we feel and what we believe. And depression is one of the hardest beliefs to change, in my experience.
But when we start accepting that we are the ones who choose our beliefs, and that everyone else is choosing their own, we can’t take it personally any more. Their thoughts and opinions have nothing to do with us and everything to do with their own beliefs and biases.
Once I realized I can create my own reality by changing my beliefs, I started to get curious about where my beliefs came from anyway.
If we’re not choosing them for ourselves, then society and outside influences are choosing them for us.