“ Memory is not all that’s lost to madness. There are other kinds of damage, to the people in your life, to your sense of who you are and what you can do, to your future and the choices you’ll have. But there are some things gained. The years that have follow my decision to manage my mental illness have been challenging, sometimes painful, sometimes lovely. The life I live, even the person I am, is nearly unrecognizable compared to the life I had when madness was in control. There are things in common, obviously — my mental illness hasn’t gone anywhere, and it still, to some extent, shapes my every day. But my constant effort to learn to live with it, and live well, has changed the way I see it, they way I handle it, and it’s probably changed me.
Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher
