And I Have A Name

I am Bipolar.

I am addiction.

I am an illness.

I am a disease.

Yet I am not contagious.

You won't catch anything from looking at me.

You won't catch anything from talking to me.

Being around me won't suddenly take years off your life.

I am not here for your amusement.

I am not here for you to ridicule.

I am not here for you to point fingers at.

I am not here for you to talk about because I have "something".

I am not here to make you feel better about yourself because you don't have my "disease".

I am not a lesser person than you are.

I am a person.

I have a heart.

I have a mind.

I have emotions.

I have a face.

I have seen the best and worst of humanity.

I wear my scars, both inside and out, with pride.

I have seen the darkest levels of Hell and the highest glories of Heaven.

I am healing.

I am growing.

I have turned myself inside out to get to this point in time.

And I have a name.

My name isn't "disease."

It isn't "illness".

It isn't "Bipolar".

It isn't "Addiction".

It is the one I give you to call me by.

I am me, no matter what you think I am.