This Is Tess Bridges

I'm excited to share, what I hope, is the first of many stories on this blog. I've wanted to help share people's stories for a long time.  I believe everyone has a story to share, but not everyone is given the opportunity to do so. I would like to introduce Becca from @hellobipolarpositivity. She will be my first interviewee and will be sharing her Bipolar story with us. Opening up about Bipolar isn't easy. There are a lot of ups and downs to achieve a state of equilibrium. I would like to thank Becca for being willing to share her story. I hope that through sharing our stories, we can break some of the stigma surrounding Bipolar and other Mental Health issues. I met Becca through the Bipolar Now Podcast Facebook group and then connected some more with her on her Instagram.  I considered making this story a two-part blog post, but after some consideration, I decided to make it all as one to keep the story coherent. I have also kept Becca's words as her own to make

Have you ever felt like your mind is going a mile a minute? Or do you get those scattered-brained moments?  Being a mom of two, working part-time, and actively training for a half marathon I often find my mind is cluttered and constantly distracted. Did I pack my daughter's lunch for school? What time is that meeting at work? How long is that long run on Saturday?  All of these kinds of questions are constantly running through my mind. But what should I do to settle my mind?  I've realized since my Bipolar diagnosis three years ago that I have a few tools which play a big part in calming my mind. Some of these tools might be beneficial for you too. Brain Dump Page The first tool I use is a brain dump page. This comes in a few forms for me.  Sometimes I use an app called  Daylio . At the end of the day, I write out all the thoughts that are going through my head. That could be stuff I want to do, things coming up in the week, etc. This gives me some peace of mind and helps me or

On Saturday, I did my longest post-half marathon run. I broke up my run a bit. I ran from my house to ParkRun, and then from ParkRun back home. That was a total of 15km.   It was threatening to rain but just ended up being humid. I really struggled in the heat a few times during my run. I think my body is still not used to the summer temperatures, as I did most of my training in the winter. After I ran the 15km I decided it was time to start training again for another half marathon. I'd told myself that I would start training again in mid-June but now felt like a better time to start. In September, I will be running the half marathon distance at the Lethbridge Police Run. Last year I did the 10km race at this event, and I wanted to bump it up to the half marathon this time.   I was hesitant to sign up for another half marathon this year. My original plan was to take it easy during the summer and train for 10km. I had already run two half marathons since I had run the eq

  As I reflect on this past month, I am proud of a few things.  I may have run a half marathon at a race yesterday, but that wasn’t my first half marathon in technicality. As some of you may have seen on my stories on Instagram a few weeks ago, I ran my first half marathon during my last long run with my friend, Barb.   The goal for that long run was to run 20k.   We decided to take our time and go at an easy pace. It was a good run. We pretty much did a loop of the north and south side of the city. During the run, we had some good conversations, and it was a run I didn’t listen to music at all. As we neared the end of the route, we looked at each other and said, “I bet we could go a bit further, and complete 21.1k.   At the 20k distance, I probably could have finished there as my hip was giving me issues, but I wanted to see us finish 21.1k together.   Sometimes you need those moments to push yourself and do something hard. Finishing the last long run with my friend was an amazi

  It has been almost two years since I last made a blog post.  So much has happened since then. It is almost hard to know where to begin. In my last post, I had walked 7km and I was proud of walking that distance. I then considered taking a course to learn how to run properly. I wondered, "If I could walk that distance what else could I do?" I was hesitant at first, because I feared getting injured. Running was something I had always wanted to do, but I honestly think starting held me back. We were still in the height of COVID-19, so no running groups were happening at the time. So, I decided to download the "Couch to 5K" app, and start from there. I remember that first run vividly. I was wearing some semi-worn shoes, and I had my phone to track the run. It was a hot evening, and I took off. I remember starting that run. I alternated between running and walking. That first run wasn’t long at all. I remember I was breathing heavily during and after the run. At

  As I look back to last June, I was at one of the lowest places in my life. I had been discharged for the second time from the hospital, and was ready to get back to living a relatively normal life. Instead, when I came home my kids had gone to visit my husband's extended family with their grandparents. So, it was just my hubby and I at home for a month. Under normal circumstances, this would have be an excellent time to do things without the kids in the picture. But for me, I missed the kids a lot and I felt depressed. My psychiatrist recommended going for a walk daily to help with my mood and mental health. I remember not having the energy to step outside my door, but I pushed myself to do it anyways. Most days my legs felt heavy and I had to really push myself to go for the entire walk. I hated it, but at the same time going for a walk felt like I was getting back to my old self. During this time, I did a search on Spotify for, "Bipolar” and came across a podcast by Mike L