Given what I know about your life circumstances..I'd say you are under a huge load of situational stress....I'm not sure just because it's situational...it doesn't make it any easier .

hugs

I've asked myself that many, many times. If in doubt, I check with friends or family members, or even my therapist if it can wait. I hate that I can't rely on my own thoughts, but that's just the way it is.

Feelings are always legit...I think it's how we deal with them that counts.

And then there are times when life is just shit coming out of the Universe at us

Thanks for your replies - I guess I shouldn't doubt myself,
I've just been having thoughts that make me think I'm delusional.
But given my circumstances it does all make sense.

Heretic...........I used to ask myself the same question A LOT. It is the intrusive thoughts due to my obsessive compulsive disorder that cause me so much problems with that from time to time. I also get delusional at times too. I hope you find peace with your thoughts/feelings soon. It is an ongoing process. I am better at times than I am at other times, but I think my feelkngs are like D said, always my feelings no matter how fucked up they are. LOL.

I think our illness can make reality more extreme. I have gone through very difficult times in the past to the point I thought I was actually living in hell. I'm referring to the real hell. My situations were bad, but my illness took it to the next level of not being legitimate. Medication helped for a bit until I had a negative response to it. Now my situation has improved some plus I am remembering that I was not really in hell.

Walking is right. That IS the crux of the matter. Most times the situations ARE real, and hard-core heavy duty. But while another person could keep it in check, put the issues aside or out of their heads to catch a breather, bipolar ppl beat it to death, and take it to another level, whereby THEY crack, while "normal" folks DON'T.
While my husband can walk away, go off to bed & resolve to deal with it it in the morning, I CAN'T. I'll play the bad situation over and over in my head, until all the angles and ideas get muddled together, and racing thoughts start w/me. Or, for my ex-boss who battles this also, SHE will fall into a slump, and won't get out of bed to make the problems disappear.
So IMO it's not that the problems are minute or small; but it's the difference between how "normal" V bipolar ppl respond to them.

Your feelings are legitimate, you probably are a bit blue, the illness ramps everything up into hyperawareness. The hyperawareness triggers the severe negative feelings.

Stress and tension add to the negative feelings. At this point the best thing you can do is be nice to yourself, help yourself to relax, try to be calm, in your mind, picture yourself sitting on a beach, indian style, doing nothing but hearing the waves and feeling the warmth of the sun on your face....

BP works with your brain to be against itself...it tells you lies and half truths, it convinces you to doubt things and be fearful...you have to not let it. Are you on meds currently? it may be time for a change or a dose change. Do you have a pdoc or therapist you can call and talk this out? sometimes just talking through it will lesson the stress and negativity.

Hang in there,

Kat

I usually cannot easily tell in the moment. Only some time after am I able to say "yes I was right to feel totally defeated" or "yes, it was right to get that upset over that"

That's not much help of course in the moment but if I try and hold that in mind I try to undereact - at least in public.