Please don't ever give up on love and friendship. I know it might seem like you keep running into brick walls. I can relate to having trust issues, for people just really arn't nice sometimes, and use you for they are insecure about themselves and their lives. You are a strong person for waking up everyday. So don't give up! Love is a beautiful thing, you could even run into someone tommorw! Wouldn't that be nice! heh! I' m here if you still need to vent!

Yeah, it goes great up till the point where you have to say, ummmm...by the way...

I made the worst mistake, I married a guy who Understood. Yeah, he Understands that I'm really easy to control when I'm depressed and that you can have your wife committed.

SO! I'm only 2 years older than you and I'm getting a divorce and looking at being Single again, and yeah, it's REALLY scary! Because everyone is married now.

BUT! There are SO MANY HAPPY COUPLES on here! REALLY! You'll see them.

I say we just keep putting on our high heels and...yep. Tryin' again.

Blessings.

i have a couple good friends that are really supportive and great, and that definitely helps me feel less alone....but at the same time it's just not the same as having someone there in your life every day like a partner....that is what i miss the most, that feeling that you belong to a pair, a team

this is one of the many curses of being BP, and i think u will find that most of us here, men and women alike, have struggled with this. I personally believe that honesty is always the best way to go and will give us the best chance at finding love. I don't mean that we need to wear a T-shirt announcing our condition, but once u meet someone u are interested in, it's just best to give it to them real. Tis better for them to know who and what they are dealing with because we are complex, extremely emotionally charged beings. It's better for us as well, because if the other person can't handle it, or chooses not to, then we can save ourselves a lot of wasted time and hurt. IMO, matters of the heart are way too serious to hang in the balance. Luv N Hugs-

yeah that's another good question....when is the right time to tell a man you are mentally ill? is that a second date conversation topic? lol

I understand that not being part of a pair isnt easy. But sometimes its better to be comfortable single so that when you become a pair you have things tht you know you can add to the pair. It can be just as lonely when you are in a pair especially if the other half really doesnt understand.

Yup, I get lonely and wonder if I'm worthy of a relationship. But I really want one.

funny, i'm kind of in your boat right now. i date a lot. have a lot of physical encounters. meet nice people. but, will i ever find the person who will just see me? will i have a partner? i don't know, so i keep the walls up. i have trust issues as well.

I'm married to a wonderful woman and I'm dead flat nuts.

Since February of this year I've been alone after a four year relationship where she had a kid. I am pretty much the same age as you, and I lie in a college town, so when I make older college student friends, they usually graduate and move within 5-6 months of my meeting them.

I'm right there with you on the social anxieties. I live in a hick town in Indiana, and I've never met a person more progressive than I. I look around, everywhere, for someone that is like me, with little to no avail. Because of my illness, I do not have the success that my peers do: no car, no family, no house, no career. Every night I freak out because I am so alone. I just want to talk to someone about something other than what's on tv, as I don't watch it. I want to be held again. I want to play games and laugh with someone, or not go out and eat alone, or not go to the cinema alone.

You want to feel okay, accepted, encouraged, like we all do. Being an artist, though, and bipolar, it's not going to be easy. I don't know you, but right now I would melt for the chance to talk. You just want some quality interaction, am I right? You want to connect. I feel the same.

wow thank you all so much for your responses :) i just joined up here this evening and this is the first post i have put up...this is the first time i have tried an avenue like this...my failed attempt at group therapy gave me the idea...i thought if i can't find people in my area that i can relate to, maybe i can find them online...looks like maybe i have :)

we're a good bunch of nuts really...have our moments of wanting to tear each others throats out but not so often. We are always willing to offer support...

I am rather new myself and have met some wonderful people. It's good to know that here we are NOT alone!

it's quite a change for me, i am so used to not having anyone ever understand what i am feeling or talking about, certainly not first hand

I know i feel so excited right now that I can talk and i dont have to double think that no one gets what im trying to say!

Im glad i joined.