I am OK, now. In college, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after staying awake for three days and attempting suicide. I was hospitalized for a week, then

I am OK, now. In college, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after staying awake for three days and attempting suicide. I was hospitalized for a week, then had delusions and depression that persisted for months. Two years later I had a rough mixed episode. A year later I finished school. I graduated with a social science degree and was lucky to get a customer service job in online retail making $13 / hour. I worked there for several years, taking abuse from regular American consumers. They would cuss me out for trivial reasons, like if I couldn't give them a discount on an item they had ordered if the price went down the next day. I held on because it almost paid the bills. I managed to get a better customer service job at another company with a train commute. I studied coding on the train. I switched companies again, nearly doubling my pay, and kept studying as much as I could. Years later, I'm a real Software Developer and I make a pretty decent living. More importantly, I've been asymptomatic for over ten years. I have a successful career and have built a great life for myself. And I'm happy. Would I feel comfortable sharing my story in a professional setting? Probably not. It took some guts just to post this with a new account. I don't know what will need to change for the mental health stigma to go away. For now, I will probably continue to fly under the radar, maybe like many others. Months ago a good friend was really battling depression. I wish I was better at helping people in need, I wish I could just find the happiness switch in their head and flick it to 'on'. But you can't usually fix another person. They have to do it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, far from it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is listen, try to understand, and help them help themself. Or open the door for them to ask for help. Like by asking, "Are you OK?".