“I long ago abandoned the notion of a life without storms, or a world without dry and killing seasons. Life is too complicated, too constantly changing, to be anything but what it is. And I am, by nature, too mercurial to be anything but deeply wary of the grave unnaturalness involved in any attempt to exert too much control over essentially uncontrollable forces. There will always be propelling, disturbing elements, and they will be there until, as Lowell put it, the watch is taken from the wrist. It is, at the end of the day, the individual moments of restlessness, of bleakness, of strong persuasions and maddened enthusiasms, that inform one’s life, change the nature and direction of one’s work, and give final meaning and color to one’s loves and friendships.”
That’s a quote from the memoir An Unquiet Mind by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison. I recently read her memoir. She’s a full professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. She also has bipolar disorder and is one of the world’s experts on the disorder. I thought the book was very insightful and Dr. Jamison is an excellent writer. Through this book, it is clear that Dr. Jamison has an extensive support system and while she was reluctant to take her lithium at first, she is now very much compliant. She definitely has enigmatic personal qualities that attract people to her. Her research and life have lowered the stigma of mental illness.