Lived Experience Forum

[tyme]

Hi @Lucy27 ,

Thank you for raising this. It is important that your voice is heard. We appreciate your honesty and will be following-up on your concerns.

Speak soon,

tyme

[Evie_3]

I am interested! 

[tyme]

Hey @Evie_3 🙂

Great to see you connect! It's a pretty awesome team here.

Any questions you have, ask away here 🙂

[BPDSurvivor]

Hi @Evie_3 , Welcome to our thread where BPD and anything related to it is a hot topic!

I’ve been living with BPD for 20 years now. It’s been a rough ride but an absolutely incredible one!

I’ve had the most amazing supports that just sort of feel in place. 

I want to be able to use my BPD experiences (both good and bad) to support others living with BPD or are affected by BPD in some way, shape or form.

 Happy to read as much or as little as you’d like to share about yourself.

 See you on the forums!

[Evie_3]

Thankyou for sharing with me! 

Putting yourself out there is quite brave. 

I'd love to hear some things that have helped you with coping with you're BPD 🙂 

[BPDSurvivor]

Hey there @Evie_3 ,

How are you? How’s life treating you?

In response to your post, this that have helped me was continuity of care. That is, I had a whole treating team around me which meant I was ‘famous’ amongst them…. They worked together, each specialising in their own area. Peer workers, psychosocial support workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, case manager, PARCs, the inpatient unit, BPD clinic. they all worked together and knew my case which meant I didn’t have to start all over again each time. I couldn’t have asked for better support in the public mental health system.

Setting boundaries for myself was also helpful. Internally, I set myself boundaries eg I wouldn’t contact my psychologist outside appointment times (I set this myself so as not to get too attached to any therapist, but to also learn to rely on myself and be okay with sitting with the emotional pain) - this was one of the hardest things!

Next, I connected with others with MH stories. I grew up quite oppressed and kept everything to myself. Being able to speak to others was so liberating! these forums also played a part and were a godsend. The forums allowed me to share my experiences with others which in turn enabled me to see my progress.

above all, don’t give up! Be ready to make changes and be ready to take the hard yard!

[BPDSurvivor]

Hey everyone, how's the BPD life going? @Evie_3 @Lucy27 @scout1572 ?

[Claire26Bob]

I've just found this thread while looking through the forum and have only made it to page 10 of 74 (so far,haha)

Curious to know - someone said they draw on the positives of BPD - I'm curious as to how and what and why and where that would be an option?

Also replying to this thread because I wanted to say hello 👋 and hopefully remember that it exists.

[BPDSurvivor]

Hi @Claire26Bob ! Welcome!

So to answer your question, when looking at many with BPD, I have noticed that so many find themselves in industries and careers which help others. 

Now for someone with BPD, you’d think they’d stay away from being around people! But with all my travels and experiences, I find borderlines are drawn to nursing, teaching, social work, etc. 

From my own BPD life, I know I would not be the person I am today if I didn’t have BPD. That is, because my social skills essentially ‘sucked’ as a borderline, I’ve had to be explicitly taught these skills. Now, as I work in education, I can certainly see that my understanding and interpersonal skills absolutely surpass most people.

As for being ‘hypersensitive’, I am so in tuned to other people that it allows me to have that intuition others may not have. This has helped me so much in life.

As for the impulsiveness and rage…well let’s just say I can now work with those who have issues with emotional regulation in a more informed way.

As someone with BPD, I lacked a sense of control. An onlooker would see this as defiance and rebellion when I kicked up a stink if you told me to do something or you ‘didn’t keep your promise’. However, now I can see what helped me - it was giving me a sense of empowerment by offering me choice, and ‘inviting’ me to do something as opposed to telling me.

I use what has worked for me in my teaching where my goal is to empower students and not rule them with an iron fist. So much so, a colleague shook their head at me today and said, “How? How? How’d you do it?” (In relation to severe behavioural and emotional challenges).

Life has been sooooooo incredible for me because of my BPD. Yes, it has certainly been an almighty awakening and extremely difficult at times, but totally worth it.

A borderline’s zeal, passion, persistence and deep-rooted care for the people and things they love is what makes BPD so powerful.

I could go on forever. But this is it in a nutshell. 

Ask away if you have further questions.

Hi also to @Evie_3 @tyme @Lucy27 @scout1572 

[Evie_3]

Hey there! 

I just read that part about finding the positives too. I think apart of what people mean when they say that is that we can sense other people's emotions.. 

I haven't looked much into this myself.