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'I am a spiral, entangled in the vines sinking into the big tree. The big tree wraps me up, and I wind around its growth rings.' (my poem for this project, which refers to the unbalance and struggle of myself as a person who has bipolar disorder)
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is a mental health issue that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (hypomania) and lows (depression). Yin-yang is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the cycles of yin and yang are formed into objects and lives.
Many natural dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang. Depression and hypomania are also manifestations of yin-yang. Most people in the world have relatively stable emotions; a balance of yin and yang; while the emotions of bipolar patients seem to be forced apart between yin and yang - they are constantly switching back and forth without stability.
This unbalanced state always makes me feel helpless and torn between two choices. The darkness scares me, as if I am living in a spiral. The daily emotional roller-coaster ride always makes me dizzy. All of this is caused by my bipolar disorder and means that I can or I have to view the world from a different perspective, as shown in this project.
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