Hi there!
This week’s lesson is about me. Why do I write about mental illness? What prompted me to start the Speaking Bipolar blog? Find out in this video.
Until next time, keep fighting.
Scott Ninneman
Additional Reading:
About Me — Scott Ninneman - My story told as a fairytale.
The Pain of Loss Is Why I Write About Mental Illness - The story behind the Speaking Bipolar Blog.
Video Script:
Hello friend. In this video, I’m going to tell you a little about me and the history of my online content. It’s okay if you want to skip this video for now and come back to it later. I get a lot of questions about who I am, so I wanted to put this at the beginning of the course for those of you who are wondering.
My name is Scott Ninneman, and I’m the man behind Speaking Bipolar.
I’m a quiet country boy living in the mountains of southeast Tennessee. I was raised in central Wisconsin and moved to the south when I was 20. It was an entirely bipolar decision, but my official diagnosis didn’t arrive until three years later.
It’s important you know I am not a mental health professional. I don’t have any fancy letters behind my name or medical degrees. What I do have is 30 years of life experience.
It’s a common belief that you can be an expert at something if you spend 10,000 hours doing it. By that logic, I have nearly a quarter of a million hours battling bipolar disorder, and that’s only if you count from when I received my diagnosis.
I spend four days a week working as a bookkeeper and tax preparer. The rest of the week, I care for my elderly parents, am an active volunteer, and create lots of online content.
Why is my business called Speaking Bipolar? It started as a joke. Several friends and I, all living with bipolar disorder, were having a conversation about how we had our own language. I told them I was going to write a book–a mental illness translator–and call it Speaking Bipolar. The book isn’t here yet, but the blog and online content has been going strong since early 2018.
While the name, Speaking Bipolar, started as a joke, the reason I started the blog was much more serious. Over the years, I’ve lost over a dozen friends, family members, and acquaintances to suicide.
One of the most painful was a friend I knew was suffering. I rarely shared anything with him about my journey with mental illness, and I regret it. After he was gone, I couldn’t get him out of my head. I wondered if I had told him more, would it have made a difference? It’s a question I can never answer.
To hopefully stop another tragedy, I created the Speaking Bipolar blog. My mission is to help people understand mental illness and find validation and positivity. Living with bipolar disorder is very isolating at times, so it’s vital you know you’re not alone. Let me repeat that.
You. Are. Not. Alone.
I create all my content with people like you in mind.
If you have any questions or comments while going through this course, please reach out to me at any time. You can access me through the chat option in this course or by emailing me at scott@speakingbipolar.com.
Please keep in mind, I am a one-man show. That means I wear all the hats at Speaking Bipolar while working a 9-5. It may take me a day or two to respond to your question, but I always do my best to reply.
That’s enough about me. Next, let’s talk about a few things that will help you get the most from this course.
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