As Father’s day approaches I can’t believe our oldest, Lydia, is turning 25. She shares her story from the heart here on her journey growing up with bipolar disorder.
This year happens to be one of major milestones. I will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree after seven long years of undergraduate work that has been riddled with health setbacks. I will also be turning 25. It feels like a prime opportunity to reflect on my life journey and how it’s been shaped by living with bipolar disorder. While it certainly hasn’t been easy, I’ve grown in ways I likely never would have otherwise.
A developing diagnosis
When I began experiencing mood swings as a young teenager in high school, I would have never guessed their implications for the rest of my life. I was certainly moody in ways many teenagers experience, but it was when I began self harming and daydreaming about suicide that I knew something was very wrong.
I remember a fellow classmate pointing out the scabbed over cuts on my wrist and asking what happened. I quickly pulled my sleeve over the evidence of my tumultuous mind and blamed the cat. They didn’t seem convinced but didn’t push the issue further. That moment of fear, guilt, and shame at my actions was a clear sign to me that I was ill. However, it wasn’t until much later that I finally asked for help.
That moment was one of the scariest of my life. I knew once I told my parents about my cutting and suicidal thoughts that I couldn’t go back to normalcy. But at that point, normalcy was locking myself in my room anytime I wasn’t at school. It was sitting in the dark with sharp blades, crying for reasons unknown to me, trying to push out the intrusive thoughts that constantly berated me. Although I wasn’t fully conscious of it, I had reached the point where I couldn’t live that way any longer.
As I predicted, life changed drastically. I began seeing a therapist weekly and started medications. The initial diagnosis of depression didn’t seem to quite fit, but having a name for all of these unwelcome thoughts and feelings seemed to help. While this time of my life is extremely blurry, I know I struggled desperately to regain a foothold but the ground seemed to keep slipping out from under me.
On March 19, 2020 California Governor Newsom announced a statewide stay-at-home order. Here is a screenshot from my phone:
Currently the lockdown continues until May 1st, although the Yolo County site says that an extension is forthcoming. With the president and some states now opening up the economy, there is a glimmer of hope the lockdown will let up even more so in California and Yolo County in the coming weeks.
Until then, Lori and I continue to post a weekly journal updated every day or two to mark thoughts, reflections, and news related to life sheltering-at-home.
This is week 6 of the lockdown.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
When Plans Change
“’Cause I told you my level of concern,
But you walked by like you never heard,
And you could bring down my level of concern,
Just need you to tell me we’re alright, tell me we’re okay.”
-twenty one pilots
I love Hawaii. And what’s not to love? Beaches, mountains carved from volcanoes, weather that changes from rain to sunshine in a moment, pineapple fields, the Aloha spirit of those who live there.
We are supposed to be in Hawaii right now. Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary that was actually LAST August. We went to Honolulu for our honeymoon and have never been back.
A photo on my desk of Howard from our Honeymoon in Hawaii, August 1994
Our destination this time was supposed to be Maui. We’ve heard wonderful things about Maui from friends who have visited. I can remember how excited I felt when Howard booked the plane tickets. I thought, “Wow. This will be a time to really celebrate all we’ve been through together the past 25 years—to reminisce and enjoy time together in a blissful tropical location. Just the two of us.”
Now I am writing from shelter-in-place at home. After plane tickets and hotel reservations were cancelled. After the return home I thought I would be enthusiastically showing off my tropical tan, telling tales of snorkeling with fish, and boring friends and family with pictures. Lots of pictures. Proudly on display on my Facebook account.
Instead I’m rolling out of bed close to noon these days and wondering what to make for lunch. I’ve made so many lunches at home now—I don’t know anymore. Where is the lunch menu at the local Hawaiian barbeque place where I can just order from?
The main thing I know during this time is that it’s okay to mourn the loss of this trip. It’s okay to realize flying off to Hawaii and basking in the sunshine would have been really good for my physical, emotional and mental health. It’s also okay to know that I had pumped up this trip in my mind as a “trip of a lifetime,” and none of those expectations were met. At all.
The main thing I know during this time is that it’s okay to mourn the loss of this trip.
But my life in quarantine? It’s really good, actually. I have my husband at my side for most of the time. We pray together, we talk together, we roast and drink coffee together. I tend to my garden—it is probably the best Spring I’ve had in my garden. Ever.
We have our son at home with us for now, and just knowing he is here doing his own thing and feeling healthy is a big deal. Seeing our daughters on FaceTime at least once a week and their smiling faces is huge. We have our dog and our kitten to look after and enjoy their company.
And really—when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t want to be in Hawaii by myself. I know that wherever I am with Howard is truly home.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Read the Bible in a Year (Howard)
Each year I attempt to read through the Bible in a year. This year, with a four-month break from work, and now shelter-at-home orders, I feel more confident I can accomplish it.
Here is a scan of the Bible reading plan I adopted some years ago with this year’s progress so far:
I know there are some great online/electronic Bible reading plans out there, but I like the simplicity and variety of this plan. Each day of the week focuses on a part of the Bible such as New Testament letters, prophets, and Gospels/Acts. I still need to catch up on the second half of Isaiah, but decided to keep going.
The best part of following a reading plan is staying in the Word each day. Over the weeks I’ve struggled with various moods and feelings related to the lockdown. Whether it is feeling sad, anxious, lethargic, fearful, or restless it seems like something I read each day helps me face the challenges of that time.
The best part of following a reading Whether it is feeling sad, anxious, lethargic, fearful, or restless it seems like something I read each day helps me face the challenges of that time.
I also enjoy sharing about what I read with Lori. Every day we spend a few moments reading Scriptures, singing praise songs, and praying. I like to reflect on highlights from my daily reading during that time.
I hope I can keep up my reading and meditation time after the lockdown ends and I’m back at work. For now it’s a needed and welcome activity that helps me through this scary and uncertain time.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
A Day at the Zoo (Lori)
There’s a lot of attention around “Tiger King,” which is arguably a very popular coronavirus pandemic viewing experience. Meanwhile, we’ve been managing our own small menagerie at home.
When our kids were growing up and living at home with us, our youngest always wanted to try owning new pets. She would visit her friends’ houses and then want a similar pet to what she saw there; and, yes, some of them were definitely exotic.
Geckos, chameleons, turtles, snakes, fish, etc. were all requests that were presented to us with the pleading, “Please, Mom!”, “Please Dad!” I honestly didn’t know the first thing about caring for a chameleon, so we deftly talked her into fish and hamsters.
We’ve had hamsters rolling across the living room floor in their balls and knocking into furniture. Fish had their water changed from their tanks at the sink in the laundry room.
These days, we have only our dog, Teddy, and our kitten, Pippin. It’s been fairly quiet until this last week. To be honest, I was so preoccupied with meal planning and preparation I didn’t even really notice they were in the house.
Then we observed Teddy getting really tired on short walks to the park and shaking his head from side to side.
Teddy wears a cone to prevent him from chewing his paws
So, I asked Howard to check his left ear and it seems his previously diagnosed condition at the vet office flared up again. Thankfully we still have the ointment we purchased.
Then I suddenly noticed Teddy was chewing his paws again until they were red and sore. I don’t know if this is from stress about his ear condition or plain boredom, but I made him wear a cone until his feet and ear started to heal.
Pippin the Little Tiger
Pippin is a wild one. She came to our yard about a year ago as a feral kitten. We have domesticated her somewhat but she still climbs trees, onto the roof, and hunts all kinds of creatures—from pigeons to lizards to insects.
Pippin favors her right paw after an apparent bee sting
One day I noticed she pounced on—and killed—a bee that was buzzing near my budding lemon tree. I was momentarily concerned but then relieved that she didn’t get stung by the bee.
Happy Lunar New Year 2019! this year is my year, the Year of the Pig.
Happy Lunar New Year! Last week my family celebrated Chinese New Year with a family dinner and red envelopes filled with money from my parents. My mom gave clear instructions to place the red envelopes under our pillows on Monday evening. If we didn’t the money would not be lucky.
I looked forward to this year for many reasons, including being born in the year of Pig along with my firstborn daughter. If you can do simple math you can figure out how old I am (there are 12 years in the Chinese zodiac) and how old my daughter is. Someone wrongly said that I was twelve when I had my daughter (umm, add another cycle of the zodiac please).
It’s a year of milestones for the Chang family.
Four Decades with Psoriasis
Forty years with psoriasis. I’m trying to let that sink in for a minute. I know it’s not a world record for longevity with this autoimmune condition. Yet, the weight of almost 15,000 days with itchy, scaly skin feels heavy on my mind and heart. So many of those days I felt depressed, beaten, and lost. Some days felt extremely long, like a week or month in itself.
I’m grateful today, though, for much better treatments and control. I’m glad for opportunities to write and advocate for others living with psoriasis for just a few days or years, to those who endured more decades than one can count on a hand.
I also see that life marched on with psoriasis. I graduated from high school 30 years ago. I got married 25 years ago, and began pastoring churches 20 years ago. My youngest turns 18 in a few weeks, while my oldest turns 24 in a few months. These round numbers represent the passage of a significant amount of time and markers that beg notice as the days whiz by.
Most of all, I survived. At times I even achieved goals and thrived. Through it all my faith sustained me. I’m not an overly demonstrative person, but this year it’s time to celebrate making it this far and all that is to come.
Fuller Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry Commencement, 2016
Calendar of Milestones
In looking forward to this year, 2019 and the Year of the Boar, here are some upcoming events we are all excited about.
Thanks to my daughter Lydia for redrawing my psoriasis origin story comic. She surprised me on Christmas with it. I used the comic to speak to teens at the most recent National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) volunteer conference in the summer of 2017.
My psoriasis was first triggered by that unwashed sleeping back when I was an elemetary school student:
PsoHoward 