If I had a mental illness, what would it be?

This semester I'm taking a Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Class. It's one of those things that I love learning about, it's so interesting and is already really helpful in everyday situations, and I think everyone should take a class like this. The other day in class we were talking about a disorder and I thought to myself "if I had to have a mental illness, but I got to pick which one it was, what would it be?" After some thought, I decided on bipolar disorder.

Now, to clarify, there are two kinds of bipolar disorder – Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2. Bipolar 1 is where a person has had at least one episode of severe mania, which causes significant distress or greatly impairs one's work, family, or social life. Bipolar 2 disorder is where someone has experienced depression and at least one episode of hypomania, but not severe mania. Hypomanic episodes characteristically do not cause significant distress or greatly impair one's work, family, or social life.

I think that depression is such a sad illness (no pun intended), it causes such disruption and affects the way people feel about themselves in every way, which is contrary to our divine nature, but I also think that everyone suffers from it to some extent at some point in life. Whether it is experiencing death of someone close, tragedy within a family, or frustration in an individual life – there are many circumstances which cause deep sorrow and has physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional manifestations. It is definitely not something I want. However, on the "opposing team" we have mania. Mania is defined as "a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels." People who are experiencing manic episodes have enough energy to dig Lake Powell in their back yards, tend to be impulsive, and don't sleep. They are jittery and agitated and feel like they can do absolutely anything. People with bipolar disorder experience both sides of this spectrum – depression and mania. However, with Bipolar 2, there are episodes of hypomania. Hypomania is "almost mania". It is where they have the energy and drive to do anything, but it doesn't interfere with their daily life.

Now, call me crazy (haha), but this doesn't sound too bad! Right now in school there is so much going on and there is so much I want to be involved in, and I really wouldn't mind having enough energy to live on minimal amounts of food and sleep and get things done. I would want as little of the depression as possible, but being able to have the energy and drive to do anything and everything sounds perfect to me! (Well, perfect in the world of choosing a mental illness!) I'm not discounting the life-altering changes and challenges that come with mental illness in any way; it was just something I was thinking about in class. If you had to choose, what would you pick?

Here is a list of famous people who have a bipolar disorder . . . in some of them it totally makes sense, you can really see the characteristics of the disorder.

Jim Carey, Rosemary Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robin Williams, Ludwig Van Beethoven, George Fredrick Handel, Vincent Van Gogh, Robert Schumann, Buzz Aldrin, Sting, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf