tl;dr: my diagnosis, dealing with it, and because I want to, how it relates to crypto.
One of the more challenging things I’ve had to deal with in the past year, which has been challenging for all of us in so many ways, of course, is the clinical diagnosis I received for Bipolar 2 disorder.
Different than the (perhaps) more notorious Bipolar 1, it is marked by swings from mania to depression. Apparently, 2% of the US population has Bipolar 2, so yay for being different.
The first challenge was in just accepting the diagnosis.
Unlike in most medical situations, there’s no biological test. No blood work. No MRI or CT scan to “show” you that there’s something off.
So, believing the diagnosis is difficult because, it feels so subjective.
The 2nd challenge is acknowledging the limitations that the diagnosis puts on someone without it feeling like a prison sentence.
When you have a Bipolar 2 (at least as far as I understand it), there things you should be extra careful to avoid (like drugs and alcohol) because of what their impact can be on the severity, intensity, and longevity of the mood swings and subsequent emotional states.
For someone who values flexibility, freedom, and liberty, this one has been tough.
There’s also the remnants of stigma. Fortunately, society has migrated away from pure stigma associated with mental health, but, in my mind, at least, it’s still there.
Any type of diagnosis feels like a pair of handcuffs. The challenge (opportunity?) is to view this one as a set of wings.
I had really wanted to blog about NounsDAO and the way we are moving into an era of measuring belief on the blockchain , but I suppose that will have to wait until tomorrow or another day.
For now, I suppose, I will do my best to connect Bipolar 2 to crypto, just because I like the challenge.
Right now, the “powers that be” like Janet Yellen, Gary Gensler, and financial regulatory authorities around the world are faced with the challenge of “accepting the diagnosis” that the existing financial system is no longer working for the bulk of people.
Usually, and it did in my case, that requires some sort of major depressive episode or crisis.
They are still on that phase.
What they haven’t done yet is accept the limitations that the current system places on them….i.e. unlimited money printing to increase entitlements is going to bloat the size of the debt too far and create a nation of government dependents while unlimited Fed purchases of bonds leads to asset run ups and inflation.
Maybe, one day, they will get to Phase 3….accept that crypto provides wings to the next evolution of finance.
But that may be a ways off. Could be a month…could be a decade.
