12 steps to Bipolar Disorder

While cleaning up my online writing desk, I came across this amongst my papers.
It was written July 7, 2007.

It was meant to be somewhat humorous, in a bitter tongue-in-cheek fashion. My own personal 12-step program. But after writing it, I saw that it revealed much about me, and my state of mind at the time. And the friends I was with did not think it was funny, which hurt my feelings. Now, I see that they probably did not find it funny because it said so much about me, and they were concerned. Here is is for your evaluation. Try to take it with a grain of salt.

1. I admit I am flawless.
2. I believe that releasing my sanity is the key to releasing self-reproach.
3. I have decided to listen to the voices in my head.
4. I have decided to make a thorough inventory of my closet.
5. I have decided to admit fully to my neighbor the exact level of hatred I hold toward his dog.
6. I am entirely ready to have my defects of character celebrated.
7. I ask the voices in my head for guidance to help me identify my bizarre impulses.
8. I will make a list of all persons I have harmed, and I will seek for more names to add to the list.
9. I will make direct approaches to such people wherever possible, especially when to do so will injure or frighten them.
10. I will continue to take personal inventory of my closet, and I will promptly shop for new shoes as often as necessary.
11. I will seek through floating in the bathtub to improve my ability to hear my inner voices, seeking for weird impulses, and for the strength to act them out.
12. Seeing the light because of the open living room window, I will try to carry these messages to others, and to practice these principles in all my affairs, so that all may suffer as much as I have, and will give me a very wide berth when encountering me in public.