Oh, come on. At 23, many people have graduated college with a Bachelor’s and are well on their way to making a start at a career. They should have put childish things behind them, like being a jerk to their professors. I don’t think you deserve a break. I think you deserve to put on your big-boy pants and be treated like the man you should be.
Also, as someone who also suffers from bipolar disorder, I will say that it’s high time you stop leaning on it as a crutch to excuse bad behavior. You are not your disease. We may have poor impulse control, at times, but personally, my manic episodes are when the “true me” comes out in public, and like it or not, that “true me” is someone I have come to terms with and someone who is undeniably a part of me. I no longer make excuses based on my disorder.
And that brings me to an important point. Have you sought treatment for your bipolar, and are you holding to the regimen recommended by your psychiatrist? One hallmark of bipolar is that people won’t stick to treatment or stay on meds for very long. But effective management of your symptoms only comes with a surrender to treatment on a regular basis from the best doctor you can find. So if you haven’t yet, please seek professional help, because bipolar will ruin your life, trust me on this one. I was just about your age when I was first diagnosed, and I let the thing run rampant in my life until I was almost 40. I was quite lucky to make it out alive.
I am not sure that I can believe your claim that the priest blew up at you for no good reason. It certainly doesn’t comport with my experience at my Newman Center. I was thrown out for pretty good reasons, and let me tell you, I learned my lessons right then and there. Perhaps it was kind of the opposite of yours (my sin was mostly over-participation) but I can’t help but see the similarities in our parallel experiences.
