čůñťš&ćøćäīñē

1. Your strength: Going through your day to day struggles has created this inner strength that you cannot explain. BPD does not break you; it shapes you, forces you to look inward, and make you a stronger human. Like a tree, you bend, but you do not get destroyed. You have been through so much pain and despair that you know every day is a gift. The longer you have to learn to live with BPD, the more resilient it makes you. You are stronger than you think you are. At your core, you are not your mood swings. Beyond the surface fluctuation is a core self that is determined to be alive.

3. Your ability to sense others emotions: Oftentimes a person with BPD will sense an emotion such as anger from someone else that the person is ignorant or in denial of feeling.This is what causes you to be a good friend. You are able to feel that something isn't right. Your compassion- your sensitivity- everything you feel has allowed you to be the person that everyone needs. Someone to truly say, “I understand and I am here for you.” 

4. Your empathy: Because a person with BPD possesses the ability to sense the emotions of others, they also tend to absorb said emotions. As such, not only are they “walking in a person’s shoes” quite naturally but they also are able to strongly empathize. 

5. You see beauty in things others do not see: Being a naturally sensitive person, you are pained by collective pain of our world; but on the flip side, you also have a profound understanding of beauty. You don’t take love for granted, ’little things’ such as a single line in a song or a gesture from a romantic partner can be almost overwhelming.  You feel the world with a different vibration, and you are vividly alive. You know despair, but you also know deep love and ecstasy. Being able to feel so keenly is a downside when the emotions are challenging, but it is also a gift.

6. Your intense passion: The ability to feel and express intense passion for a person, art, literature, music, sports, food, dance, and other areas of interest comes naturally to a person with BPD. In fact, they know no other way of living other than to engage fully in their craft. The idea that they have to take initiative to follow their passion is foreign because for them, life is not worth living without it. As well as their intense passion- this fire in their soul has made them very artistic- very talented. 

7. You’re a fighter: Literally, you’re a fighter. You have to fight a battle every day to stay alive. No one can truly understand the strength that you have due to the battles that you have fought and conquered.

8. Your intimate connection with others: Two of the necessary ingredients to a deep intimate connection are an awareness of self and an ability to empathize with others. Without these, any attempt at intimacy is shallow and feels unsatisfactory to the recipient. Because a person with BPD has these two items in abundance, they tend to make powerful, whole-hearted, and unreserved connections very quickly.

9. Your Self-aware: At any given moment, most people with BPD are profoundly aware of their feelings regardless of the natural conflict the differing emotions might possess. For instance, they might feel excited going to a party, rejected when they see someone who was unkind, abandoned when the person they came with engages with someone else, and happy when they meet a new person with common interests. No matter the emotion, they become self-aware of themselves and others around them