Funny

I came to recognize certain ticks that indicate that I'm in a manic state. For example, I randomly make a sound popping my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I have a different level of nervous energy that expresses through bouncing my foot or similar movement (different from what happens otherwise; I can feel it more than I can explain it). I have a more rapid delivery of speech. Also, it feels really good when I'm manic. I started to recognize mania and get excited for extreme productivity before the horrible burnout a few times before I was willing to actively suppress it. Oh, and racing thoughts.

There are other flags, I can't recall them. There's a medication that helps knock me down and I haven't had a full-blown manic episode in years. I had to go through a bunch of manic episodes before I could identify the symptoms. I literally thought I'd never be able to control it and became extremely depressed. If you're going through the same, please know that you can learn to manage your condition with time and lead a "normal" life.