-
Stigma and bipolar disorder
Tell us about a time when you felt out of place. I feel out of place quite often. I have a bipolar disorder (I experienced psychoses), something that I don’t hide, and therefore, I often feel like an imposter in the society as a whole. The most difficult moment was after my last psychosis over… Continue reading
-
Work and bipolar disorder
In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? Work fulfils me in many ways, and I like working. It’s an essential part of being human. Karl Marx distinguished between labour and work. Labour is when you end up being exploited, like, for instance, in a factory where all work could finish in seven… Continue reading
-
Is kindness still a virtue?
What’s the trait you value most about yourself? All people who raised me were kind. And especially, my paternal grandma with whom I spent two years of my life in Donbas and on a farm in the south of Russia each summer. The love I was getting from her (together with my cousins) was unprecedented.… Continue reading
-
Live your life fully
What things give you energy? It’s an interesting question to ask: what things give you energy? By answering this question I would like to first make an observation that there are people who derive you off energy (psychic vampires) and those who give you energy. I am a donor of energy. I give energy to… Continue reading
-
Relaxing with bipolar disorder
How do you relax? Here I am again, talking about my bipolar disorder. My friends advice me to stop analysing my life via a psychiatric diagnosis but what can I do, if the psychiatric label sits firmly above my head? In my daily life you wouldn’t notice that something is wrong with me. I am… Continue reading
-
Living abroad
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. I am not sure how to answer this question. My problem is that I ended up living in four different countries , either pursuing a bursary for studies or moving for a job. Never for a man, which with age and maturity I recognize… Continue reading
-
When you are bipolar
How are you feeling right now? In all honesty I feel pretty bad today. For those who don’t know, I have bipolar disorder. I don’t have mood swings but I am vulnerable to psychoses. I have a few behind me, and hopefully, despite the euphoria I experience while being in that state of ‘magic’, I… Continue reading
-
Live the life to the fullest
What motivates you? I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, given to me because of my vulnerability to psychoses. Since getting the diagnosis and being on and off some heavy medication with disastrous side effects, I have promised myself that my diagnosis doesn’t define me. Yes, if I end in a psychosis I act weird… Continue reading
-
On Writing
What do you enjoy most about writing? My family name Netchitailova means unreadable’ in Russian and yet, writing and reading is my biggest passion! I started to write at the age of twelve and in Russian and even won a third place at one writing competition at school but didn’t pursue this passion until the… Continue reading
-
Leeuwarden
What do you love about where you live? I bet you haven’t even heard about Leeuwarden before. I didn’t know about it either until four years ago, when by pure chance (or miracle), I came across an ad for a job. I applied and got it, and together with my son and our cat Gina,… Continue reading
About Me
I am a doctor of philosophy, a university lecturer, and a lover of cats, fine wine, dancing, theatre, and human eccentricity. I was born in the Soviet Union (Moscow). I am fluent in four languages, and have spent all my adult life studying (except from 18 to 19) working and living throughout Western Europe. Despite a surname-Netchitailova- that translates from Russian into English as “unreadable”, my greatest passions in life are reading and writing. My personal struggles have made me appreciate the manifestations of weirdness that exist everywhere.