I may be the world’s leading expert on being manic. I’ve had bipolar disorder for at least 50 years (it was correctly diagnosed 40 years ago). During that time I’ve experienced dozens of manias. I’m the introspective type: I think about what’s happening to me, how it differs from my ordinary thoughts and feelings, and how I behave differently. Especially in the last year I’ve become aware of how I perceive and act during manic episodes.

Although we have many things in common, I’m sure my experience differs from that of other people with bipolar disorder. Why wouldn’t it? We are all individuals. So what I describe is my own experience.

Mania is magical at the beginning. Euphoric. I’m filled with energy, full of ideas and ambitions, afraid of nothing, happy with everything.

I should worry, not for nothin'
Everybody loves me, yes they do
And I love everybody
Since I fell in love with
Fell in love with
Fell in love with you...

Bipolar mania has many excesses. I give two cheers to the movie “Mr. Jones” (1993). In it Richard Gere plays a bipolar man, a construction worker who fantasizes about flying. He works on a roof with very step sides and a projection off the ridge that looks very much like a diving board. Of course he mounts it, and the audience waits anxiously to see if he will jump off. See Roger Ebert’s review at http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mr-jones-1993. The movie is a bit over-the-top, but at least it treats its character sympathetically.

In real life, severe mania can lead to all sort of problems. People engage in reckless behavior such as dangerous sexual liaisons and lavish spending sprees. They may make disastrous business decisions or impulsively quit their job. They have inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, unrealistic beliefs in their ability, intelligence and powers, and may be delusional. They sleep very little.

Sleep may be the most important factor in curbing bipolar mania. For an excellent discussion of sleep as a primary biological need, see “Sleep On It” in the October 2015 issue of Scientific American.

A milder form of the disorder is called hypomania. It is characterized (usually) by euphoria. Bipolar disorder has been called the only mental disorder people actually enjoy. . . for a while. Thoughts come racing and you want to follow up on all of them. You talk rapidly and probably excessively and, again, you sleep maybe 2-3 hours a night. You’re interested in and maybe amused by practically everything. You do routine tasks differently and are convinced that way is better. Your judgment can be impaired. But you have unusually high energy; your perceptions are enhanced; your thinking seems clearer; and you feel more creative.

And you very well may be. Bipolar mania correlates strongly with artistic productivity; see Kay Redfield Jamison’s Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, and also her fine autobiography, An Unquiet Mind. Jamison herself has bipolar disorder. She is a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Based on my own experience, I would say that that high energy is the key experience that distinguishes mania from ordinary states. And of course lack of energy characterizes depression. This may be a factor that has generally been overlooked.

As I always do, I went to the Internet to find out if this idea had been expressed by others. It wasn’t hard to find good material; with little effort, I found two excellent articles.

The first one began: “Although popular culture tends to equate mania with happiness and depression with sadness, this isn't really the best way to think about what is happening in bipolar disorder. [It] involves not so much a swing between happy and sad states, as it does a swing between high and low energy states. When in a high-energy state, people appear happy because they are motivated and excitable, whereas in a low energy state, people feel sad, and lack motivation and enthusiasm. As the energy level of a manic episode increases, the early happy mood tends to degenerate into a more agitated and psychotic state which may be experienced more as terrifying than happy, but which is nevertheless very energizing. Similarly, as a depressive mood state increases, people may go from merely feeling badly about themselves to literally not being able to leave their bed. Thus, the happy and sad moods that are thought to characterize mania and depression respectively are results of different energy states and not necessarily primary features of the disorder.”
http://www.communitycounselingservices.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=11193&cn=4

And there was this page, which I really liked. “Wrestling Mania: Keeping It in Control & Getting Things Done.“ It offered “tips for taking advantage of mania when it happens.” Here they are:

• Stick to Your Plan
• Keep Your Wallet Light
• Get Artistic
• Exercise
• Learn Something New
• Clean, Fix and Repair
• Stay True to Yourself
Makes sense to me. And finally, on this same web page, One Last thing: “No matter how great you feel during mania, remember that it won’t last. You’ll fluctuate back to normal, and possibly back into depression. Never neglect your treatment during mania, no matter how tempting it is. Mania is temporary, but its effects may not be.” http://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/mania
You can’t get better advice.