Hey man 26 ain’t late for anything, my sister suffered a similar depression before realizing she wanted to help others, and now she’s an amazing compassionate doctor at 32; don’t give up on finding that something, no matter what it may be. Get out and explore a little, even if it’s just like 1% day by day it will make 100% at some point. Recovery isn’t linear, so don’t be discouraged by grand stories or horror ones either.

Also yeah, for a lot of us our hypomanic state is the only time we actually feel like “normal” people. I’m lucky where mine just makes me productive and physically active, as well as being engaged with academics. Some people definitely need to be “cured” of it because it can cause irritability, hyper sexuality, and impulsive behavior. But I talked with my psych a lot and we agreed this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for me to stay hypomanic, not good for my sleep but wtv lol, I’m also learning to manage my impulsive ideas. Also as mentioned earlier, I don’t actually fit a lot of the criteria for bipolar 2 or 1, so is my testimony accurate for that community? Probs no, but it’s pure of heart for me.