Today we’re speaking with Leo Gopal. He’s a WordPress developer and has been for many years. Today though, we don’t really dwell too much on that. We talk about Leo’s journey with being bipolar as well as how he lives with chronic insomnia.
At the outset of recording this podcast I had not met Leo, and had never spoken to anyone who has to deal with the things that he does. I was struck with just how positive, kind and thoughtful Leo is.
We talk about what it means to be bipolar, how it manifests itself and what precautions Leo takes to ensure that the ups and downs are easier to manage. We find out that this is not easy and life can be hard at times.
We also talk about how Leo copes with his chronic insomnia. How he has to manage his expectations based upon the length of the sleep that he gets.
He’s built up mechanisms over the years to mediate the impact upon his life. These include medication and writing to his future self with messages that he knows he will need to hear… messages written at a time when he was more reflective and thoughtful.
Lastly we talk about his WP Hugs initiative, a WordPress support network which was recently rolled up into Big Orange Heart. We find out why he started it and why he’s happy with its new home.
It’s such an interesting chat with very likeable guest.
This is a trigger warning that in this episode we talk about depression, bipolar and insomnia.
Useful links:
leogopal.com
Leo’s WPandUP page
The article mentioned in this podcast: An Open Letter to Myself
If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.
Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.
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Big Orange Heart