This “first-person account” on recovery from psychiatric disability has been written by the mental health care practitioner diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. In sharing this personal account with professional colleagues, the author has three goals in mind: 1) explore the factors, which delayed his entering treatment for in spite of obvious clinical symptoms; 2) emphasize the importance of the long-term relationship with a compassionate and competent psychiatrist in supporting recovery, and 3) describe how the author’s personal experience change his view of patients’ struggles with accepting their own psychiatric impairments. Finally. The paper shows self-care strategies that have proven to be helpful for the author and that might be helpful for other professional colleagues with similar problems.