How Michelle Yang’s Journey as a Fat Asian Woman with Bipolar Defied All Odds to Find True Love in Phoenix Girl

How Michelle Yang’s Journey as a Fat Asian Woman with Bipolar Defied All Odds to Find True Love in Phoenix Girl

michelle yang


Lara Lillibridge: Let’s start with your title, Phoenix Girl, which is a great double entendre—you grew up in Phoenix, and you raised yourself from the ashes. How did you come up with it?

Michelle Yang: Phoenix Girl actually has three layers of meaning since the Phoenix is such an important symbol and mythical creature in Chinese culture–symbolizing female energy, hope, renewal, and transformation.

I primarily chose the title because I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and the mythical bird is such an apt analogy for bipolar disorder. I’m not the first one to use the analogy, but I embody it completely. It was my experience. Two points in my life I believed I died and it was incredibly difficult to come back to life, but I did. The “burn too brightly then crash” metaphor rings true. So does the idea of renewal and life continuing. Living well with bipolar disorder for me means taking care of myself and staying well treated so that I don’t run to the point of burn out. I’m going for that steady happy burn and I haven’t had a major episode for over a decade.

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