- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Aw of course!! Yes Ik- what a task right?? The past couple of years I’ve been really good about being 100% honest with myself and assessing exactly WHY I’m doing what I am doing. I guess judging myself, but in a healthy way? I guess you would need to build the skill of stopping yourself before you do anything that is a response to anxiety, or a preemptive tactic to avoid things that make you anxious. Ask yourself- am I doing this to avoid ocd anxiety? Am I doing this now because it triggered my irrational ocd fears? Be so very honest with yourself, even if it means you’ve said “yes but I just need to do it.” You don’t have to bully yourself, just start with honestly. After a while you’ll see allllll the convoluted ways ocd has manifested itself into your life and you’ll be able to pinpoint the exact things, feelings, and behaviors that are your ‘false’ protective behaviors. You can let them know that they don’t make you a better person. That you are already whole and good and worthy. You are keen, intelligent, and love yourself enough to know that those things were parts of you before these ocd behaviors EVER came along.
- Date posted
- 6y
Acceptance and management of ocd will make life easier. Out of control “intrusive thoughts” will eventually lead to feelings of anxiety panic and depression. Awareness that this is a brain disorder and that it’s sending out false alarms will make it easier to manage. Ride above and over your ocd, let it be your passenger. You’re in the drivers seat.
- Date posted
- 6y
Leah 25, you my friend, are a genius. I have never received such great advice from anyone. I seriously mean this and I hope you don’t take this lightly. You are incredible. Thank you so much. Please continue doing whatever the hell you are doing - your a frickin hero to me.
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m so sorry you had that experience:/ Something I think could be super beneficial for you is finding your identity without the obsessions and compulsions (including avoidance). Once you separate it you will know exactly what to be attacking- and I promise you will NOT be less of a person for it. Everything good about you is not how well you “protect” yourself from perceived dangers. You are a much more intricate and beautifully designed person than just that- and you can find him!! The other side of ocd is peace, wholeness, and authentic confidence.
- Date posted
- 6y
Hi Leah25, thank you so much for that. That seriously is some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten - even with years of therapy. I just have one question since you seem so knowledgeable! How on Earth do I separate myself from the OCD to find my true identity
- Date posted
- 6y
Oh my gosh I don’t take that lightly at all, friend. I am so happy to be able to support each other- we are ALL going through our days just trying our best. Thank you so much. I’m rooting for you!!!
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you Mike, you too are fantastic. That’s very helpful advice. Now I just have to put it in action.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 22w
My last and almost life long theme/sub-theme largely subsided recently and my ocd felt like it wasn’t even an issue. Then I went on winter break from uni and being alone made my mind come up with a whole new topic to obsess over. TLDR on my fears, my advisor wouldn’t email me back for a while about signing up for classes so my mind started to worry “what if he doesn’t in time and you can’t enroll this semester and you lose this whole life you just built and all these new friends” So when that issue was resolved my mind found other scarier ways I could be uprooted from my current life and friends that I’ve grown so attached to. Then my mind remembered back when I was struggling with false memories and scrupulosity and I essentially made a post on a forum 2 and a half years ago saying I did something or was convinced I did something that I never actually did. Now I’ve been spiraling about someone finding it reporting me and I either get seen as a horrible person or arrested or something over something I never actually did but “admitted” to out of fear of going to hell. My mind won’t let it go and keeps finding new reasons for it to be “valid” “logical” or even inevitable. I feel like it’s just hanging over my head and I can never rest easy. Especially when I try to focus on my daily tasks or plan for the future I get this horrible flair up of “why plan for the future when this could come back in that future and you get uprooted from all of it” my mind won’t rest without certainty being uprooted won’t happen but certainty doesn’t exist, at least not with ocd. This sucks and I miss being care free.
- Date posted
- 18w
Hello, I unknowingly have lived with ROCD or OCD (not sure what one. I’m new to this). It has ruined so many amazing romantic and platonic relationships and I am so sad that just now I am finding out what the hell is wrong with me. Maybe life would be different if I have known. My OCD and anxiety is at an all time high (ATH) due to some horrible events that have happened in the recent months. I am at the point where paranoia has taken over my life now. I had my first panic attack a few weeks ago where I fainted. My anxiety attacks are so extreme I go thought cognitive distortion that has lasted days. My girlfriend of 3 years is my emotional guardian and she no long has the energy to be that and honestly it’s not her responsibility to be that. She is bi and wanted to have an open relationship and for someone who has OCD this has not been good for me. She also was assaulted in my own home by a good friend of ours when I was out of town but it’s not a clear situation because it sounded consensual at first. I just left my very high paying job. I am financially secure but the job was emotionally abusive and looking back made my OCD worse. I am taking some time off to get my head right…but now, all I have to do during the day is live in my OCD. I’m very happy I finally figured out why I act the way I do but I don’t know if I can get better quick enough to save my relationship. I have never been so worried about myself (M 28 years old). I am a confident young professional and never thought I would be writing on a page like this. Anyway…I hope it gets better.
- Date posted
- 9w
Hi, I’m new to the app as of today. I’m 20 years old, and wanted to get some stuff off my chest about the types of OCD I’ve been experiencing over the years. I’m not entirely sure how or when my OCD was brought up, but I’ve been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember. Anywhere and everywhere I go, if I see things placed in an order/angle that my brain doesn’t approve of, next thing I know I’m “fixing” it to be in the placement I feel looks better. I’m not aware of why I feel the need to do that, but until an object is in the “right” placement, I won’t take my eyes off of it. My eye will even twitch. Another form of OCD I have is in relationships. I spend each day overthinking and over-analyzing every one of the relationships that are important to me. Friends, family, significant other. Another one is what’s considered “Pure OCD” . When I get an intrusive thought of something devilish, whether it’s randomly seeing my great aunt naked bc my grandma considers her “fat” even though she’s not, or it’s seeing something demonic and traumatizing, I immediately tell myself, “I don’t wanna see/think about that” over and over and over until the thought is gone. Or I’ll try to replace one mental image with another. One other form of OCD I face every day, is religion. I got baptized for the first time in my life earlier this year in January. I had finally started to repent for my sins, and now I’m constantly feeling afraid that I’m letting God down due to my depression/lack of motivation and vaping/smoking. I also fear excessively that He’ll banish me from His kingdom, or just turn a cold shoulder. I know that what I’ve just typed up is probably all over the place. That is my brain unfortunately. How do you go from being a mentally disorderly and seemingly erratic young woman, to a more well-established, successful woman? I’m all ears!
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