- Date posted
- 3y
Grief and OCD
Anyone else grieving a lost childhood due to OCD? Also grieving missed opportunities in college.
Anyone else grieving a lost childhood due to OCD? Also grieving missed opportunities in college.
Sure, for a bit. But if you grieve too long over something that can’t be changed, then the grief can become a victimhood mindset.
Big time, but for me it was my 20's. I'm 29 now. I had a very social time as a teenager, but my OCD flared up hard when I was around 17-19 and I couldn't do anything the same way. I feel pretty stunted by this illness. I feel like my living situation is still the exact same as when I was 17 in terms of my mom supporting me, not having a job, not knowing how to do adult things like taxes and whatever, still living at home. I often worry that I missed out on a lot and if I'm too old to do things, but that's a silly way for me to be. It's never too late to give your dreams a shot. Also, a bit silly, but something I hold onto: scientists have been able reverse aging in mice. So any time that was lost to OCD might not be as important if we all end up living longer with science. I may be nearly 30, but that doesn't mean my life is over. That doesn't mean that there aren't fun times to be had. I don't know what the future brings, but there is more out there for us to experience
This is great. Very encouraging. I am about the same age - turning 29 later this month. I haven’t had the luxury of not having to do adult things since I lost my mom when I was 22. My life was completely wrecked. But I feel like it is slowly being put back together. Thanks for the encouragement. :) it isn’t too late to not pursue your dreams like you said.
@Flamewheel I'm sorry to hear that about your mom. I'm glad things are slowly getting better though
Yes, but I grief this recent years of my life, what helps me is this phrase that Thanos said in the movie hahaha "As long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those, that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist" Let's focus on what we have not in what we lost 💖
It’s nothing like the grief I felt over losing my mom. But I do think it’s healthy to feel the feelings, then move on.
Yes I was diagnosed at 7. I didn’t want to go trick or treating for years since I was scared I would be poisoned.
Hey fellow OCD warriors! Wanted to ask if anyone else’s OCD tends to latch onto change and catastrophize with all kinds of worst-case scenarios. There’s a lot going on in my life, and even though they are all exciting things that I truly want and am happy about, I’ve had moments of deep fear at so much change happening and even a sadness that I can only think is a kind of grief of entering a new stage of life/a new me and leaving the old one behind. I am in my mid-20s and a lot of this centers around nostalgia and fear and intrusive thoughts of changes like my parents getting older, myself aging, friendships growing apart leading to loneliness, etc. I know I need to treat it as any other OCD flare-up and do ERP, but it also feels different than other OCD themes because I feel blue and like existentially sad. Even as a young kid, I always hated change and the thought of growing up (even if exciting things were happening) - like I cried when I turned 10 because I was leaving the single digits behind forever! 🤦♀️ I feel like I’m preemptively mourning things like losing my parents or my health even though I am healthy and my parents are too. I don’t want to waste the time I have ruminating about the future. I haven’t heard this kind of theme mentioned a lot so just wanted to see if any others could relate.
I honestly don’t know how I’ve made it this far in my life. OCD has had its claws in me since I was 7. I used to lay in bed and tell myself over and over “it’ll be gone when I’m older, it’ll be better” but it just got worse with age. I’m 25 now and I’ve lost so many years to this. Or to pretending to be someone else in order to avoid it all. I can’t say or do one thing without analyzing it to death. Everything is black and white when it comes to me and my own morality. I overcompensate by allowing everyone else around me to be gray. I don’t allow myself that same grace. I try, everyday. Sometimes I sit and look back on my life and just wonder why. And how. I carry every mistake I’ve made with me from day to day. It rules me, it owns me, and it chips away at the person I could have been without ocd. I mourn myself.
I feel like OCD has taken up a massive chunk of my life. I don't really have anything else, most of my time has been spent with obsessions for years. I'm 21 so I know I'm young and everything but that is time I won't get back, and it's had aeasurable impact on my future, with stuffike grades, or just missing out on social stuff due to obsessions. I wasn't even aware of what was wrong with me for so long.
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