Don’t just “sit with it”, do what you want to do

The most helpful advice I’ve heard lately, I think it was from Mark Freeman, is “what do you want to do while you feel anxious?” (after resisting a compulsion). I guess it’s common sense, but we so often hear “sit with it” which to me, implies not doing anything but letting yourself feel the anxiety until it passes. “Sit with it” to me feels like I’m supposed to intentionally expose myself to all the bad feelings until I become desensitized (kind of like you would with a phobia). Just continuing with your current task or asking yourself what you want to do next and then doing it is passive. It’s acknowledging the scary feelings and letting them happen in the background but not letting them stop you from living your life. If I’m making breakfast for example, and feel like I need to wash my hands (but I know that I really don’t and it’s just OCD messing with me… this happens to me a lot in the kitchen 😅) I can say to myself “What do I want to do next?” and the answer might be “I want to drink coffee” so I’ll start to make coffee instead of being stopped in my tracks by feeling anxious and contaminated. It sort of tells the OCD that ultimately you’re in control and you’re not going to interrupt your life for it. I hope this helps someone else as much as it has helped me, because for some reason I had never thought of it “sitting with it” this way before 😊🥰❤️