Tips for Remembering Your Tools

Hi Everyone - has anyone else had problems with executive functioning - forgetting things, multitasking, attention, not following directions closely, etc. ? If so, what do you do to help? I brought this up to my therapist and she mentioned that I wouldn’t need a therapist Or specialist/coach to work on it - as it would be skills we know to do (take notes, put on reminders, etc). However, I’ve been struggling with OCD for years and none of these “tips” have helped enough. I have had trouble multitasking/ remembering details/forgetting things with jobs and had to quit. It even applies when I am at home - one thing goes in one ear and out the other. I also do not have or been diagnosed with ADHD or any other disorders (just depression from OCD). Does anybody have suggestions? Is it just to manage my OCD better and these things will get better with that? I don’t recall how I was when my OCD was “good” or in better shape (Up until age 18) to gauge this as I didn’t have a job or other life responsibilities. Only thing I can think of is maybe I am so caught up in my head that is causing these issues, aka the severe OCD. Thanks!

So my therapist told me to start telling myself every time I have an intrusive thought just say oh there’s that thought again, and don’t try to figure it out or do mental compulsions. Well our usual tactic of “there’s that thought/feeling again” is not working at all this morning. This morning I was having really bad anxiety, it hits hardest in the morning when I am lying in bed with my son and I know the thoughts could come at any minute. Well they did, and I immediately was like no please just think of anything else. Well in pushing away the thoughts, I had this really weird feeling like I couldn’t decipher between reality and images. I was just getting flashes of images that felt so real. Even though I could physically feel my body and know I wasnt engaging in the thought or acting on it. It was like a flash of anxiety that hit and I couldn’t tell what was real and wasn’t. So of course my mind starts trying to figure that feeling out and if what I was thinking about just happened. And no matter how many times I’ve tried to say there’s that thought/feeling again, I can’t let it go. I was physically conscious and could feel my body but mentally I couldn’t. It’s so weird and hard to explain. But I’ve been doubting and second guessing that moment all morning and I’m in a bad spiral, again. 😭 it’s like every time I think I’m moving forward I get sucked back in and feel like I can’t practice my tools anymore. I don’t know what I should do 😩

Been doing ERP for a while now, and overall my OCD is leaps and bounds better than it used to be. I'm not in a crippling panic state anymore thank God. However, at this point I am just trying to figure out how other people with OCD manage their rumination and mentally replaying things in their head? A lot of times I don't even realize that I'm doing it, I will just be doing an activity such as yardwork and while I'm doing it, I will be mildly ruminating about a topic and just find it hard to avoid doing so. My therapist suggested setting a timer every so often to see where my mind is currently at and trying to redirect to something more appropriate (or do ERP exercises). Sometimes it just feels so noisy even though I'm not directly paying attention to it and it ends up being very distracting and affects my productivity. Overall, it's much better, honestly thought it was gone entirely, but OCD is attempting to relapse a little bit I've noticed. Thank you for your experiences and I hope you all have a safe Labor Day weekend!