You ever find that compulsions are like… the thing you default to doing when not actively using up attention and energy and time to stop. And the moment you relax it’s like you forget you shouldn’t be doing that or sometimes even very very literally that you have a choice? How do you prevent and/or deal with that?
The moment you realize you’re doing a compulsion, you’re seeking reassurance, and/or ruminating, immediately stop and go do something else. It’s way better to, let’s say, be ruminating for 7 minutes, catch yourself, and stop yourself vs. ruminating for HOURS and making yourself so exhausted, you fall asleep—but then the moment you wake up, you’re back to ruminating for hours. You didn’t break the cycle doing option #2. You just extend it over and over and over again. Which does nothing but harm you because you’re making your OCD worse.