- Date posted
- 2y
Alcohol, lads Holiday and false memories
WARNING LONG READ WITH A LOT OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS Recently i went on vacation/holiday, with my friends to ayia nappa which is a very “lad culture” holiday with plenty temptations there as it is a proper party holiday destination. I have recently just got into my first relationship at 21 and in the past i have been more of a man whore getting with people on nights out which meant going on a lads holiday was something i didn’t want to do as my OCD always thinks the worst and thinks that I was gonna get overly drunk and ruin my relationship that i am extremely invested in. After a few days on holiday i had been out drinking and hadn’t had a single OCD thought of anything bad happening as i always had someone with me which was either my friends or girlfriend on FaceTime but on one instance after a night out drinking i decided to leave a club early and walk home on my own. During the night i remember all the events in the club and i remember most if not all the details of my short 10 min journey from the club to the McDonalds as i was only a bit tipsy, but there was a small gap in the journey i don’t remember. After waking up in the morning quite fresh for after a night out drinking, i have an extreme sense of anxiety (hangxiety) and guilt that i had done something wrong that night. So OCD kicks in as usual and starts thinking of the tiny gap in the journey that i don’t really remember that well because most likely i was just walking not doing much but OCD/my brain started filling it with fear that i did something wrong, I couldn’t think of anything that i did wrong that night and all i kept thinking was what if i did the worse possible thing that i could have done and that was kiss another girl as my amazing relationship would be ruined. After ruminating and ruminating for hrs on end for a couple of days i started visualising me kissing a girl on holiday, i have no memory of a face or situation just the vision of me kissing a girl with no face in either 3rd or 1st person. I kept going back to it saying I wouldn’t do that and why would i have walked home completely fine get a McDonalds, be happy and normal a lil tipsy though when i spoke to my friend at the hotel room, I spoke nothing about a cheating situation to him just about how good the burger was. I would know the second and remember completely the moment that if cheated on the love of my life wouldn’t i? It would have shocked me sober and scar my brain forever wouldn’t it? On the last day of my holiday i had stopped ruminating and didn’t have anxiety over the situation at all no more i kind of accepted that i didn’t do anything and gave the thought no attention. That was the case until one of my friends who also had a girlfriend had cheated on her the last night out on holiday and he said he couldn’t remember it very well and this was the ultimate trigger i went from nice and calm happy to go home, to full mental breakdown on the phone to my parents. Ruminating started again and it just didn’t end the what ifs kept going and going, with the main why/what if being, “if i didn’t do anything wrong why do i have this awful vision of me cheating on holiday?” I sat there on a 5 hr flight doubting, feeling guilty and making up all sorts of conclusions, even with all the reassurance from my friends and parents saying i didn’t and wouldn’t, but how would they know they weren’t there? I got back to England and as soon as i was home i went and saw my girlfriend, i could barely look at her the same as i did before holiday i just felt guilty but tried my best to ignore it, and be okay with my girlfriend and not show it but, everytime id laugh, talk about the future or just genuinely be really happy with her, id always get the though “what happens if i did do it?” And then id get worried cos i wouldn’t get to have a future with the girl i really do genuinely love. Nearly a month down the line i still think about it everyday while i have been getting therapy to help my OCD, but overall i have been a lot better and at one point for a week my mind wouldn’t even bother giving attention to it. But recently my mind has started drawing attention to it again and when I am with my girlfriend i just feel guilty and get down, start ruminating with the what ifs and making new Scenarios about the event again. It has got to the point where i just want to stop the torture and tell her i did it even though i know i wouldn’t and didn’t do it and that the vision is obviously fake. I relapse on the situation all the time and I just sit there wondering when will this “fake memory OCD” end as the anxiety and down moods i get from it has already started affecting my relationship as it constantly plays on my mind and i always sit there and think if i feel guilty i must be guilty. Sorry if this was a very long read just had to get this down, but if anyone else has experienced something like this could u please message how u have handled it as i am struggling at the moment and i don’t want it to affect my life too much, thank-you.