- Date posted
- 1y
Real event OCD bullying - please help
I have a sister younger than me by 7-8 years and we generally have a good relationship, but argue a lot. Some of the blame is mine, but admittedly a lot of the time she just yells A LOT and even does stuff like smack me, though she’s in the double digits. I don’t think she’s bullying me—frankly, I don’t care; it doesn’t hurt—but it’s mean and I don’t like it. She’s stopping and I still love her, but yes, we argue a lot. However, for the last year I’ve gained this habit of lightly mimicking her voice when she says something annoying (like begs for me to give her my phone over and over, or cries about something inane) and she hates it. She’ll yell about it, and I have promised to try and stop, but it’s become a habit. Sometimes she’ll cry too, saying “YOU SAID YOU’D STOP!” Frankly, I thought it was kind of funny—not the crying, but the mimicking—and fair too, because if she yells, I’ll annoy her back. However, the other, I realized something and asked her if she was okay with the mimicking, and she told me she feels genuinely hurt by it, like I don’t care about her or her opinions. I was horrified—this was not my intention—and promised I’d stop, and I have, though it’s only been a few days. However, feeling terrible, I asked her “Did I bully you?” and she said yes, very plainly. Her idea of bullying is just getting your feelings hurt, but still, this is serious. I don’t want to be a bully to my young, innocent sister—I know i paint a bad picture of her, but she’s so sweet to me: does things like make me handmade juice when I’m sick, begs to spend time with me, cries about how I’m going to leave the house soon. I felt ashamed and went online, searched around, and basically got that bullying was, well, bullying: using your power over another person to make them feel lesser than you, make them feel bad, etc. This could be bullying, but I wasn’t sure. So then I inputted this scenario into ChatGPT (my new OCD compulsion—I know, I know, I’m trying to stop) and they told me that, essentially, yes, I was bullying her. I feel terrible. Like an absolute monster. I can’t stop thinking about her I probably made her feel really bad about herself, though my intentions were just to annoy her, at the most. I really thought it was the sort of thing siblings did: mimicked each other, lightly insulted each other, the latter of which I didn’t even do. We have nice parents, but they can be really mean at times, so I always try to be the kindest sister I can be to her. Hurting her is one of my biggest OCD obsessions; to find out that I did accidentally is genuinely my worst fear come true. I bullied her. I mean, that’s all this can be, right? What else would you call hurting someone like this over and over? I really thought the mimicking was a little joke, one that bothered her but wouldn’t cause such an emotional reaction. Like, I’ve read about it on books, seen it with other siblings. Kids annoy each other and hurt their feelings, yk? But bullying? I can’t believe I would have done something so terrible. For the record, I’ve stopped. Even if this isn’t bullying, I’ll still stop: I don’t wanna hurt her feelings, just annoy her at the most. We have a pretty good relationship, but she also has one with our parents, who are sort of bullies, when we aren’t fighting, so this means nothing. I am terrified I traumatized her for life, my literal baby, and I can’t live with that. Is there any way this isn’t bullying? Is there any way I can live with myself? I don’t know. People, please help if you can. Thank you.