By now I ignore any worry I’m able to because I want to be happy. The cost of ignoring the worries is I make bad decisions without thinking and it stresses out me and others around me more. The icing on top of the cake is the worries I actually ignore are important. Has anyone been here?
You seem really overwhelmed. Im sorry I hope your days get better. You ignoring real worries could just be fatigue and depression from having so much going on mentally. Is it from trying to tackle to many exposures in one day?Perhaps you can make a list of what OCD your going to taxkle each day and what your going to let go after you have other behaviors under control. That might free up some mental space. For OCD we don't ignore the thought. We acknowledge it and do the response prevention instead. Could you be trying to avoid the intrusive thoughts?
Yes. Tbr you trying to worry less is choosing to make one less bad decision in a way. You're trying instead of doing the same loops. Sometimes what helps me is imagining how I'd talk to someone else if they were in my shoes making said bad decision. We often tell loved ones hey you got this, you live and learn. I try to do that for myself. We're creating new neural pathways by thinking outside of the confines of ocd fear / anxieties and rituals etc. Choose bravery and discernment 🥺🙏🏼 we really do got this.
Yes I believe that I understand what you’re going through. It can be really overwhelming to try and separate what the “important worries/meaningless worries” are. I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe that it has something to do with feeling extremely overwhelmed and stressed out about everything. Personally, I remember feeling that my ocd symptoms had become so severe, that I began to almost “go on a mental breakdown rampage” for awhile in my personal life. And started to simply ignore all social expectations and behaviors. It almost felt like my mind had “lost it”, because I’d felt like I was being mentally tortured for so long. I think a couple of methods that help is developing an enormous level of patience with yourself, and regaining clarity through mindfulness practices. Basically (in a nutshell), that our thoughts are not really reflecting reality. So a large majority of the “noise that’s going on in our heads” is self-generated unreliable narratives that are not actually real. There’s a book called “The untethered soul” by Michael Singer that I found to be extremely helpful. I listen to his stuff through audiobooks everyday to stay grounded, and to keep going in the right direction. Medication has also really helped me. I used to be scared of taking anything that I thought might “permanently alter/damage me”. But since I’ve started taking Lexapro again, my daily quality of life has improved.
Part of my OCD is always trying to get into the bottom of things (if I freak out thinking about death or illness or losing someone or contamination, then I will roam all the internet for searching for informations on the subject even though it worsens my anxiety and never leaves me with a "clean" feeling of certainty or peace or acceptance). And recently I realized that if I have an anxious thought that arises in my mind it'll just go away if I leave it be and don't stop what I'm doing. But stupidly enough I feel guilty for doing that because I get the feeling that I should engage more with my fears and if I just ignores them and they go away I'm worsening the situation ... What is the line between ignoring the problem by distracting yourself and simply allowing your mind to move on ?
Does anyone else ever feel so overwhelmed by indecision they just don’t want to think anything at all? You just start to feel numb?
I’ve been struggling with myself when I tell myself not to worry so much, I feel like the second I stop worrying or thinking about my loved ones, something bad is going to happen to them. It drains my energy and I feel like I am always walking on eggshells because In my head my thoughts tell me my decisions and actions will affect my families well being. It’s a lot of responsibility to put on myself and I try telling myself no amount of worrying will change anything but the thoughts keep coming back. Does anyone relate and can share any thoughts?
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