Any Tips for Traveling?

Hi! I have a really hard time traveling. I feel like everything is dirty or can never be cleaned enough. Fabric Furniture is the worst for me! I much rather stay home and relax than travel. The problem is that my family loves to travel. They feel like I can never live a normal life because of uncomfortable I am in hotels or rental houses. I normally try and bring as much of my own stuff as I can but sometimes I still cannot relax. I end up ruminating on all the things that need to be cleaned in the room. Which leads to a fight with my family because they see it as perfectionism. We are currently on a trip and the rental house is not as brand new in the pictures. The pictures are your typical ones where they do make it look better than it is. Some of the furniture is different than the pictures and the walls are all scuffed up. Is it wrong to expect it to be pretty much what is pictured? Does anyone have any tips to try to not fixate on how dirty traveling can be? Or explaining to others how it affects you without seeming like you are complaining?

Username: EstridEstrid

Date posted: 39w ago

I get you. Many years ago I had similar issues - I got exhausted from thinking about how to manage. But!! I was so sick of my OCD so I surrendered, I chosed to give up my strivkng for cleanliness - and I was more than surprised when I experienced a big relief. I let the anxiety wash over me and after a week returning home I had a big smile on my face feeling so free. I discovered that all my compulsions were so unnecessary and I began my journey to recovery. Nowadays I have other OCD themes, but that's another story. I hope you will find out that you can live more careless and that it will bring so much joy into your life.

Username: cupcake11cupcake11

Date posted: 39w ago

@Estrid Thank you so much for sharing! Your story gives me hope and inspiration!

Username: Anna9Anna9

Date posted: 39w ago

I have this issue as well and have still not figured out a way to consistently feel better. I try to breath through it and sit with the doubt and sometimes that works but usually I just end up cleaning everything anyways which isn’t helpful. You’re not alone :)

Username: cupcake11cupcake11

Date posted: 39w ago

@Anna9 Thank you so much for sharing! I struggle to find people that understand!

Username: Amara Amara

Date posted: 39w ago

I had a vacation with my family last week, and I couldn't imagine how I could bear the airport and plane. Even though I didn't wear gloves, I wanted to expose myself. Yes, I still thought everything was too much for me. But I saw others were relaxed and told myself I could be like them. Even though the hotel we stayed in wasn't as clean as usual, I told myself I had to get through this and survive for five days. I use the "12-week program by Matt Codde." He has a lot of good programs on that, and his coaching helped me reduce my anxiety. You can find him on YouTube or check his platform if you want. https://www.restoredminds.com

Username: Amara Amara

Date posted: 39w ago

Remember, nothing will hurt you. All of those thoughts of OCD, just breathe and enjoy the trip. There was a time I preferred to stay at home and be as clean as I wanted, and I preferred to stay at home and be relaxed rather than go on a trip and get anxious. But these are rules of OCD. If you follow them, you may notice that they will make harder rules, as you may have noticed during these years. I remember there was a time I was free, didn't think too much, and just went with the flow like others. Step by step, I got stuck on OCD and made harder rules until I noticed my life was full of fear.

Username: cupcake11cupcake11

Date posted: 39w ago

@Anonymous here Thank you so much for sharing!! Your insight has been so helpful!

Username: Amara Amara

Date posted: 38w ago

@cupcake11 You're welcome. The most important things that help me reduce my anxiety, especially on that trip, are: don't focus on any contaminated objects (it sounds funny, but for us, all things are) and don't overthink at all. All the problems we have ,because we think about everything and see them as invisible enemies.

Username: unh0lygf

Date posted: 5y ago

!! TW COCD RANT !! my family and i are going away for holiday in about two weeks and i can’t stop thinking about it ,, all i can think about is lying on the used hotel beds covered in bacteria and the bugs surrounding the area - we’re going to a resort and my parents really want me to swim but i literally can’t ! when i imagine the pool i think of all the people who have swam in it and all their unclothed feet covering every inch of space available. i’m going to hopefully bring a sleeping bag from home and stay in that the entire time - we also have to travel on a plane which is even worse :( just thinking about sharing the air with all those strangers makes me want to cry :’((( also we aren’t making food in the resort so we have to go to restaurants to eat which i really can’t handle bc of the shared cutlery. i’m hopefully going to bring stuff from home to prevent panic but i’m afraid that this trip will totally ruin those safe items for me. sorry to write this paragraph but it would really help if u had anything to say which might help my situation in the slightest !!!

Contamination OCD

Username: Biracialbeauty1

Date posted: 2y ago

Hotel and germs anxiety

So, I am going to go out of town next week for three days and I am trying to prepare myself for it when it comes to my anxiety about hotels. I am always anxious these days when I go to a hotel because of standing in a shower and even when had flip flops on in the shower I was still anxious. I want to have a good time with my family, but I don't want OCD to ruin it. Does anyone else experience this when going out of town and if so, how do you cope with it?

Username: Tea

Date posted: 1y ago

Traveling

Hi I’m currently suppressing the urge to vomit and hide in some hole and never come out 😃😃 so, I’m traveling technically today since it’s 1am right now, and I have to go on an airplane, and it’s not even just the airplane that triggers my ocd, it’s the airport itself, it’s so official and security stuff scares me bc like, theres a reason they have security. I’m really tempted to start googling “how likely is it for a plane to crash” or “how to survive a plane crash” and the urge to tell my dad that I love him and to take care of my pets if I don’t come back. Why is my mind like this. Wtf. I want to enjoy my vacation, I also don’t want to have a panic attack in an airport, which has happened before lol. I’m traveling with my mom and my sister, my mom understands ocd and has some knowledge on how to handle it, my sister does not at all. How do I calm myself without it being a compulsion?? I mean, is it okay if I calm myself with prescribed medication and like trying to tune everything out, or is that feeding into the ocd? Because my usual compulsions would be to repeat “it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay” over and over again in my head, and “I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe, nothing is going to happen” and I try not to do that anymore, or just simply not go because of the fear, BUT I’m going because I’m not gonna let ocd take away anymore of my life. I’m just scared and I don’t really know how to cope with this, any advice?

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