I have to go and do photoshoot for a bride today (I’m a content creator) and it’s the first time I have to go to work outside of the house since the flare out began. I’m in anxiety. I don’t want it to ruin it for me. Helpppp
Just keep in mind that anxiety is an alarm bell and that's it. It's making you alert. This means something to you and is most likely telling you to focus. Focus on the task, allow the alarm to ring. Don't try and ignore the alarm, and don't concentrate on it either
@Wolfram Wow. That’s an amazing metaphor. Thank you.
@confused writer It's not actually a metaphor. That's literally what it is. I surprised it's not common knowledge and not taught in schools
I think I heard it on therapy in a nutshell. She made a comment along the lines of “you don’t have depression, you are experiencing depression.” I took that comment, and I spun it around for myself. I don’t have anxiety, I am experiencing anxiety. It’s just an experience. It’s just an emotion.  Sometimes I think we’re actually excited, but because of past trauma, we experience the emotion of excitement as anxiety.  Think about how you feel when you’re excited. The fast heartbeat, the energy, the rapid breathing, it’s all the same as when we experience anxiety. It’s our perspective that changes. I think that when you have experienced trauma in the past, sometimes we confuse our excitement for anxiety.  I don’t know you well enough to say, and I certainly am not making any kind of diagnosis, but I bet that you’re pretty excited to be working with a bride and being out of the house.  like I said, sometimes I think we can confuse the symptoms of excitement for being anxiety. 
@mav6 Wow. Needed that. And what you said about depression too. ❤️ thank you.
I like that perception
I’m going on vacation to Vegas in a month. But my OCD thoughts are getting worse & im freaking out that they will ruin my trip. How will i deal with this
So i’ve been planning to apply for a job that i’ve always wanted to experienced and i’ve been looking at videos regarding that job. I was scrolling on tiktok when i stumbled upon someone on live talking about the job. i had a very bad intrusive thought and my anxious mind told me that in order to be safe, i need to find that exact live and fix the thought. i’ve been scrolling for the past hour and have not been able to find the account. my brain is not linking the job to the intrusive thought. why is this happening 💔
Hello! I am really looking for some advice. I have been struggling with OCD for a few years now and it drastically affects my daily life. I am going to give a quick run through of my OCD, and then the current situation I am in now. So for almost 2 years now my most prominent themes of OCD have been getting sick with the stomach bug (emetaphobia) and watching someone die/ having to see large amount of blood or do CPR on someone (I just graduated nursing school). Last year I stopped eating out, wouldn’t touch any of my food with my hands, would wash my hands until they bleed every day, bleached everything I touched when I was in public etc… I would have these major panic attacks all the time and the thought of getting sick hasn’t left my head 24/7 for 2 years. I was unable to complete my nursing school clinicals due to panic attacks each time I was at the hospital afraid someone would die and get these terrible images in my head. I didn’t sleep ever, barely graduated. I did ERP after school and was able to make up the clinical days I missed. Got to a point where I was eating again, felt like I was able to get my hands clean just by washing them. I have been doing exposures every day, and have accepted that getting sick will probably happen at one point and I am okay with it as long as I am at home when it happens. So locking myself in my apartment for 48hr every time after I could have been exposed to the stomach bug is major progress for me and I have been overall doing much better. Fast forward to now: It’s time for me to start my new job on a med/surg floor in a hospital. This week I have made it through a few days of orientation with panic attacks day and night but I am doing it even though I am petrified. I don’t feel ready for this big of a step, being exposed to both of my biggest fears constantly. Today at orientation the girl sitting next to me told me she had been vomiting all day, and continued to run out of the room a vomit the rest of the day. I now am 90% sure I am going to get sick and feel as if I would rather die than continue this amount of stress and anxiety I have felt from just a few days of being on the job. This is my BIGGEST fear and it’s coming true and I don’t know if it’s worth putting myself through this every day at work to just be having constant panic attacks and be miserable. I know with OCD you have to face your fears but I have been pushing myself and trying so hard and I don’t feel like it’s worth it to work this job. I would also feel incredibly guilty for quitting on the first week, but there are a million other nursing jobs that are not in a hospital. I think this is too big of a step for me right now but I wanted to see what others think. Any advice at all is so appreciated!
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