Help Please..

Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself sounds like you know what your genuine intentions are. Your friends are right. I’m sure there’s tons of people out there who do this very same thing. Accept this logic and, label this as obsessive ocd thought patterns and don’t revisit it. Next time it pops up and you worry just say “my ocd seems fixated on what this means right now.” And then gently move on. Hope this helps ❤️‍🩹

As Skyline said, this is perfectly normal. Despite what other's may say, it's 100% natural to find someone attractive after they pass puberty, even if they are in their teens and technically minors. The more we shame ourselves, or others, for that, the more intrusive thoughts like these are going to bother people. There is a huge, HUGE, difference between finding someone attractive, and actively pursuing them. If you find yourself actively trying to pursue someone that is younger than your personal moral threshold (which judging by the tone of your post, I highly doubt will ever happen), then you could work through it with a therapist or a trusted friend. If that isn't happening, then you just move on. ERP would be great for this, if you aren't already doing it!

Yes, you need to put this all in the OCD basket. People with OCD have thoughts about all sorts of things, including whether or not ANYBODY is attractive. It doesn’t matter. They are just OCD thoughts. Now it is your job to treat all that like OCD. That means you just ignore it. Because OCD thoughts don’t mean anything. Just because you had an OCD thought, it means absolutely zero about you. It doesn’t matter at all. The best thing to do is this: Just let the thoughts be in your head. Don’t try to fight them or fix them or reason with them or figure them out. Don’t try to solve or figure anything out. That is a classic OCD trap. Just tell yourself, “Hmmm, my OCD is telling me I am attracted to minors, whatever. My OCD can tell me whatever it wants. I know it doesn’t matter at all what my OCD says. Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” A good therapist (trained in ERP) can really help with this. During this therapy, you expose yourself to triggers on purpose (in your case, you spend plenty of time around kids). This can trigger thoughts of “Am I attracted or not?” Then you just ignore the thoughts like they aren’t even there and go on with your life. A good therapist could really help. The bottom line is that the thoughts don’t matter and you can just ignore them and live your life the way you otherwise would. Don’t try to fix the thoughts or solve them. Just let them be there if they want to—and then go on and live your life.

hey there, it sounds like you're going through a really tough time with these thoughts, and it's totally understandable why you'd feel uncomfortable. it's important to remember that thoughts don't define our actions or who we are. 🌈 have you heard about "unstuck"? it's an ai-powered therapy tool specifically for ocd (unstuckmyOCD.com). it's been a game changer for me this past month, and i think it could really help you out too. another member here recommended it to me, and i just wish i'd known about it sooner!