I just can't believe how quickly my anxiety has gone down on some low to moderate fears! I had some setbacks earlier this week but also some really awesome successes in the small things. I feel like I had a little bit of a breakthrough in my thought process this week.
I love this! Do you want to share your wins?
I live seeing that from a conquerer! Gives me so much hope:) I took our dog that I rarely can touch in my car, to the greenbelt for a walk, gave him some nice long runs on the head and rubbed my hands all over my face. Then when I got home instead of washing my clothes and phone etc, I sat on the couch with my little guy and fed him dinner and watching him pick something up and put it in him mouth two minutes after he was putting his hands on his dirty socks/feet.
@HeartMama I am so proud of you! Thank you for sharing. It’s wonderful you worked through your setbacks and recognized your wins. And those are huge wins!
@HeartMama Teach me how. I have some stray cats, well they were kittens that were born in my back yard last August, and although I feed them and might pet them to try and socialize them, I have to wash my hands afterwards and not touch my clothes. One of them is coming along so well, and she appears to want to rub against my legs, but I keep jumping out of the way. I really hate this ocd stuff. This kitten is such a sweetie and she fills my heart with happiness, but I just can't seem to be ok with these things.
@Student of my mind 🧘♂️ My therapist (who is absolutely amazing) read through a portion of freedom from ocd with me and there were some scripts that just hit home. I’m going to lose my husband and someday my little guy if I can’t beat this but not to the diseases I fear. They are slipping away. The script she gave me was just so powerful that it took some of the power away from the other fears. I am still just starting but I feel like I hit this huge aha moment. I’ve been listening over and over to them and even though it’s hard, it’s not as hard as it would be to lose my family. I’m sure that it’s going to take a lot of repetition to be able to do it every day, but even one time is such a good start for me. @student of my mind, I hope you can find your motivation too.
@HeartMama I've lost my relationship with my fiance after 15 yrs together, and I'm upset that I haven't seen my parents in about a year. My parents are older and dealing with health concerns, so this is really stealing precious time that I'd rather be spending with those important to me. It's just so hard. Thank you for your message.
@Student of my mind 🧘♂️ I'm sorry to hear that, ocd is so isolating, your world just becomes smaller and smaller and smaller. I hope that you are able to find your path and what motivates you and celebrate your successes. I've spent years trying to battle this with other methods, far too afraid to try erp. The meds helped a little, hypnosis, delaying reactions, they have gotten me to a place that I'm willing to try but I have no idea what will happen when I get to harder exposures. Do you mind if I ask what is that is keeping you away from your parents? You seem sad about the loss of both your relationship (which you have no control over) and the connection with parents. I wish I could make ocd go away for all of us, it such tough work and I know I had more setbacks in other areas after but I know I can do and I know you can too.
@HeartMama My obstacle to seeing my parents currently is just carving out the time. The are 2 hours away and my ocd monopolizes my time. I'm getting closer to getting the time, but last week for instance the shower drain was starting to get slow, so I ended up using my time to address that. A few weeks before that I was dealing with some setbacks as well, and so that kept me from my parents back then. I'm trusting that I'm heading in the right direction and that I need to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. As I keep doing that, I'll be gradually gaining time back at the same time I'm carving out time to see my parents.
@Student of my mind 🧘♂️ I get that 100%, I always say "I don't have time but the reality is I don't have time because I have too many rituals to complete, too many things that I don't allow others to help me with. I hope that you start to see progress and get that precious time back.
@HeartMama I can relate about not letting others help. I don't trust people to do things right. I strongly feel, if you want something done right, you got to do it yourself. Thank you. I'm glad you're seeing some wins.
@Student of my mind 🧘♂️ Yeah, but I'm challenging that thought everyday and letting go more and more. You can do it, just keep practicing and if you cave and do a ritual, try to do it wrong or try to undo it.
*love not live ha ha
Just wanted to share two big victories I've had this past week. First, after a flood in my house from a hurricane about seven years ago, I convinced myself I had to use different pairs of shoes for upstairs and downstairs cause the floors downstairs were contaminated with flood germs. This may have made sense for like, the days after the flood but it went on til this week when I was able to bring myself to walk downstairs in my slippers and everything was fine! Second, I've had my cats in a fairly large cat enclosure to keep them separated from the dogs and also prevent them from getting into the walls that were taken down in the flood (long story, the fact that they still aren't fixed) but my brain always treated said space and by extension them as dirty. In order to give both me and the cats better quality of life, I decided to move them into my upstairs room and hall (using a gate to still prevent them from going anywhere dangerous for them while still having a bigger space to roam). I'm having to get past the stage of "Oh God, what if this was a bad idea and they contaminate my room with death germs" but I'm gonna win against my OCD and enjoy my cats!!! (Though as I write this, one of them went from the litter box straight to my bed and tracked litter onto it so there will be some more road bumps...)
Hi all, I wanted to share an OCD win that I had this past week. I recognized and stopped a compulsion. I felt the urge to keep going with the physical compulsion of checking on my son before going to sleep to make sure he was still breathing and to pull the blankets down away from his neck, but I knew it was a compulsion and I used my ERP skills and didn't go and check. Even though my intrusive thoughts haven't been too bad the past few months, I still have them and still have my ups and downs. With me continuing with my ERP, I know that is why I am still on the upside of my OCD. Without it, I wouldn't have the skills to get through the bad times. What’s a small win you had last week in your OCD journey?
What’s one small win or act of bravery you’ve had this week, even if it felt really hard? **OCD recovery isn’t about perfection—it's about progress, even if it's tiny. Maybe you delayed a compulsion by 30 seconds. Maybe you showed up here today to express you struggles or support others. These are wins, and they matter. Let’s celebrate them together.
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