Does anyone else have a hard time playing a sport due to self-criticism/perfectionism? I used to love Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but started over analyzing techniques, judging myself, and comparing with others. Now I hate it. Is this ocd or ocd adjacent? Let me know and share any tips.
It sounds like you’re OCD is making it hard for you to enjoy sports.  When my OCD stops me from enjoying things I enjoy. I also get frustrated and usually try to push through and decide I’m just gonna enjoyed anyways ocd not gonna stop me.  I’ve had OCD since I was a kid so I can understand. It’s very frustrating, it really trys to suck the fun out everything. Please try to find ways to continue to enjoy the sport and learn how to not let your OCD stop you from enjoying things and try to look at it as if you were judging someone else that sometimes helps me because I’m like OK would I have the same expectation for someone else or am I over judging myself and being too harsh of a self  critic . There’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn new techniques and see what’s the best way to do things just make sure that you’re not overwhelming yourself and comparing yourself to others .I have done that with activities before and it does really suck the fun out of it and make it hard to keep learning. OCD is hard but it’s definitely a condition you can work through and still enjoy things with you just have to kinda know how to not let ocd stop you.  have a good weekend and please keep trying to do what makes you happy.
I agree with the person above. :) I have been dealing with OCD for about 5 months now. Maybe I have in the past but never knew it. I’ve always been a worrier. I’m 47 years old and my life has basically crumbled because of it all. I have recently started therapy about a month ago. I think I feel a little better and I have hope that it will get better. I am a Jiu Jitsu practitioner as well. I have a blue belt and love the sport. I haven’t been back in the past 5 months because of this OCD. I haven’t done anything fun for a while until recently. I stopped watching most action movies and comedy movies out of fear. So weird huh? I have harm ocd so my therapist has told me to start watching violence again and don’t turn away from it. lol. “Watch it all the way through.”So for the past couple weeks I started to watch tv again with my wife. It has been helping me as well as other exposure therapy. Every week I say I’m gonna get back to Jiu Jitsu and I don’t go. I feel sad about it. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow night. Maybe I’ll push myself and just go. Truth is I know I will enjoy it. I’m just scared. Im Sick of being scared. My advice may not be worth much because I’m new at this suffering, but we have to do the opposite of what out ocd wants us to do. Get out there and enjoy your life. I am a hypocrite at times for saying that. Maybe writing this will help me too. Don’t give up. They are garbage thoughts, refuse to engage.
@Anonymous I’m in a very similar position. Shame and self criticism are big barriers but I don’t know whether or not to share with my instructor. Could be confession?
I'm really struggling to figure out where my OCD ends and where I begin. I’m scared of most things—not in a panicky way, but in a deep, cautious, worst-case-scenario kind of way. Example: I haaaaaaaaate my spectacles. I’d love to do Lasik, or even just wear contacts, but the idea terrifies me. I’ve heard about the tiniest risk of blindness or infection, and once that thought is in my head, it takes over. I picture the worst, and then I don’t act. TRIGGER Also Lasik involves cutting TRIGGER which petrifies me. I’m stuck between wanting change and being too afraid to make it. The same goes with wanting to travel but being scared I'll be trafficked or someone will plant something in my bag & I'll get arrested overseas. No amount of praying will fix it. Does anyone else feel like their OCD makes them freeze in everyday decisions? Like you can’t tell if you're just being practical or if it's the OCD gripping the steering wheel again? Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's not OCD but my personality, that's what I'm trying to figure out.
Hey guys just wondering if anyone suffers from this type of OCD. I feel a big struggle to even begin things because it doesn’t feel right or if I resume things it doesn’t feel right. Anyone have any advice ? Thank you
Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?
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