How do I tell myself to worry/do OCD stuff later. I’ve been anxious for different thing for a couple hours now and I just wanna take a break. But if I don’t do my OCD stuff in this exact moment, it won’t feel right and I feel like I will ruin it. Especially since a big event just happened and I get anxious during big events because I wanna enjoy them and not worry during, or in this case, after they happened.
When i feel the urgency of OCD thoughts and my obsessions wanna manifest into compulsions, i take a minute to reflect. i look within myself and ask “is this thought serving me right now” and if the immediate answer is no (which it likely will be) then you have to make the conscious choice to let it go. now maybe you’re not at the point where you are fully able to do that yet, which is totally okay too. when i feel incapable of letting go of a thought, i write down exactly what’s making me anxious no matter how ridiculous it sounds, and i revisit it later. that way you can take some space from the thought, but know it’s not going anywhere. i hope this helps♥️
@Gwen Stone I have journaled about the thought already but I still feel like I need to think about it. Also, you said “Is this thought serving me right now” what does that mean exactly?
I can relate to all the posts. In the moment of fear and anxiety, I don’t push the thoughts or feelings away to the best of my ability. I say they are welcome to come along for the ride, but I am going to live my life, and focus on my core values - like being a good husband, father, friend. It’s never easy, but living my life means I am not going to give in to OCD.
that’s a great question and thanks for asking it. what i mean when i say is this thought serving me is, is this thought something that is benefiting me in this moment? in this moment is this thought allowing me to get a task done, or allowing me to be present? is it bringing me joy or purpose? most likely with obsessive thoughts the answer is no. when i journal or write my thoughts down, and they continue to persist this is when i turn to things i enjoy doing. often times this can be reading, or drawing, or a form of exercise. even then, you cannot expect yourself to be rid of this thought. that’s a big hurdle that people with OCD face, is wanting to rid of the discomfort of the thought. for me, it’s been about learning how to make space for that. when i say make space, i mean imagine your brain as this BIGGGGG sphere with many things inside. often with obsessive thoughts it feels like our being is consumed by the thought, like it’s bigger than us. when i feel that way, i like to imagine the thought/feeling as a tiny speck inside of a big sphere (my head). the thought is not bigger than you and does not define who you are.
@Gwen Stone Thank you for telling me this, the thing with me is that even if the thought isn’t benefiting me, my brain still tells me I’m going to ruin the moment or forget about that thought (which when I forget something it bothers me) in the moment. I just got back from a camping trip and I have been anxious about this one thing for like 5 days now and I can’t stop thinking about it. On my camping trip I thankfully forgot about it for awhile, but now since I’m back home, my thoughts are telling me to think of how many times I thought about what’s been bothering me for 5 days straight and my brain is telling me to just think and calculate how many times I thought about that thought on the trip. I already journaled some about it, but for some reason I still need to do more. Now that I’m back home my mind is telling me “ok, think right now about how much you thought about the thing that’s been bothering you on your trip or else you’ll forget since you got home and get the thoughts mixed up with when you got with when you were camping” it’s stressing me out. I have another trip I’m going on with my friend for her bday in two days and I feel like I’m going to think about that then too if I don’t do it now.
@User456@outlook.com Fear of forgetting. this one is SUCH an anxiety inducer, because as human beings we simply cannot remember everything. i’ve struggled with OCD specifically about forgetting and remembering thoughts, or to do things and i obsess about it sometimes for days on end. With me, i have found that a few things work best to alleviate some of that stress and anxiety. 1. i sit with the discomfort of it and truly ask myself what the greatest consequence is of forgetting. what will happen? will i die? will i get hurt? will someone else get hurt? the answer is nearly never yes. things that are truly important will stay, or come back to you. 2. meditation and mindful practices. now this one is SO HARD with someone who has OCD because we often struggle with letting things go and feeling out of control. so we fear if we’re mindful or meditate and we let go of those fearful feelings, we’re doing ourselves a disservice. this is your mind playing tricks on you. the only disservice being done is allowing these ruminating thoughts to control you 3. making space. like i said earlier, it’s important to try and make space for these uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. it’s so clear to you i’m sure that pushing it away does not rid of it. so allowing it to come along for the ride (as my friend below said) is the only option. I’m proud of you for your honesty. OCD is debilitating at times, and it can try to seep into our lives and ruin us. i promise you, you are bigger than this. i’m here if you need to chat about anything else.
@Gwen Stone Thank you so much for all of your help and tips. I will definitely be trying all of these out, especially the meditation and mindful practice one. I just hope I don’t get stuck with these thoughts again whenever I go on another big trip in two days with my friend. I don’t want these thoughts to ruin my mini vacation at a theme park. Big events are hard for me because I feel like everything has to be perfect, and not have OCD or anxiety in the moment or else my trip will be ruined. But thank you again for your tips and wise words! I really do appreciate it 😊
Ugh I get you !!!!
I like to tell myself “maybe , maybe not” that’s it .
yea i get that, and am having the exact issue right now actually. i think the strength of the feeling lessens as you do other things tho- i’ve definitely realized that
I keep obsessing that my boyfriend is disappointed in me / annoyed for a situation that happened and I keep asking for reassurance which he keeps providing. I know I shouldn’t ask as the ocd wants that, and it’s going in circles. Does anyone have any advice on what to do to get over the discomfort ? My ocd literally anytime there is an awkward moment or argument gives me the thought see things are ruined you ruined them and now they’ll never ever be the same. But my partner moves on quickly and says it was no big deal. Sitting with the anxiety and doing nothing isn’t working , I keep giving into reassurance seeking....I have tried distract skills like tv , internet , music, but then without fail by the end of the day it’s back on my mind. Ugh ?
My dad keeps telling me enjoy the now. I say What if I'm gay or I'm gay and he says so what, why does that matter? I say it makes me feel like I have to do something about it right now like end my relationship (that I'm happy in). Then he says it's not important to do anything right now, there are important things you have to do today and they're enjoyable so do those. Logically this makes sense to me, but it's really hard. Really, really hard. Anyone have any coping mechanisms for people with Autism and OCD? I get overwhelmed very easily and it can get out of hand very quickly if I spend time focusing on my obsessions.
Sometimes I worry that I don’t have ocd and that I’m losing my mind and that I’ll never feel better again. I was starting to feel really good last night and I thought it was finally over so I went ahead and did a lot of the stuff I enjoyed doing before this happened (the reason I had to stop was because certain things were triggering in either one way or another) but eventually I hit a point where I just could not bring myself to do something because it was causing too much anxiety. I got this horrible image last night in a dream and then I began to get a flurry of bothersome thoughts, so now I have 2 obsessions to worry about now. The first one is kind of in control but I’m just afraid what’s going to happen to my brain and I’m worried about having an episode in front of my family, who I’m supposed to be having a small dinner with today. I don’t want to tell them what’s going on but I’m afraid they’ll notice that I’m not well. I’m never present because I’m always in my head analyzing and ruminating and worrying. The feeling last night gave me hope that I could be myself again but I just worry that these thoughts will always linger and make me lose my mind. :(
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