- Date posted
- 44w ago
Uncertainty
How do I sit with uncertainty?? Like I understand that I should just let the thoughts be there and not do a compulsion, but HOW? I would appreciate any tips
How do I sit with uncertainty?? Like I understand that I should just let the thoughts be there and not do a compulsion, but HOW? I would appreciate any tips
I just talked about this with my therapist. He said the term “sitting with uncertainty” is actually better phrased as “moving on with uncertainty”. Instead of just sitting there, DO things while you’re uncertain. Go take a walk while being uncertain. Go for lunch while being uncertain. Do everything you want to do while allowing uncertainty to be there without compulsions.
To sit with uncertainty just let those thoughts come and go like clouds in the sky. Don’t assign any importance to the thoughts and allow the anxiety to occur without compulsions
Try to remember this one bit if reality: if we don't feed the compulsions, given time the OCD episode will likely pass. Over time, it gets easier.
What the others who posted here have said 🥰
I realized recently that I put such importance on some thoughts and not others. I know that is what we are told not to do. But I stopped for a moment and thought about another thought I had several days before. And it struck me just how absurd and silly this new thought was and why was it so much more important or meaningful than the previous thought. I guess I was briefly able to step back and see how skewed my perspective was. It’s really difficult in the midst of thoughts to step away but maybe for a moment my mind compared one thought to another and found it to be illogical. I’m too am in the deep hole of ocd right now. So maybe little by little I can step away and see just how meaningless and fruitless these thoughts are.
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
whats up guys what are some tips dealing with ocd and what to do when a thought makes u anxious ??
I cannot for the life of me stop ruminating or checking how I feel about thoughts or focusing on thoughts or creating more thoughts. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I want to scream. I try not to ruminate about the thoughts, but trying not to just makes me think about them more. I try not to check, but somehow, I still check. I want to let a thought sit in the background, but the more I try not to focus on it, the more I end up focusing on it. I don’t want the thought to expand because that feels like engaging with it, but I can’t just stop it from expanding. It feels impossible. People keep saying I’m in control of my compulsions, and maybe that’s true for the physical ones. But when it comes to the mental compulsions, I swear I have no control. It feels like I’m missing something that everyone else seems to have, like there’s some tool they’re using that I don’t have. Controlling mental compulsions has never felt possible for me. I’m starting to fear them. And every time someone says I’m in control and can just choose not to do them, I end up beating myself up even more when they happen. Or when I *choose* I guess. I don’t know anymore. If this is my fault, if I’m responsible for this, then what does that make me? I feel like a monster. I am at my wits’ end. How am I supposed to control mental compulsions when it feels like they control me? I freak out when they happen. They don’t bring me relief, they just make me panic. I want it to stop so bad.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond