it’s my sisters wedding tomorrow and i’ve arrived at the venue, i am struggling to enjoy the moment due to my intrusive thoughts, it feels as if i am drowning in my mind and i don’t deserve to be here, does anyone have any tips so i can enjoy myself. i just want to be normal i’m only 16
Hey! It’s completely okay to feel anxious and nervous! You’ve had the 1st step in acknowledging it and understanding that these are intrusive thoughts! Good on you!! I’m still new to coping with OCD and intrusive thoughts, as sometimes I get distracted with studying due to my mind focusing on everything else in my head Some methods you can try, involve a lot of grounding!! I’ve found that using the 5 step method helps! 5 things you see. 4 things you hear. 3 things you touch. 2 things you smell. 1 thing you taste It’s an eventful day, which may be overstimulating! If you have any relatives at this wedding, maybe someone who helps in understanding your worries, stick with them, talk it out when you need and try to get into some activities together when you can It may not be easy, as intrusive thoughts can be so tough sometimes. But I believe in you!! You most certainly deserve to be where you are, no matter how odd it may feel in the moment. It’s a temporary stress, that we will solve together, even for one night! This may sound silly heh, but it’s worked in my experience to calm me down and centre my brain on something else! MATH :) Do some timetables, count backwards from 100 using 7s, or even spelling your name backwards. I hope these little ideas may help a tad? And if you’re still feel like you’re drowning in thoughts, feel free to reply back to this message, and hopefully I can try to give some other suggestions! I’m big into photography, so maybe you can use your phone and try to catch little glimpses of the night: a few pictures of a certain colours, different flowers, different angles and shapes, anything and everything and play around with that! You got this!! Have a fun night when you can!
@Pobble thank you so much for this, it’s especially hard recently as my thoughts feel as if they’re not intrusive if that makes sense. all i want is it over but my mind is telling me i don’t want it over, i’m gonna try enjoy the day
@harry.potter.lover I totally get that! It’s certainly a roller coaster, but we’ll recover from it :)) I hope you managed to enjoy the day, and I hope you can try some of these little activities! Let me know how you go! As for the intrusive thoughts! Think of them as a little spy, who come in disguises. They are unwanted and know that, so they’ll try to frame and make you spiral and think of things, even in such a manner that seems somewhat like “normal curiosity or thinking.” I’ve had that! What I’ve been doing to acknowledge those OCD thoughts and also just genuine concerns, is acknowledging if they are “rational thoughts,” which in my case, I see any thoughts or ideas that may just be General curiosity and or fears but aren’t contributing to my distress as much. While “irrational thoughts,” are the OCD and intrusive ideas that come in small chunks before pushing myself into a spiral I hope that helps a tad! You got this!!! Have so so much fun :)
Hi, so my mum and sister are going away for 5 days this week/weekend and i genuinely dont know how i am going to survive. I still have my dad, but i feel my mum is the only person who knows what to do with me, and if i stress out/feel sick then she knows how to calm me down. My sister also is okay with this, and def better then my dad so idk what to do. I have cried so many times over the last couple of days and usually the longer ik abt it and the more i think about someone going away i start to feel better and see the positives, but this time it just keeps getting worse and worse. I also feel horrible that i am making my mum feels bad for going on a trip she is excited about just because of my stupid OCD. I have talked to my therapist about it but no one truly understands what it is like so they cannot really help me.I honestly dont know how i am going to get through this and go to skl for a couple days and act like everything is ok. Please help me and tell me tips or advice for this.
I’m nervous about an upcoming gathering. I feel like I won’t be welcomed or only invited for the sake of the host being nice. I am afraid of what I will say or do, that others will pick up on my non verbal behaviors like I do with theirs (i.e. a shoulder shift, eye roll, texting each other while I’m right there etc.) and I’m afraid that I will ruin the vibes of the gathering by becoming paranoid. I don’t want my thoughts to spiral so bad that I need to leave and my fiancé is out of town so it’s not like I can escape. I don’t want to be there the whole time but also don’t want to seem rude by leaving early and keep thinking that if I leave early will be a topic of conversation for others there. It makes me want to curl up and hide in the house all weekend and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it for over a week now.
has anyone experienced this or have any advice on what to do. okay so my senior prom is today and i’m in a long distance relationship so im going alone with friends and there’s an after party at someone’s house and it’s just your basic high school party with drinking and everything and ive never been to one but i wanna go with my female friends (im also a girl btw) but i have an rocd fear of cheating or something if i go. ive only ever gotten drunk once and all i was thinking abt was my boyfriend so i don’t understand the cheating “because you were drunk” thing. if i go to this party i do wanna drink a little but im just scared cause im overthinking that something will happen even though i would never do that. i haven’t asked my boyfriend about it yet as he’s at work but i am just not sure what to do.
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