I feel…

If you watch Dr McGrath’s NOCD webinars on YouTube there’s a great little speech he does in response to a question where he says “I quite frankly call BS on “it feels like” because I don’t care what it feels like I care about what it actually IS”. Go look it up it’s good stuff what he says and it rings true. I can “feel like” the train that I’m sitting on right now as I write this response to your post is about to derail and go off the tracks and crash in a big heap. Does that mean it’s actually true? I mean “it feels like” that could certainly be true. But no it does not mean that it is actually true. Just because something “feels like it” doesn’t make it true. This is one of OCDs best tricks to keep you trapped in compulsions and ultimately stay stuck.

I’m so sorry it took me so long to respond 😭. But the thoughts that ocd can give to a person can definitely feel real at times, I know because I used to have lots of intense thoughts about my sexuality, whether it’s my brain telling me that “I’m just to worried to come out” or that “don’t you just want to try a guy” or way worse thoughts. But beachgirl I can only tell you one thing. And it’s that the thoughts are only as real as you make them. They can’t harm you, they can’t change you, and they definitely can’t change your sexuality. And for people that’s one of the hardest parts about dealing with OCD because, All of us already knew that, but our brain is just causing doubt about it. Over time I kind of just gave up. I quit trying to fight the thoughts and waste my energy on them because it wasn’t worth it. The thing about OCD is that it wants you to fight it, or prove it wrong so our brains can have a solid answer. But it doesn’t work that way. You have to sit with the anxiety. And once you do, you kinda realize that it’s not as intense as your brain is saying it is. I looked through some of your other posts and it seems like you’re constantly fighting with it, now it may seem like that’s the good thing to do, but it’s not. You fighting OCD is what OCD wants you to do because it gets attention from it. It’s like an annoying friend who needs attention by bothering you, but when you don’t play along with them, they leave you alone. Also beachgirl something that’s helped me a lot is knowing that you aren’t alone in this. Everyone at some point in their life deals with intrusive thoughts and they can vary for lots of different reasons. (My bad this post is so long 😭)

It just feels real I'm sure.