Holidays with OCD

The chaos makes it hard to complete comforting rituals. I love my family but sometimes they make it hard for me to operate during the holidays.

I ruminate about time management and this is worse during the holidays since I don't have a school/work schedule. I'm trying to let myself sit with thoughts about wasting time and not accomplishing enough.

He shows up in green furry skin and a santa costume. Not this year though!

Seeing how much smaller my family has gotten over the years. Christmas isn’t the same anymore. Between deaths in our family and my grandmother moving to a nursing home next week, it’s just me and my parents this Christmas. I’m grateful for the family I have left, but the holidays are a reminder of how much have changed. It triggers my existential OCD and death OCD.

Existential OCD wound up so tight! The other day I was sitting there trying to “figure out” why I felt the way I did and then it hit me lol I’m ruminating

Now, OCD doesn’t show up much. With the business of the season , it’s easy to put off doing practices. OCD is not invited to our friend and family gatherings.

I get overwhelmed during holidays and get very sad. Constantly feelings of doom and sorrow. Always feeling like it’s my last holiday with my family. I have constant thoughts of dying or getting cancer. Panic attacks when I start thinking I have something wrong. It’s worse during holidays when I should be happy.

Definitely in worrying about food prep, contamination, catching an illness from someone at a gathering. I’ve definitely seen an uptick in my symptoms the past couple of weeks. I love the holidays, but it can be difficult to fully enjoy with OCD.

The extra stress leaves me vulnerable to OCD triggers.

Health anxiety, death, thinking of future holidays being sick or alone

I get overwhelmed with the expectations (imagery, wishes, songs) to have a good time with my family. I’m very low contact with them because they provoke me so much anxiety and sadness, which always leads to a definite spike in my compulsions. I’m not excited to see them, but I’m bracing myself to do so when it is absolutely necessary. There’s also the financial struggle that inevitably comes with the holidays. I just can’t wait for them to pass.

my OCD manifests in health/contamination anxiety. I worry about other people cooking for me and not being able to control how long they cook things, if they wash their hands, etc. …. I also work myself up over fear of getting sick which usually results in me actually making myself sick. hard to distinguish what is “real” vs. “imagined” symptomatically

It makes me fearful that it will be ruined by my ocd. I feel grief for another holiday season dealing with ocd:(

With ROCD and the holiday season I seem to get triggered a lot more lately. Sharing holiday time with my family and now my fiancé family tends to trigger my OCD because I’m not use to splitting holidays time. I think thoughts like “it would be easier, if I was single again” or “He doesn’t care about my family”…etc all these lies. I love his family and love spending time with them, but holidays splitting is a hard compromise for me because I’m so close to my family. I’m just learning.

A lot of mental checking and seeing if I feel happy enough? Or if my OCD is showing up for the holidays

This is my first holiday season without alcohol and my first since being diagnosed with OCD. So far it’s not as bad as I thought it would be! I’m trying to practice a lot of self compassion and compassion for my family - they have been on this OCD journey to hell and back with me this year.

I have fears of dying and been to hospital so many times I'm afraid of being put away to the crazy house when I feel weak of any pain at all I think I am dying I have a husband and children they need me and I need them do I have OCD what am I going to do

i have emetophobia which pretty much ruins this time of year for me, even though it’s my favorite weather and i love holidays. i’m so scared to get sick and everyone always talks about sickness and it’s just the worst.

I no longer have my parents around(they died),so I really don't want to celebrate the holidays anymore,but I have a 10 year old son so, my husband and I do the holidays. I'm feeling crappy because I don't care anymore about it all. Then I feel fake because I still do it all,for my kid.

When we have family staying the night I feel really bad having my big bed all to myself while they’re on an air mattress. But my bed is my safe space. This year I had friends over and allowed them to sleep in my bed and I slept in my living room, so it could be out of sight. I washed my bedding right when they left but then my sister and brother in law came and I wanted to offer them my bed but I had just washed and made it. I apologized but couldn’t explain why I didn’t offer because I was embarrassed to say that I only like having people in my bed if they have changed into clothes that haven’t touched anything and have done a skincare routine.

Idk what it is about them but Christmas songs trigger the thoughts for me. Been doing pretty good with them this year but that might be because I’ve been self isolating. When I bring it up everyone calls me a grinch 😔

My routine being out of order especially, i like to tackle the day in the same way and get anxious if the order is different or if the order gets unexpectedly changed. Visiting family is also bothersome to my mind in a sense that my family obviously has their own way of doing things that are different than my idea of how i like to do things.

When I am around a big group of people I get super anxious and nervous cause I sometimes don’t know the people…

It feels overwhelming. I don’t want to celebrate. I too don’t care to celebrate. I do so much already. My body hurts. My mind isn’t right. Financially stressful

My current therapist thinks I have SAD so it links to my ocd getting worse during autumn and winter and calming a lot in summer and spring

During holidays my ocd gets worse.. I keep on wanting everything to be perfect and that puts a lot of stress on me and affects my loved ones

My brother makes it difficult for me during Christmas. He’s the favorite child. He gives me a ton of grief about how much food I put on my plate. Plus, the gifts he gives his wife and kids are ridiculously lavish. It says my OCD into overdrive

Two ways for me: 1-keeping presents organized and wrapped neatly 2-washing hands and drinking vitamin c to prevent getting sick

Wanting my gifts for others and how I show up for them to be exactly right to the point that it’s not fun anymore

Even after cutting way back on activities and gifts, I still get looped as the days get closer to actual holidays. Cards, presents, meals, meet ups….. feels distressing and necessary at the same time. But so far if something isn’t done, it passes and I go on.

Everything just feels “more wrong”. Scheduled change, things get moved, there is more social interaction, holiday clothes feel weird. It’s just “not right” all the time. It’s work to face the exposure and maintain the joy of the season.

Time alone means my anxiety & overthinking starts about all my failures in life. Meaning an endless well of intrusive thoughts & pain.