Maybe, maybe not

“It’s not my job to figure this out”

"Thank you OCD". And continue doing whatever it is, I was doing.

If I engage in this compulsion now, it will exacerbate my OCD.

Nothing I can do right now will give me 100 percent certainty. I am choosing to tolerate this distress and resist urges to find certainty.

“Oh yeahhhh you’re so right. [insert exaggerated scenario]”

OCD - " it's contaminated! Clean everything right now" Me - "That's nice OCD" or I sometimes explain to myself how not giving in to anxiety will give me a very good reason to have self esteem.

"I don't think so. But maybe."

I accept you. Thank you

Grounding yourself

The most important part in my opinion of recovery of OCD, is don’t be too hard on yourself. Sometimes we can develop a fear of doing a compulsion and going down even worse. Don’t fear your compulsion, just try to not do it. If you do fear messing up and doing a compulsion, you won’t get better because now that’s a new obsession .

I am the fish. OCD is the fisherman. It uses thoughts and feelings as a bait or a lure. Same way there’s a billion different types of tackle, OCD can use whatever is appropriate for the moment to try and hook you. Much like a good fisherman would do. My only goal is to swim up the river and that’s already hard enough. Now all these hooks are in the water trying to catch me at every turn. I bite, I struggle, I get fatigued but never is it the death of me. OCD only does catch and release. After all, how could it get the thrill of hooking you again if it didn’t. No matter how life and death it makes the situation seem, it is just gonna snap a few pictures and throw you right back in. Rinse and repeat. I’ve started introducing self compassion in a silly way. Whenever I notice that I’m hooked I say “well I am a fish that makes sense.” The bait they use is fresh, and top of the line stuff. Of course I’m going to bite, it’s shiny lol. The pain you feel as you’re grappling with OCD is similar to that of a sharp barb being lodged further and further in your skin as you try to swim away. When I notice and try to let go, the hook doesn’t have time to set properly and I can continue on my journey. Every time I start telling myself stories or seeking certainty I say “why would I care, I’m just a fish.” And for whatever reason it’s just goofy enough to help me relax. Moral of this meandering rant is: be a fish. Fish get hooked sometimes, but you’ll always be thrown back.

I say, “I have no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️,” “I will figure out later OR NOT,” “Who knows?” This was HARD in the beginning of my ERP journey, but now it’s second nature to me 😌

Just reminding myself that whatever compulsion it’s telling me to do won’t actually determine an outcome and will just feed my ocd further even if it’s a small compulsion

I talk to the thoughts like I’m taking to a baby. “Oh that’s so nice of you to share! Yes that is a scary thought! Yes it is!” That and just accepting the uncertainty has proved helpful.

Acknowledge the thought, come back to my body with physical stretches/movements, engage in the present and move forward with my day.

Maybe, maybe not has been very helpful!

Remember my promise to myself: “I will no longer live in fear!”

“Cool story bruh”😎

I say “Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.” Or “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.” Followed by “it’s impossible for me to have 100% certainty, I don’t know” ending with making a mental note of my discomfort level and inviting it in. I invite the uncertainty to stay with me through the day and decide not to investigate further, since I’ll never be certain.

Not putting a quarter into the ocd machine. Floating and feeling over the anxiety spikes in the present moment.

“Maybe, maybe not” is my go-to

For me, I know that if I have to ask myself or think “is this ocd?” then it is. Then I move forward and do what ocd is trying to scare me out of doing. That usually shows it who’s boss!

ok :-)

a lot of my intrusive thoughts are just very vivid unpleasant images, and i’ve taken to telling my brain things like “you can show me as many images as you want of terrible things happening to my feet. that doesn’t change the fact that i’m sitting here with my feet intact”

I don’t think my response is appropriate, but it rhymes with go duck yourself.

“So what?” Example that happened to me recently: OCD: “OMG, I can’t believe you ACTUALLY had sex with her! You’re gonna catch an STD and your dick is gonna fall off!” Me: “So what? I had fun and was respectful and did it with consent.”

Push though ocd and do what I would if I was not having ocd anyway.

I say, “I do not have the time to tackle every idea in my mind. If it’s important, someone will tell me, but it’s not my job to fight every thought.”

Agree and let be

Maybe maybe not, I don’t know oh well I need to go on with my day

Well, that’s a thought (neutrally) but right now I’m (fill in the blank)

I say the thought back to myself in a silly voice. Kinda like that one SpongeBob meme (you know the one).

My go to reply is “thats nice but im not interested”

“maybe it will. maybe it won’t”

Dark room, lie down and close my eyes.

If it’s a new intrusive thought: that’s a weird thought, I’m not going to engage in iced. If it’s an existing thought I have: I am feeling X or the thought feels so real but I am not going to engage in OCD because I’ve engaged in these thoughts before and they never go away. I’m going to try to tolerate the uncomfortable feelings.

Being uncertain and remaining with/tolerating that sucky feeling; holding off on compulsions the very best I can 😘💪

no thank you!

Lean in hard. Agree with the ridiculous thoughts wholeheartedly - YES of course I want to stab my family and stick my head in the oven. Who doesn’t?!

Staying present instead of listening or analyzing thoughts.

My favorite is to say “womp womp!” It adds some humor, which can be hard on days that it feels bad/sticky, but it always helps in the end! Another thing I love is to picture Kevin from Home Alone, when he screams putting after shave on, because my OCD wants me to freak out, but I end up smiling or laughing at it instead 😂 to anyone struggling, you’ve got this!!

i tell myself to worry about my intrusive thoughts “later” and ultimately end up forgetting most of the time

I try to think of it as a passenger, it needs to stay for now, let it stay and say what it has to say and he will leave on his own. The more you push it back the more often it will come to deliver it's message, and he gets louder everytime.

Sounds odd but put ice in your socks and walk around!

I hate things getting dirty (contamination OCD) but I just remind myself “everything can be cleaning and washed”

you can be neat but your mind is all over the place

Maybe statements and fear of compulsions making me worse again

When I start to overthink a situation or reply a seanario over and over. I verbally say this is not constructive. It will change nothing and does nothing but cause me destress.

I say "yep, that might happen. I guess we will see"

That was an interesting thought. Moving on

First off I’d like to say thank you to each and every one of you for speaking out about your mental health or being supportive during someone else’s mental struggles. Because of you I don’t feel so alone. I’ve known something was off with me for along time but when I would try to express or explain the things I was doing out loud to someone else, it would sound so ridiculously silly so I’d try to keep it to myself. I’m so mentally exhausted from this illness. I’m in a constant fight with my brain. I’m 38 yrs old and I’ve decided from here on out I will not be embarrassed of my mental health so I can truly be happy and love everything about myself. 🙌🏼🙏🏻

I have to remember what I think I need to do, won't change anything....I can't get that anxious gnawing feeling in my stomach or I've lost the battle in myself.

Acknowledge that it’s OCD and that I do not want to engage with the intrusive thought. Continuing my day acknowledging the feelings and engaging with communities like this one for strength

What am I doing and why am I doing it? It helps redirect my focus to what I’m doing and the importance of why I’m doing it.

I'm still working on it

So hard I've gone about 6x days trying to ignore all the funny rituals I must do. Trying to do ERP just need to remember it's not true all nonsense.

I think talking to God helps and remembering the conversation you had with him, regarding OCD not being true and replay that in your head when the struggle begins.

"Thank you for that useless information"