My OCD win this week

My OCD’s been relatively in check as of late, but I’ve been having some major fears surrounding driving in the last several weeks. Unfortunately, those fears crescendoed this past Sunday when I was driving my best friend and girlfriend from Los Angeles to Oceanside (2 ish hours) for a birthday party. On the drive up, OCD struck and it struck hard. I was racked with fear I’d make a mistake, the wheel would give out, I’d swerve off the road with two people I love riding shotgun, you get the picture… Obviously, my entire body and nervous system was racked with fear and because I didn’t want to frighten my friend of partner [and didn’t want reassurance] I stayed quiet. So, while I started to unwittingly compulse (tapping the brakes, intermittently long-blinking, etc), I caught the early warning signs of OCD pretty quickly and began using my ERP tools to sit with my fears/thoughts and push past them — Acknowledge them and let them go. It was really tough, I wanted to pull over and give up several times, but I kept going. I used ERP for two FULL hours and I got us to Oceanside (needless to say in one safe, extremely safe piece). Even better, I’m happy to report that the drive back was night and day better. A little OCD and anxiety, but MINOR compared to the drive there. ERP worked and it worked FAST. Was it hard? Of course. Did I want to give up? Yes. Did I tell my OCD who’s boss? Hell yeah I did!! I’m really proud of myself and I hope other folks reading this take it as a reminder of just how amazing Exposure and Response Prevention can be. After all, the more we sit with our fears, the closer we grow to our truths… What’s a win you had last week in your OCD journey? I’d love to know!