- Date posted
- 6w
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6w
my advice is to accept the things that happened and realize that you cannot change the past. easier said than done but part of ocd is accepting things and living with uncertainty and doubt. maybe you should feel shame and guilt, or maybe you should just move forward and allow yourself to be happy. there is nothing we can do to change the past or change the ways we hurt other people. we just move forward and do better. you keeping yourself in this cycle does nothing but make you miserable. what we do as children is not a reflection of who we are as adults if we grow, change, and accept ourselves for our mistakes.
- Date posted
- 6w
I am half asleep as i just am waking up, so im sorry if this comment is messy. But friend, you aren’t alone. Many of us, sadly, were stripped of innocence that we had as kids. Whether it was from trauma or early exposure to that type of content, it is not ur fault. It says a lot of good things about you that you feel bad and you feel guilty, you clearly aren’t that bad person. But don’t loathe in shame and guilt. I made some terrible gross mistakes as a kid. And it carried into my teenage years in the forms of intrusive thoughts and also weird things by myself etc. We have similar stories. Please give yourself grace. Kids minds can be corrupted in 0.5 seconds… it’s terrible so please don’t blame yourself. I go through cycles of shame with this same topic but I’ve learned to give myself grace. If you had a friend telling you this or even one of your siblings you wouldn’t be judging them the same way you are judging yourself. I’m sorry you were exposed to that stuff and im sorry it led you to act in certain ways. I’m also sorry for your siblings and anyone you’ve hurt and that’s hurt you. It’s all sad but it doesn’t make you evil. As the above comment reads, this isn’t a reflection of you and you just move forward and do better. easier said than done but it will happen☺️ Wish you the best friend on your journey of healing. ❤️🩹
- Date posted
- 6w
The comments above have said everything perfectly. You aren't alone 🫂
- Date posted
- 6w
I really wish you well!! I’m in the same boat here with the same thoughts :)) I don’t know how to stay alive with this things either
- Date posted
- 6w
It will be a journey for you, and I am hoping you can heal from all this. A lot of it is not your fault. I hope you can find people to really help you process it
- Date posted
- 6w
It’s not your fault that you were exposed to content so young. That was a failure of the adults in your life to protect you. When kids act out after exposure, that’s a normal reaction. It sounds like you were abused first—at least by this exposure—if not by more. You can’t blame a child for acting out of that. Yes!!! You can have forgiveness!!! God will completely forgive you!!! And good people will forgive you as well. It will be really important to forgive yourself too. And receive grace over yourself and your life.
- Date posted
- 6w
@Jo02 It’s okay please try as much as you can to forgive yourself!! Jesus has already done what it needs to be done for you to have forgiveness. By his love you’re saved.. so keep in mind that it doesn’t matter the past now… he loves you and forgives you and I know how hard that is to believe, specially in moments of so much pain and guilt and suffering that no one sees, (I’m crashing out in the same way ) but he sees ur heart.. please don’t give up on the idea of love, his love is enough
- Date posted
- 6w
@Jo02 Yes, abuse and early exposure to content actually effect developing brains a lot. It is trauma to the brain and psyche. Then sexual stuff comes out in children’s (or even teens’) behavior. That’s why I say that a lot that happened is not your fault. You were victimized in certain ways—and you were too young to interpret what was happening. Yes, God forgives you!!! His word says that He will forgive you, so you can believe it!!! I am a person who is working every day to believe the promises of God. When I can believe what God says, my OCD symptoms are alleviated (because my OCD is all about fear and doubt). (I do have trouble doing this, by the way, lol. 😂) You have taken the first steps toward healing by acknowledging the past!! That’s great!!! Keep taking steps and involving other people to help you. You will need the help of other people along the way . 💙💙 Big hugs. If you could just imagine a friend of yours (maybe your girlfriend) going through what you have been through, try to think of how much compassion and love you would show her. Then try to give that same love to yourself :):)
- Date posted
- 6w
And delete this app !! I see how it’s not helping me at all cuz all I keep doing is seek for reassurance. That’s not healthy
- Date posted
- 6w
I’m about to do the same !! Cuz I can’t afford the therapy here
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi, I’m new here!! I’m praying I don’t get judged for this. But, back in late May of 2022 ( literally right before I graduated high school), I added this one random girl from my school on Snapchat. She posted something about a graduation party , so I swiped up on her story basically saying how I can’t believe we’re almost graduated. She replied and we had a really short and simple conversation. The next day ( i believe) , we started talking a lot , and I just so happened to see her at the highschool when we were grabbing our graduation outfits and doing the rehearsal. When I saw her irl, I kinda got turned off ( I heard she was kinda crazy) , and on top of that , she was a little ugly irl. I remember seeing her Snapchat bio , and she was close friends with my female cousin ( a year younger than me) , who I happened to experiment sexually with when I was 10-11 years old. I remember going to work later that day and having sort of a lightbulb flick thought ( it wasn’t a good thought though) , what if my cousin told her about what happened when we were younger? So I started to kind of panic and immediately distanced myself from that girl. I also experimented sexually with one of my female friends when I was 10-11 , and from that day onwards, I’ve been pretty much living in paranoia and a little bit of guilt about someone finding out and my life being ruined . On top of that, It’s gotten worse to now sometimes I wonder if a girl I added off of quick add ( Snapchat) is underage even if they told me they were 18+ or had 18 and above in their bio, and I get so much guilt and anxiety about that. I even had a quick thought last February on what if I did something inappropriate with my younger cousin when I was 15-16 but I just can’t exactly remember when it happened , and it still eats me alive when I think about it, because I don’t know if it happened or not. I’m sorry for the long vent, I just wish I felt normal again. No matter how much I try to do things that old me used to do, life always feels “ off”. I always kept the top part about when I was younger a secret up until early (ish ) 2024, then I vented to one of my best friends and he told me that that’s a normal thing to do at a young age. Since then, I have told multiple friends and they all say they did similar stuff, but my brain just can’t accept that. Please help me, I quite literally overthink everything nowadays. 2021 was the last full year that I felt normal ( coincidentally, the best year of my life so far) . It’s not just about sexual related things either, sometimes I’ll wonder if I messed up something at work or hit a car while driving/hit someone and drove off. I just wanna live my life how I was supposed to live it after highschool ( carefree and happy) before whatever it is ( I think it’s ocd) hit me unexpectedly. Thanks to anyone who read this , I just needed to pour it out regardless of how negative I felt typing this, I hope someone can relate , because I feel so alone in my head at times.
- Date posted
- 17w
Being exposed to taboo p*rn as young as first grade ruined my life and now ocd is making me pay for it. I have so much guilt for being a child/teen and looking at taboo stuff, and it was all fictional or anime or whatever but it was still so so gross. and I didn't realize It because I had been used to it at so young 🫠 I think what haunts me most is when I was a kid/young teen (like 12-14ish) and didn't have access to p*rn I'd imagine stuff similar to what I'd seen in the art. I can't even believe I'd imagine scenarios involving kid characters or whatever because it had been so normalized to me and I assumed it was normal since it was fiction. I'm 23 now so it's been a decade since I've done anything like that and I've never had the urge to since but still. I've NEVER been attracted to kids or had any urges or anything ever, even when I was addicted. The thought makes me want to vomit, I'd rather die than associate anything sexual with kids/minors and I think people who groom or assault kids are vile. But I still feel like the fact that I imagined stuff similar to the things I read sometimes when I was young is proof I'm a p*do. I don't think people would believe me if I said I'm not. I just feel like I don't deserve to live or that if I do, I'm living a lie. I know 'I was a kid too' but even when I was 13/14 I read/imagined stuff with characters younger than me because I thought it was normal. I'm so disgusted. I've had this theme for so long I'm starting to wonder if ocd is right. I feel too ashamed to tell my therapist.
- Date posted
- 9w
I’m a 23 y/o female who has recently entered a phase of obsessive thoughts of mistakes I’ve made, ranging from events that happened over a decade ago when and I was a kid up to things that happened recently. I feel so much debilitating guilt I can’t do anything or function. I especially feel bad for this one instance. I have always had extremely low self esteem, and I often seek attention and validation especially from men. I like being liked. I find myself trying to act or look cute, or even act somewhat like a pick-me, so that I feel liked. I feel like I may even do this with girls too, but especially guys. I just really like attention, and I’ve been in a stagnant 6 year relationship where I don’t really feel desirable, and I’m very lonely. A few months ago I started playing a game where I met a large group of people and we would all play together everyday. One of the people in particular was a 15/16 year old guy who flirted with me a lot, and I kept my distance because he was so young, and I felt kinda weird talking to someone younger than me, but we would still talk sometimes because we were apart of the same discord group, and I have a problem being stern and confrontational so I didn’t want to be mean or make things awkward in the friend group. Although it made me uncomfortable that he was so young and that I’m nearly a whole decade older than him, and I did make it clear that I was dating someone and I was way too old for him and I would tell him to stop, I wasn’t very stern and I was very lighthearted about it and I even found myself liking the attention I got from him. I was flattered. I liked that he liked me so much even though I knew he was a teenager and I feel like I was maybe even seeking attention from him like I did with the other guys in the group. And when I say seeking attention, I mean that I was acting cute so that I was liked and got attention. Is that considered flirting? Was I flirting with him? Does this make me disgusting? That I liked the attention I got even though he was teenager? That I acted cute around him as well as all the other guys so that he would like me? I feel disgusted with myself. Does this make me a predator? Doesn’t this make me disgusting that I liked attention I got from a teenager? To be fair, I like the attention I get from any guy. I just like feeling liked. But I feel like it makes me disgusting that even though I knew he was a teenager I still liked and was flattered by the attention and was possibly even seeking it out from him. My head is all messed up. I really feel like I’m having an identity crisis. I feel disgusted with myself to the point that I’m nauseous. I’m so ashamed. I’ve been crying nonstop for days on end and I feel truly hopeless. I don’t know how I’m supposed to live my life with this shame and that I’m convinced that makes me a predator or a sick person. I don’t know if I’m overthinking things or not. I just really need some relief because I feel like I’m losing my mind, but I want someone to be honest with me about my actions.
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