Hello amazing people. Does anyone else struggle with knowing what your ‘gut’ feeling/instinct is? For example, if I choose to ignore the thoughts I start doubting that I’m ignoring my intuition and I’m going to end up unhappy. I don’t know if this makes sense, but if anyone has any tips that would be amazing!
I’ve learned I can’t trust my gut for that reason and that’s ok. You said that if you ignore the thought, you start doubting - ocd is the doubting disorder so it’s doing its job there by making you question yourself. Also, ignoring is a compulsion. Acknowledge the thought and let it flow by without doing any form of compulsion. The difference is that ignoring is teaching your brain that is a dangerous thought and you don’t want to face it. Face the thought but don’t engage in the fight - just let it walk away. Edit: grammar
@Mel17 Could I let the thought flow by responding with “I am safe and I accept this” or are there other ways to let the thought flow? :)
@emilycore I am safe can be reassurance. Since we need to be ok with not knowing if everything is ok or not… it’s almost like we need to get in the habit of not caring! But don’t lose your core values. You can say “that thought it uncomfortable but I’m not going to engage” Or “maybe it’s my ocd making me doubt my decisions but maybe it’s not” Or “this decision is making me feel uneasy but I’m ok with uncertainty” It’s going to be hard. I still have trouble too. But remind yourself that progress is not linear. It’s ok if some days are easier than others to let the thoughts flow by. What helps me too is picturing the thought flowing by me over a leaf as if the wind was carrying it away - add some comedy to it and sometimes I’ll be like “byyyyyyye weird thought” haha
@Mel17 Thank you so much. It’s going to be so hard accepting uncertainty!!
@emilycore Absolutely - OCD forces us to always NEED to know answers. But that’s not what life’s about. Once we learn to accept uncertainty, OCD will have less to attach to. One step at a time. We got this
A therapist once told me, if I feel a gut feeling, and my immediate thought is “is this intuition or is it me?” I know it’s ocd. If I feel a gut feeling, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s ocd or not, I know it’s my body picking up on cues that I need to be aware of something. I can only think of that happening twice in the last 10 years, so it’s really rare. 99.9% of the time, my first thought after having a gut feeling is “umm is it me or..???”
@24ozpersephonenoice Thank you! I can recount many times where my intuition was correct and other times (including now) where I’m questioning myself! This helps a lot :)
I can totally relate to this. I feel like I am struggling differentiating between “gut instincts” and intrusive thoughts/beliefs. You’re not alone
Absolutely, feel like I dont even know whats me anymore. My mind, body has convinced me if this terrible person! You are not alone🙂
Intrusive thoughts can feel like intuition sadly. I think “gut feeling” means something different to us OCD sufferers for this reason.
Yes! So much! I used to be able to trust my gut a lot, but since ocd really became present in my life I lost that completely. It’s really scary because I have this “what if I never had ocd and I’ve just been fighting my intuition this whole time” fear. I don’t really have any tips as I’m still trying to navigate this myself. But you’re not alone in feeling like this!
I’ve been feeling so disconnected lately, like I’m not even living my own life. It’s like I’m being controlled by someone else, and I have no say in what’s happening. It’s hard to put this feeling into words, but it’s like I’m here physically, but mentally, I’m just... not. Every day feels like a struggle. I wake up afraid of what’s coming next, almost like I’m bracing myself for the next bad thing to happen. Sometimes, I don’t even want to get out of bed because it feels pointless, like I’m stuck in this loop of fear and doubt. I keep questioning everything, life, my purpose, my choices, and it’s exhausting. I just want to feel like myself again, to feel like I have control, like I’m really here.
There’s something that happens that keeps me stuck in a thought, it’s when I can see some part of myself agreeing with or relating to it in some way. That’s when the doubt creeps in. If I can understand *why* the thought is there, doesn’t that mean it’s not just random? Doesn’t that mean it actually reflects something about me? For example **(TMI/TW)**: I had the thought, *“I wonder what other people’s kinks are (including friends, family, even teenagers).”* And then I caught myself thinking, *“Well, I guess that could be interesting information… maybe I wouldn’t even stop someone from sharing it with me. Does that mean I actually want to know? Wait—does that make me perverted or incestuous for even having this curiosity?”* The same thing has happened with other thoughts, like wondering what someone’s privates might look like. I recognize that, on some level, that could be interesting—but does that mean the thought is truly mine? Maybe the answer is super obvious and I just can’t see through my OCD smoke. This was a bit embarrassing for me to write 🥲, but can anyone provide some insight?
Does anyone have any advice for how to know the difference between ocd and real feelings/thoughts? Sometimes an intrusive thought will come in and I immediately know it’s ridiculous and I can just leave it alone and it won’t bother me but other times I really really don’t know. It’s when ocd hijacks and twists my real feelings and thoughts and tries to manipulate me into believing they’re something they’re not or something that doesn’t align with my true morals or intentions. But since it’s twisting and mixing with real feelings I get so confused and scared. Everything gets jumbled and I feel like I can’t trust myself or my own mind. Yet other times and other topics I can laugh off and push away just fine. Make it make sense. And then I start to think well maybe I don’t have ocd at all and I’m just in denial because I don’t want to accept that these scary/concerning things are true about myself. Or maybe that’s just the ocd talking.
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