I feel like OCD has taken up a massive chunk of my life. I don't really have anything else, most of my time has been spent with obsessions for years. I'm 21 so I know I'm young and everything but that is time I won't get back, and it's had aeasurable impact on my future, with stuffike grades, or just missing out on social stuff due to obsessions. I wasn't even aware of what was wrong with me for so long.
Read the Power of Now by Eckart Tolle
Its still early to take action! You feel like you’ve wasted 21 years, start now by making the necessary steps to make a change and not waste another 21 years. Utilize the tools around you to make a change. Although its hard, its possible. Take baby steps and work your way up to your truest, authentic, most amazing self. You got this. YOU are in control, not your OCD. Take time to focus on yourself and make small goals that you can achieve everyday, even if its as small as taking a walk everyday or meditating for 10 minutes every morning. Then once you’re hitting your target on all your small goals, reach for something a little greater, little by little. Soon it’ll all become second nature and you’ll be making the next best 21 yourself and beyond
Think of your journey like walking down a road. You have two choices at a crossroads: one path leads you continually looking back at the footprints you left behind—footprints you can't erase or retrace. The other path points toward new scenery, new experiences, and growth. You can’t go back and change the path you already traveled, but you can decide today to step boldly onto the new road and shape the journey ahead. It's natural to reflect on the past, but remember that focusing too much on time already spent can hold you back. Instead, try to gently bring your attention to what you can do today and tomorrow. Each moment is a fresh start. While it's okay to acknowledge what has happened, real change comes from deciding to move forward and making small, positive steps. Be kind to yourself, and remember that your future is not determined by the time you feel you've lost—it's shaped by what you choose to do now.
I know this is going to sound cliché, but you are only 21 and have your whole life in front of you. So make a decision now that you’re not gonna waste any more of it. That’s what I try to do every day. I wish I was your age.
Don’t think of your life as should or shouldn’t. “I should’ve spent less time on x”. Or, “I should be living like y”. You are as you are. Appreciate who you are in this moment. Practice mindfulness. The past has only been a path that has brought you to the gift that is this moment. The world is yours to change. And if you do that, if you change the world, that time won’t have been wasted- because it made you into the beautiful person you are today
17f Just like the title says. I came to realization that I lost a whole year of life. I remembered my real event in the end of january of 2024. Since then my life has been a living hell. Also kinda made a couple new smaller events through this year. And I know I deserve it cause my event was actually bad. Even people without ocd on reddit agree it was bad. It's still ocd, but I deserve it probably. For this whole year I haven't had a day when I wouldn't think of it. It became my default state to constantly have it on my mind. I walked around, pretended to have fun, talked to people. Most of the time I wasn't really there, I was thinking about my event. My event haunts me when I'm awake, when I'm asleep. I spend this whole year either freaking out, being depressed, thinking on methods to off myself, ruminating, seeking reassurance or trying to distract myself with books, TV shows, social media or daydreaming. Literally barely engaged with reality. So it's so hard to believe a whole year passed... I can barely remember anything that happened during this year. I can't believe this is my life. Probably doesn't really matter cause I don't plan on staying there that long. There is no way I'm going to experience piece with myself. So I will be out in a year or so, since my plan requires some time. Finally will end it all. It just feels very weird. A whole year passed. I was so deep down in my head I didn't even notice. It's scary.
I feel like my life isn't my own anymore. I live by OCD's rules. I can't ever switch it off. I spend most of my day mentally reviewing and constantly checking myself. I have to do things in a certain way or i dont feel safe. All this time that i've lost and for what? Idk how I let thoughts have so much power over my life and yet here I am. Every day. I can't even get away from it in sleep because i have dreams about it and I wake up anxious if i manage to get any sleep at all. I'm so over it all.
I’m new to NOCD and just wanted to share my experience to see if anyone else can relate or has any thoughts or advice. My thing is needing a system or some kind of digitally saved reference (online article/notes app) to make decisions on how to live my life and spend my time- then I get super caught up in what is the objectively “right” system to have which never really leads anywhere- over the last 6+ years I’ve probably changed this system over 100 times because at some point I realized it wasn’t “right”. At best, I stick with a system for months and be pretty free from OCD but at worst I can go months where I only experience intermittent periods of living free from OCD and spend hours and hours putting my life on hold trying to figure out what the right system is or to answer and figure out impossible answers to completely subjective things. I get a lot of regret over all the time and life I’ve wasted in this cycle, and feel kinda like everything I’ve done in previous systems was “wrong” so I try to fix that by undoing some of those actions. I think part of the root of this is wanting to control so many parts of my life and the fact that there are other parts of life I could be experiencing, ways I could be improving, and that there is so much out there that I could never ever do or experience all of it leads me to try to figure out some system that gives me a better feeling of control over this. If anyone reads all this that’s awesome- lmk if this resonates with you at all
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