Are you ever envious of others who don’t have this

I’ve thought and felt this before and still do sometimes. I think it can be a natural process of grief for people coming to terms with their mental illness or traumatic events in their lives. It makes you feel like there’s a gap between you and other people and it can be very lonely and isolating. You aren’t alone though and there is a community of people whose brains have the same funky things going on that you do even if it looks different. You’re able to connect with people in a unique way because of these things you share in common. At the end of the day though, we’re all just people trying to have a good life. I hope that wasn’t invalidating! I’d also add though, there’s a lot of people you’d never know have mental illnesses just by looking at them. I think about how many people are on this app and consider that I could walk past someone I’ve responded to and never know it. I think a lot more people look around them and think and ask themselves the same things you are. Good for you for being willing to admit it. Please be patient and kind with yourself in this process and accepting yourself as you are. You deserve it. I’m sorry if any of this was invalidating or dismissive. You’re not alone and you deserve the life you want

yes all the time i find i ruminate on what my life could be like if circumstances were different but it never lasts long because im always trying to be better if that makes sense. i find people who have ocd but struggle with different themes im sometimes envious of too. i had a conversation with an irl friend who has ocd (her theme is mostly magical thinking caused by a traumatic experience) and she said she’d hate to have real event/moral/false memory ocd because she knows if she thought the way i thought it would literally send her to a psych ward but there’s comfort in knowing even tho our themes are different our baseline pattern of thinking is so similar. its nice to remember that you aren’t the only one struggling sometimes and it’s totally normal and healthy to grieve who you were before ocd

I feel you with this. I wish I could go back to a time when things were much simpler and more content for me. And to see others being content in a way that I can’t relate to anymore feels very depressing and sad. But it’s important to remember that this is your life, and it might look different from others, but it’s still yours, and you can make the best out of it. It doesn’t mean you can’t have good things anymore. It might be changed because of your experiences, but you can only forge forward and do the best you can for yourself. I know it’s easier said than done, but I hope you can be kind to yourself and move on forward at your own pace. It’s completely normal to mourn over times that were much simpler and peaceful than what you’re going through now. But please don’t lose hope that you can find a new normal where you can still do things that you want and be happy.