- Date posted
- Yesterday
How Do I Give Myself Space
I've had Racial OCD for a few months now. Part of it was realizing just how prevalent microaggressions and just plain aggressions are in society without even being talked about. Every day I'll experience about 10 of these instances, often without knowing if there's actually an issue or if I'm just overreacting. Either I'll say something or I won't, and I'll ruminate about not saying anything. I'll go home and get no work done because I sit and worry about something someone I don't know said or something that a friend said without knowing it was insensitive. I sit and I try to figure out a solution. My grades and overall life have been pushed to the side. But I feel so trapped and so hopeless. This happens non-stop, day after day, but every time I begin to think that maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself, I begin to think about how my pain is nothing compared to those who are marginalized, and that I should stop complaining and keep trying to find a solution. I genuinely believe that I have a moral responsibility to use my privilege to help those that society puts down, which makes it so hard to take care of myself at all. I feel so selfish when I try. Deep down I know that the responsibility doesn't all fall on a high school senior with severe OCD and GAD and a terrible track record of assessing risk, but every time I try to tell my mind that I'm in pain too, it gets warped into "I get to rest because my pain is greater than that of the marginalized" which is both untrue and horrible. This is how my mind worked until last night, when I realized that I haven't felt true, sustainable happiness in a very, very long time. I broke down crying and now I feel like I'm at a crossroads. What do I do? Surely there's a way to acknowledge and care for my own suffering without putting down or comparing with the suffering of others. I know if I keep going with this I'll break down, but how can I possibly say "I can't figure out a solution to that racist comment right now, I have to do my math homework?" How can I engage in an activity just for me, like reading or walking, when there's so much pain to solve? Isn't that selfish? How do I just take a moment to breath without worry when I could be using that time to challenge my own biases and prejudices, or figuring out how to make right a time when I myself played into stereotypes? I still don't know whether it's selfish to give myself space. But I feel like I have to. Does anyone know how in a situation like this?