Question

Hi everyone, I have a question. How do you deal with having to repeat the same actions over and over because you feel like you’re not allowed to think about anything bad in that moment? For me, this happens really often. For example, when I want to post something, I sometimes have to click things twice because I feel like I’m not allowed to think about anything bad while doing it. I honestly don’t even know what I think would happen if I didn’t do it, I just always feel like something bad would somehow “stay there” if I don’t. It’s the same when I wash my hands. I feel like I’m not allowed to think about bad things while doing it. How do you deal with this? Have any of you developed strategies that help you manage these moments better?

An0nymouss122

Date posted: 15h

This can be tricky because it feels automatic. My best suggestion would be to slow your actions down, allow whatever thoughts appear to flow through. When you click on the button to post do so once, pause and stay there for a minute without typing or anything and allow thoughts to pass. If they stick or they are persistent try and post anyway. If youre not sure how to "allow thoughts to go through" the best way I can explain is to observe them without judgement. View them as if they are just objects or an entity out of your control. Acknowledging them as what they are "that was a thought" "i feel upset" etc. Watch them like fish in a tank swim around. I find they typically dissipate but some are persistent. If the fish (the thought) wont leave, bonking himself on the glass to get your attention just continue walking forward, looking at the other things around you. Remember that the fish can't leave the tank I hope im making sense. Also remember it's okay if you mess up and compulse on accident. It happens to the best of us

Hanna_20.10

Date posted: 14h

@An0nymouss122 Thank you. The fish and aquarium metaphor actually sounds really helpful. It’s super difficult because, deep down, I always want to control everything, and I’m scared of having terrible thoughts that I don’t actually want to have in the first place. Tomorrow I have to make a new LinkedIn post, so I’ll try what you suggested and just notice the thoughts instead of reacting to them. It’s really exhausting because it creates an incredible amount of tension and anxiety inside me, but maybe… I’ll give it a try.

Cookie9000

Date posted: 12h

What if you are allowed? I get that it doesn’t sit right—and I’ve dealt with similar feelings of unease where it’s simple to just repeat the action. But what if you challenge the premise? Maybe you are allowed to think whatever is coming to mind. When I have become stuck in a looping behavior—like washing my hands and then washing them again to make sure I washed them then washing the sink handles…literally the only way out was to stop. My what if’s in those moments were about germs. So I could have questioned the premise…. I didn’t then, but now I’m almost willing to accept this statement: I am allowed to be imperfect when it comes to germs. Then, Eventually I just did the best i could and finally left the bathroom exhausted. But stopping was the only way out. But a quicker one might be stopping before I start.

Hanna_20.10

Date posted: 3h

@Cookie9000 Thank you for your advice. The bathroom and hand-washing compulsion you described sounds incredibly exhausting, and I can imagine how much strength it must have taken to eventually get out of that cycle. I’m going to give it a try and see if I can stick with it. I’ll try not to give the thoughts too much attention.

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