I’m struggling with getting motivated to do erp. I just have no desire to Idk if it’s because I think it won’t work, or if I just don’t want to deal with it Anyone have any encouragement?
a motivation i have is just wanting to live my life happily without getting into obsessions and loops so commonly, because it’s very draining. ocd is such a debilitating thing to live with and erp can help a lot with dealing with it, but i think that a big part of erp is how much you’ve motivated yourself to get better. i think that you might benefit in taking some time to figure out your goals, what you like to do, and what you want to do without ocd nagging you constantly, because knowing what you want to do is a very good motivator to keep going with erp. i also think that a lot of figuring out how to get better is to know more specifically what you’re struggling with! for me, it has been guilt over past mistakes and current things i don’t have control of, so i’m personally working on self respect and living comfortably with myself. i understand that some cases don’t have an underlying thing like i do, but i’m just throwing my experience in. good luck!
also, i wanted to add in that the first step of recovery is wanting to recover. recovery might be harder for you if you don’t know if you want to or not. i encourage you to try to start thinking of the life you want to lead and the person that you want to be as a motivator to get better, while also accepting that you will make mistakes on the way. think of everything that you enjoy and everything that you *want to enjoy without ocd weighing you down. try to remember everything you want to do and want to be as you recover.
@anon7336474864 Really loved this. Best part about improving, even through small incremental wins, is the belief every step will lead to a life of freedom. To live. Experience. Be present. To be alive in real life and not in your head. Thanks for sharing this, it really resonated.
i often also struggle with motivation, it’s like i want to get better but i also don’t want to put the work in, it’s a bad mentality but it’s also a very real one. i’d say try not put too much pressure on yourself, start small. depending on what it is you’re exposing yourself to - say for example it’s being in a public place, go somewhere local, and just be there for 5-10 minutes. an achievement is an achievement no matter how long you last. if you need to spend little time there a few times, that’s okay, you just need to be kinder to yourself & give yourself some grace!
In college I read a quote somewhere about “you don’t have to want to do something to do it”. That realization has really helped me over the years. Every time there is something I know I should or need to do but don’t want to, I remind myself that the want isn’t actually needed to get the thing done. ERP has been helping me a lot. I would say I’m motivated to get through it but not motivated day to day for my exposures. I remind myself what the goals I have are and go do my exposures even if I don’t want to.
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