OCD attacks what you value most, which means you end up neglecting/avoiding what you value most. The way to recover is to return back to your values. What does your OCD attack the most—what do you value most?

Those are great values! Kindness, stability, productivity, friends & family, passion for life. Hang in there!

Sounds like knowing who you are and relationships are really important to you.

Finding and having a romantic partner are fanastic values. I hope you can work toward them again.

@Alyosha Thank u ❤️ I finished therapy and I’m getting my life back ❤️❤️❤️

@Gotmyocdinachokehold That’s awesome! Good for you!

Is childcare still something you would like to do?

@FUCKOFFOCD That's cool. How's musical theatre going ☺?

@FUCKOFFOCD Great! Sounds like it's clearly something you value. Live it out ☺!

That sounds hard. Has he ever been able to attend therapy with you?

@Alyosha No. I think it would be too hard for him to hear what I have to say during my ERP sessions.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Sending love and peace ? hope everything will work out wonderfully for you soon

@Evelyn4416 Thank you so much.

My OCD issues attacked books, TV, social media, too. I value creativity and stories. I’ve been participating in all of them, anyway, which can be difficult. What do you enjoy reading?

@Alyosha Self-improvement books, and I was about to start reading novels but suddenly it became a trigger.

@Magg_7 May I ask what your OCD tells you what will happen if you read a novel?

That’s great you’ve worked hard to spend time around kids. I imagine that was and still is hard. Good for you. ?

@Alyosha ☺

If you let it take writing away too, what do you think will happen next?

@Ben84 not sure really. now, when i don’t feel like writing, i tend to just sit around and watch youtube - videos of my favourite games, music, and things like that. i’m afraid that if my ocd takes writing away (it’s already started to cause me trouble when trying to read - i can’t keep focus), then i won’t be broadening the horizons of the one hobby i thought would get me far in life. unfortunately, convincing myself that this is the only hobby i have left hasn’t done wonders because me having a phase where i “lose interest” reduces the foresight of not only the future i had planned, but a future at all. kinda sucks because, though it took art away from me, it wasn’t something i was overly passionate about. literature will be the first thing it will take from me that i am truly passionate which scares me

@cole “Literature will be the first thing it takes from me.” What can you do to hang onto literature?

@Alyosha i think the best thing right now is to not force myself to write or read because typically, if i feel a hobby slipping from me”, i’ll force myself to do it which makes me end up pushing it away myself. the best thing to do is make an attempt to accept that my thoughts are there, and if i find that i’m not having fun with a certain aspect of writing, move onto the next. idk if this is weird but i find that i can use music as a way to distract myself from the thoughts, and for that while my thoughts are gone, i genuinely enjoy what i do. i have to have more patience because the moment i get a thought which attacks my writing, i overthink it and stop doing what im doing - i don’t really make an attempt to accept the thought or use any method of distraction, so i think the main thing for me is when i get frustrated and annoyed at my thoughts, don’t immediately give up

@cole Don't let it take away your passion ☺!

Those are two awesome values ❤️. I hope you can find a way back to them.

@Alyosha Thank you ?

I think you shared above what you enjoy: being kind to others, being with other people, working. Is there some small thing you could start doing in one of those areas? You probably won’t enjoy it at first. OCD will tell you why it’s a bad idea. And, any depression will tell you, “This is pointless.” But if your depressed/OCD brain watches you doing these things, it can learn “Oh. This isn’t dangerous. This is meaningful.”

@Alyosha Yes^^^