Anyone get super anxious when change happens or making a big decision? (Tattoo specific question) Mine might be minor but I have anxiety about wanting a tattoo (or more) one day. I really like them and would like to get some, but it makes me nervous to do so for a couple of reasons. One is the opinion of my parents. Even though I’m 24, I still live at home (happily I might add) and they (especially my mom) don’t like them at all. I’ve made choices in the past that they didn’t agree with, like color my hair a bunch, but I think maybe because hair can be changed back and a tattoo really can’t that that part gets me? Two is how I’ll react to it. I normally like change but I don’t tend to react to it well which is an interesting predicament. For example I normally have brown hair but I went and got it silver blonde once because it was something I really wanted for awhile, but it was so different that I broke down crying thinking I made a mistake even though this was what I wanted! I got over it eventually and then I liked it! So I’m afraid that if I get a tattoo that it’ll hit me what I did, even if I do like it, and just break down again (so annoying honestly). I’m also indecisive about it, as in the type of image or words I want. I’ll have an idea and just sit on it for months at LEAST to make sure if it’s what I want and I end up changing my mind. Lately I had an idea I wanted for over a year and I still like it, but I’m still nervous I’ll change my mind again and regret it. I also am worried about changing my look so drastically. I see images of people with super cool tattoos on their arms and legs and whatnot and I’m in awe they look awesome! And I’d want some too! But then part of me feels like I’d be someone I’m not, even thought it’s been something I wanted for actual years, if that makes sense. Any thoughts or opinions on this? I feel like once the virus has lightened up and it’s safe to do more things it’d be cool to maybe get one on my birthday, starting off small, but I don’t know!

I haven't been officially diagnosed with OCD but when I learned more about it, I never related to anything more. A little back story: when I was younger, there were a couple of youth suicides in my area and the schools felt the need to have someone come in and talk about suicide. Well the person they had come in did a horrible job teaching it and basically made it seem like the smallest negative emotion or feeling or change in behavior made you suicidal. This ended up scaring me so much that I got horrid anxiety. Fast forward to now, Everytime I feel anxiety and panic, I fear I'm going to kill myself. Everytime I feel down and depressed, I fear I'll end it all. I'm scared to be around anything sharp because the "What if" I hurt myself comes into my mind. There are always intrusive thoughts at almost every point of the day. And it's not only for me. Everytime I hear someone being negative, I fear they will be suicidal. I know in my heart that none of this is true but it's terrifying me that it's stuck around so much that it makes me scared that maybe it is true. I've had a lot of death in my family in the past year and a half and a lot of other family drama that I'd never had before that is now also bringing up existential intrusive thoughts. And I'd never questioned anything about life before but now I get the "why is life like this?" and "does anything we do matter?" and I hate it. I don't want to think like that. I just want to go through life being able to handle things normally again. It terrifies me even right now going "what if you give up?"

For years I’ve been struggling with trying to put together a routine for myself. I always end up filling my time with things that pertain to others. I see my friends all day, I like to see my boyfriend a lot (even though it’s only a weekend to weekend thing), and I’ll scroll social media. When I go on social media I tend to look at people who is no longer in my life. With this, I’ve come to a realization recently that I’ve put others over my own needs. I barely take my meds regularly because I feel like I’m constantly busy at peoples events, hanging out, or work. I don’t want kids but I’ve grown up in a family the idolizes the nuclear lifestyle despite not having it, and my boyfriend wants kids, so I feel like I’ve put myself in a position to lose my idea of what I want. Sometimes I don’t even know if I want to be with a man. I feel sometimes that people will leave me if I just do what will work for me. I could put down my drink and I think of how it will affect others, not myself. I’ve always wanted to travel and get out but I know my boyfriend wants to stay with his family so I put it on the back burner. I’ve started to get anxious about me losing out on my life and what I want to do. It makes me think I’ve always lost out on so many opportunities. I want to try to start small. Making sure I have a good routine for myself that I won’t break and then try to apply that discipline to the rest of my life. I’m just not sure how.

Guys I need help. I feel so alone . Basically I have this compulsion where I feel the need to write everything but this stems from me being anxious about EVERYTHING. Like my mom came in my room and I was irritated and snapped, immediately regretted now I keep writing “don’t be mean to mom next time” but I keep thinking about it. Then I think about how I finally left my house today and all the surfaces I touched that could’ve been contaminated and now I’m writing “next time don’t touch this and this”. Then I think about all the things I need to be doing for this week and I’m writing “don’t forget to do this and this” even though I’ve written it 5 times already. This is what happens everyday btw. My brain always thinks about something I need to be doing and making me anxious that I’ll forget it which is why I write it down on my notes app. I’m sooo mentally exhausted I need help pls!! Anyone have any advice ? I used to think I need to stop the writing but really I need to stop the anxious thoughts coming into my head . People say I need to accept the thoughts and let it go but that’s too hard for me