- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I have times when I feel like I’m looking through glass, like I’m not all the way here. This is not per say my struggle with OCD but just thought I’d share.
- Date posted
- 4y
Ooohhh yeah, you’re not alone. This was a main theme of my childhood OCD. I still have other forms but I was eventually able to pull out of the existential dread by accepting I may never know the “truth”, so I may as well enjoy the ride of life while I’m here. Don’t know if this helps, but it can get better! Hope you find peace.
- Date posted
- 4y
Now that I do have! Just constantly trying to understand the world, and trying to find incentive to for it when I don’t know everything I feel I need to know. It leaves me mainly depressed and feeling without purpose.
- Date posted
- 4y
@jspaw Yes, it does help. It’s just so hard to accept uncertainty, but it’s also the only way to break free. The worst part is feeling like everyone else “knows” they and everything else exist with certainty, and like I’m the only one who doesn’t. The truth is, other people just accept uncertainty whether they know it or not and assume they and everything else exist. I can’t imagine having this theme as a child. :( I even question logic and whether there are even concepts since this theme has me question everything. Any more tips are appreicated. Doing ERP, but it’s hard.
- Date posted
- 4y
I get it, I always want specific, solid answers. I’m trying to accept that the world is full of uncertainty.
- Date posted
- 4y
This happens a lot when I dissociate. Those thoughts also cause me to dissociate lol
- Date posted
- 4y
*appreciated
- Date posted
- 4y
I’m having a hard time with uncertainty in other areas, so I totally get it. I also used to feel annoyed by people who weren’t concerned about reality, it seemed so easy for them! I think a lot of people just take life at face value and don’t bother to think about it much. When existential worries come back, I just try to concentrate on what I like about life, and thank the universe for giving me any positive experiences at all. Even little things, the taste of coffee, sunshine, rollercoasters, etc... I don’t know how or why I get to experience them, but I do!
- Date posted
- 4y
I feel like a nut job for doubting whether we are ACTUALLY experiencing anything. I’m so ashamed.
- Date posted
- 4y
I hear you and have totally been there. Hang in there and try to enjoy what you can. 💗
- Date posted
- 4y
@jspaw Thank you, friend. It’s so hard when I try to prove I am thinking and existing, and then to realize no proof will ever be enough for OCD. It will never stop. The only thing I can do is tell myself it isn’t worth wasting a possibly real life. The stakes are too high.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I’m really struggling with this theme because it can make me feel “fake” and it creates doubts that the world around me isn’t real or it’s a simulation? I’m really trying to expose myself but even the possibility makes me incredibly afraid. It even plays into my suicidal ocd as well and makes me afraid that my life would be miserable if this was true. I know how ocd works and I know not to fully believe that. But at the same time, I am trapped in doubt and fear. How could I possibly accept this? Will I ever see the world or life the same again? (Don’t answer that I realize that’s reassurance). Idk this theme is so ass.
- Date posted
- 16w
Been struggling with existential OCD lately. Very hard to describe the thoughts/feelings, but it is a constant feeling of being stuck in my head. Like what is consciousness and where do I think from? Like I think it’s OCD, maybe it is maybe it isn’t. But if it is, what would be good ERP exercises? Just existing (lol)? And what would be my response prevention? I’m not even sure what mental compulsions I may be doing.
- Date posted
- 13d
Hi everyone, this is my first post on the forum, and honestly, it’s one I wanted to use to reach out and feel a little bit less alone, and possibly ask some advice to people who have been where I currently am! I have gone through a few OCD themes over the years, including harm OCD, POCD, moral scrupulosity and a few other smaller themes, but in the last year I’ve really hit Existential OCD hard, as I’ve managed to accept and move past all my old themes. It started out quite “normal” for Existential OCD; Solipsism fears, Simulation fears, am I even real, what even is real kinda stuff, that I’ve often come across when looking at other people’s experiences. I’ve done a lot of work to move past these themes and have had a good level of success. But recently, and this is what I really wanted to reach out and see if anybody else has experienced something similar; I’ve found that I’ve started experiencing fears around more physics based things, I was freaked out by the fact we are made up of atoms and how can we be us if we are a load of little floating items, I was freaked out by things like multiverse theory, black holes and many many more physics based concepts. I’ve been struggling to move past these as, as my brain keeps reminding me, they are real, proven concepts as opposed to things like simulation theory which, maybe is, maybe isn’t. Has anyone else been down this road after the “normal” existential topics? And could you share some insight into how you might have moved past these particular fears that are more grounded in real concepts as opposed to more philosophical ideas? Thanks guys!
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