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- 4y ago
It's pretty common for OCD to include elaborate, rigid routines around waking up, hygiene, eating, and going to bed. As a teen, my bedtime rituals expanded to about three hours long. I had to tap a whole bunch of objects in my room in a specific order, pray perfectly, win three games of solitaire, etc. None of it made much sense, the steps were pretty random. However I felt like if I didn't do them something bad would happen or I would be so anxious I wouldn't sleep at all. The strategy my therapist helped me implement was to cut out one step of the routine at a time
i struggle with the night time ritual as well!!!!
Talk to us, what certain things
I have extreme order and symmetry OCD idont even wear my clothes in my wardrobe because i cant bare the hangers moving about and they have to be aligned perfectly i can take outa dress and spend 10 mins just aligning them then when it doesnt feel right i get huge panic and get hot it goes away when it feels right this is jist one example out of hundreds i deal with every day:( i have to have everything in its place i hate people coming into my home touching things i feel like im crazy i cant cope with it anymore. I feel horrible until ive put back my shoes that ive worn in a neat row not to mention i clean everything before i put it away i dread it it can take hours i hate getting up in the morning now, i wipe things all the time or i feel dirty inside, i cant even explain it and i also count and tap things until it feels right i turn the lock back and forth until its level and feels right i cant live like this anymore i dont know anyone else with it and it gets me down
Anyone have anxiety at nite and cant sleep till a certain time
I have work at 4am tomorrow and normally am asleep by 9 or 10 at the latest to be up by 2:30. But the thoughts are so bad I’m afraid of even closing my eyes and lately I’ve been going to bed at 6pm to fall asleep by midnight. I’m so over this. Any tips for falling asleep without getting bad thoughts. I keep picturing imperfect things or reliving every event that triggered me throughout the day. Last night I literally tried falling asleep without closing my eyes (which is impossible) then had to work today running on 3 hours of heavily interrupted sleep. I’m so exhausted and just over this.
i just want to go to sleep for my classes in the morning but i still feel the need to do all of these compulsions or said thing will happen. this is so exhausting i want out of this routine based lifestyle. it has become debilitating.
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