Increasingly getting anxious for an upcoming trip - how to keep myself as centered and as peaceful as possible? In less than a couple of weeks I’ll be flying out of the country to see family for 2-3 weeks with my mom and brother. Now I’m usually a person who LOVES flying - going to the airport and being on a plane and everything has always been exciting to me. Especially going to this place I just absolutely love. However, the last time I went (August 2019) is when my OCD first showed up and it came down on me HARD. Back then, about a week before my trip, I remember taking a nap and when I woke up, I had extreme anxiety. I had experienced this only once before but I recognized this fear and started to panic. It killed my appetite, couldn’t sleep, everything. During that anxiety episode, I had the intrusive thought that changed me life (the perfect storm, if you will) and thus developing OCD (specifically suicidal OCD, which sucks let me tell you). So I was back and forth over whether I should go on this trip but decided to anyways, and the whole time it was mental torture. I didn’t know what OCD was at all during this time so I constantly (and unknowingly) gave into compulsions to find relief. Also on that trip I was barely getting sleep due to anxiety and my appetite, while returning, was small. So while the trip had its moments of fun, the mental torture I went through and my body’s reaction to the anxiety was a lot. Fast forward to now. I am noticing the anxiety in my core increasing at the days pass with the trip getting closer. I do believe that the first experience was traumatic for me and now it’s time to “relive it again”. Things are different this time though with that I know it’s OCD now and I’ve also been in therapy for it since March. I’ve been doing ERP etc. But with this stress on top of me I’ve been having increased intrusive thoughts/feelings/urges and I’m trying to navigate through them on not letting myself become overwhelmed or break down or whatever. This time is different as well since not only do I still deal with the suicidal-themed OCD, but also added existential OCD and disturbing sexual/incest-like OCD. What can I do to relax and not let what happened with past events affect me as strongly? I figured I would be triggered somewhat but I don’t want it to go anywhere near overboard. I have my next therapy appointment on Thursday so gonna talk about about it with my therapist some more then. Thanks!