!! TW COCD RANT !! my family and i are going away for holiday in about two weeks and i can’t stop thinking about it ,, all i can think about is lying on the used hotel beds covered in bacteria and the bugs surrounding the area - we’re going to a resort and my parents really want me to swim but i literally can’t ! when i imagine the pool i think of all the people who have swam in it and all their unclothed feet covering every inch of space available. i’m going to hopefully bring a sleeping bag from home and stay in that the entire time - we also have to travel on a plane which is even worse :( just thinking about sharing the air with all those strangers makes me want to cry :’((( also we aren’t making food in the resort so we have to go to restaurants to eat which i really can’t handle bc of the shared cutlery. i’m hopefully going to bring stuff from home to prevent panic but i’m afraid that this trip will totally ruin those safe items for me. sorry to write this paragraph but it would really help if u had anything to say which might help my situation in the slightest !!!

i’m going on a 2 week mission trip in july and i’m so scared about how i’m gonna do without any electronics or anything (we aren’t allowed to bring any devices). my worst anxiety episodes happen when i’m free of distraction (like in bed or something) and i’m just so afraid that i’m gonna be really anxious throughout the whole trip. usually whenever i get anxious i try my best to sit in it and expose myself to it and NOT do compulsions, but once it has kind of subsided and i’m feeling better, i go on this app or something to kind of “cool down” i guess. does that make any sense lol. anyway, i’m just worried that bc it’s just going to be me and my thoughts for 2 weeks, i’ll have so many anxious thoughts and i won’t have anywhere or anyone to talk to about it (like i do here)—which i’m worried will make it worse. i don’t even know what i’m asking right now,,, i just don’t want my trip to be ruined or me not getting the most out of it because of my thoughts and anxiety. so i guess i’m asking if you have any advice or insights?? anything will help :))

So, I am going to go out of town next week for three days and I am trying to prepare myself for it when it comes to my anxiety about hotels. I am always anxious these days when I go to a hotel because of standing in a shower and even when had flip flops on in the shower I was still anxious. I want to have a good time with my family, but I don't want OCD to ruin it. Does anyone else experience this when going out of town and if so, how do you cope with it?

Hi I’m currently suppressing the urge to vomit and hide in some hole and never come out 😃😃 so, I’m traveling technically today since it’s 1am right now, and I have to go on an airplane, and it’s not even just the airplane that triggers my ocd, it’s the airport itself, it’s so official and security stuff scares me bc like, theres a reason they have security. I’m really tempted to start googling “how likely is it for a plane to crash” or “how to survive a plane crash” and the urge to tell my dad that I love him and to take care of my pets if I don’t come back. Why is my mind like this. Wtf. I want to enjoy my vacation, I also don’t want to have a panic attack in an airport, which has happened before lol. I’m traveling with my mom and my sister, my mom understands ocd and has some knowledge on how to handle it, my sister does not at all. How do I calm myself without it being a compulsion?? I mean, is it okay if I calm myself with prescribed medication and like trying to tune everything out, or is that feeding into the ocd? Because my usual compulsions would be to repeat “it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay” over and over again in my head, and “I’m safe I’m safe I’m safe, nothing is going to happen” and I try not to do that anymore, or just simply not go because of the fear, BUT I’m going because I’m not gonna let ocd take away anymore of my life. I’m just scared and I don’t really know how to cope with this, any advice?