*Trigger warning sensitive topics* i have a question about forgiving So my entire life i’ve always been super forgiving to the point I’d force myself to forgive constantly and blamed everything on myself. But it’s gotten to the point where I dont wanna forgive anymore and I can’t. My entire life, because i took the blame for everything and I’ve always stood up for what I believed in, I’ve ALWAYS been the bad guy. In every story. I can name so many times where I was bullied and it was my fault. I was abused and it was my fault. And i always accepted it. I accepted that i could’ve done better and i deserved it. Now this last year, i’ve been treating everyone in my life like kings and queens regardless of what they’ve ever done. And so much i found out after i did so. I had a toxic ex that I always went back to for three years cause i never loved anyone as much as i loved him. He gave me peace of mind. Took away my ocd thoughts. But He always lead me on. I was the girl on the backburner for him. If someone better and more approachable, and less hated came along, he’d go for her and come back to me. He even said he hated how he was never able to get over the thought of me. He told people he would never like me cause i was me, but he was in love with “everything about me except the dramatics.” (He called my mental health dramatic, and he thought I lied about my life. He later found out I never did, but it was too late) He painted this version of me in his head that was nothing like me, and made everyone believe it. All his friends terrorized me our senior year of hs, and i forgave him. But this last time he just started dating a girl after leading me on again, and i told him i never want to speak to him again. And he keeps reaching out (its been six months), and i just can’t forgive him. I can’t do it. Then my older brother. The notorious older brother i’ve ranted about before. I’ve never been able to stand him, but i’ve been trying to be better. I forgave him for all the times he hurt me & made me feel uncomfortable. I got really close with his fiance, she’s one of my best friends, and i tried to strengthen our relationship to not jeopardize my friendship with her. But back in March, he blamed my sexual assault on my parents, told me I wasn’t allowed to be a bridesmaid, and how everythings my fault and im horrible fucking human. He got kicked out then he started crying about how he never felt loved. And i wouldn’t speak to him. He had no fucking right to talk about my sexual assault that literally fucked me up in more ways than he’ll ever know. Then recently, he told me my ocd isnt real and that I’m just a lesbian in denial and since ive obsessed about being a pedo i should go to hell and how many problems i have, then he had the audacity to say he was sexually assaulted by the same man i was and I screamed at him cause there’s no record of that (this man was a serial pedophile) and i just lost it. He talked about how traumatic his life was when it was literally based off my trauma (like second hand trauma). And i’m not undermining his trauma, but it’s when he talks about it and tries so hard to transform it into his I’m like WHY DO YOU WANT THIS?? Like my trauma and the shit and abuse I’ve been through ISN’T FUN! I’m mental and struggle to live on a daily basis with huge body pains that’ll make me never forget…. And idek i cant forgive him. I’m so angry. Then my best friends. When i broke things off with my ex this year, they were horrible. They were there for him, not for me. When i was depressed they weren’t there. Yet, i was on the floor with one of them at 3am when they’re were feeling suicidal. And the two i was best friends with (we were a trio), were friends before but i thought we got past that cause it’d been like five years. But one finally cane forward cause she felt so guilty for the years of shit she put me through, and finally admitted that nothing was ever my fault. It was always them and they just didn’t want to handle the blame, cause they didnt think they were capable of being mean, so they put it on me. And one of them even said it was hard for them to accept that i was a better friend to them then our other friend ever was, but she just couldn’t believe it for the longest time cause of everything everyone said. Than the other one was labeled as perfect and the nicest person in hs, yet she was awful to me too. I never did one thing to her, and i own up to what i did wrong!! She was my best friend and she was horrible. She allowed her “friends” to terrorize me, and she was the one who started it. They literally made a list of everything wrong about me. And then proceeded to go back to them, and got mad at me and told me everything was my fault when I got mad at her for going back to them. And i told her “if i did that, we wouldn’t be here talking. But i wouldn’t do that, and you know that too. Regardless of the person.” And its so hard cause none of us are close anymore cause they did stuff to each other too, and they asked me if i could ever be close with them again and i said “we can be friends, but our friendship will never be the same.” And i just dont know how to forgive them either. And then just everyone else. For years I was blamed and I was the bad guy. It was always ME. When i literally just existed. And finally, after years people are now saying not everything is my fault. That i was too nice. That they blamed me cause i was an easy person to blame, i accepted it. They didnt want to take responsibility so i took responsibility to everything. And my parents. They’re finally getting better after years of yelling at me. They realized what they were doing, insulting me and stuff, was breaking me. Now i’ve never seen them so concerned for my mental health and they’ve never been so nice to me. And now everyone is being nice to me, and talking to me, and just wanting me back in their life. But i CANT! They painted me as such a horrible human for years thinking i could handle it, but i couldn’t and they broke me and they feel bad. They’re kindness is out of guilt and pity, and it disgusts me. I hate them for it. Why couldn’t they just realize what they were doing was breaking me? Why did it have to take me being so lost and broken and mental and in my head for everyone to finally admit the truth to me? Why am i so sad when my life is finally going okay and i have no form of abuse, bullying, or chaos going on? And all of this would be so much easier if FUCKING HOCD WASNT THERE!! And it’s just, i can’t forgive them and i feel horrible. I dont want to forgive them and i hate it. I’m slowly forgiving my parents. Those are the only people. Besides that, i’m so angry. My body is littered with bruises and cuts from self harm cause i dont know how to handle it. I hate this more than anything. I don’t hate me, i hate what’s been done to me to become this. I hate my ocd, anxiety, depression and everything. I hate how my feelings contradict what i want and i constantly if what i want is actually what i want. I hate that so many people are so evil. I hate that i was targeted by a man so young in life. I hated that it happened again later in life. And the excuse was because I was me. That’s always people’s excuse. “Cause you’re you.” It’s led to so many horrible things. I hate this. How do i forgive everyone?? How do i just forgive them all?? When everyone in your life terrorized you for years, cause they thought you were “so strong” and “could handle it,” only to realize you can’t and come crawling back with guilt. I even said to people, unless you can erase the past, nothing will ever be the same. I’m so exhausted.

So, I know my capacity to get fixated on things. And it's normally something that's relatively remote but, my latest issue is really getting to me and I was wondering if people have any advice. I'm avoiding getting too into specifics, as I don't want this to get reassurance-y but, in essence.. I came to the realisation recently that people who I'd been "friends" (feels like the wrong term now) when I was younger were not very nice people, and normalized a lot of very unpleasant behaviour towards other members of the group. They really normalized it, sold themselves as figures of authority, as older and more responsible and grown-up than others, and looking back, they acted horribly. And coming to this realisation, that I'd been manipulated into just accepting their behaviour has just... broken me. My OCD has latched onto it and I can't stop feeling irreversibly tainted by it. I've talked to others about it, and they've reassured me, told me it's not a big deal and that I hold myself to too high a standard, but none of that sticks. I feel better for a bit, then think 'Maybe when you told them you were skewing it to make yourself look better' or 'Did you leave out a crucial detail'. I keep ruminating over and over, trying to remember exactly how everything played out, trying to figure out if I fed into the behaviour, if I did something bad myself (because y'know, I feel like I was accepting of it at the time, so what does it say about my own values?). I know I need to stop doing all this if I want to improve, but then some part of me keeps saying 'So, you're just going to let yourself off the hook then?' Normally, I can rationalize my own fears to some degree, assure myself something won't happen, but the realness of the situation, and the fact I only came to understand the reality of it because the thought had been bothering me means it feels so much more all-encompassing. I know confessing in itself is a compulsion, but I keep feeling that if I'm not I'm somehow concealing what I 'really am' from others around me, and any positive interactions are me deceiving them in some way. I feel like I can't enjoy anything in life right now, and a good part of me feels I should not enjoy it ever again. If anybody has any advice on it, I'm all ears. Or even hearing if you relate to these feelings, I might appreciate the solidarity at least.

since february i have "POcd". Initial symptoms were thoughts, but then I did a testing compulsion during an intimate time, and I spiraled ever since. I struggle with addiction to smut. I'm cutting that out, but I feel as if it is too late. Ive never experienced this much mental, and emotional anguish in my life. On my time on this application I have given advice to others, and helped around, but I wonder if that even applies to me. Millions of times I wish I could turn back time and be more careful. I want to prevent many things, including what led me to spiral into OCD in the first place. I'm surely having an OCD episode. I have gotten a diagnosis, but I'm still not sure. I feel evil, cause unlike many here, I tested on my body sensations and it backfired (twice) I know I'm not supposed to figure out why that is the case, but now I have to live with it for the rest of my life even if its something I don't desire. This is disgusting for me, it is abhorrent. I could've never seen this coming. Day by day I've become more fearful of living with this, "OCD". I was a normal person before this, I knew what I was attracted to, I know my preferences, so why did this come about? This is singlehandedly the most painful thing that has happened to me and I have nobody but myself to blame. I am scared of death but I also would'nt mind sleeping for years on end. My parents and brother were understanding of my situation, but I failed them regardless. I don't want them to see me this way, nor do I want them to learn more of my predicament. I'm cooked. I know it, Fin, thats all folks. I'm only 20 and I already have other diagnosed mental illness so I recklessly brought upon myself another one. Its agonizing to live through, I wish this on nobody, not even my worst enemy. I can't even identify myself at this point. Its tearing me apart.

First off - I’m sorry, I post here a lot. My thoughts are going to be scattered because I have the adhd/ocd/executive dysfunction wombo combo. Im so embarrassed I am THIS neurodivergent. I swear my brain couldn’t pick one struggle and settle with it. I’m not making these diagnoses quirky personality traits by any means, in fact, in this post im venting about how exhausting and embarassed I am living with a brain like this on the daily. I need to hear someone’s advice please. I love hearing everyone’s advice on posts because it’s so useful, and brings me back down to reality. Everyone on here gives advice so tastefully in a way where it doesn’t feed into the self reassurance compulsion, but it’s also been thorough and constructive enough where it’s reminded me to ground myself in a healthy way. I love seeing others helping others, it soothes me. This community has been so kind, and I’m so happy I found it. I wish I could ask more, but I have so many questions I think it’d drive everyone here crazy lol. I am doing erp therapy now, and it’s been teaching me so many amazing techniques. I’ve been making progress. However, I sometimes have my moments of vunerablity. I’ve been experiencing this especially now more than ever because I am going through a breakup. He did it through text after nearly 9 months together. I’d do anything for him and love him through anything, and he broke my heart when I least expected it. I’d make his bed for him multiple times, but I haven’t done that for myself in years. I’d sit with him for hours to watch and do anything he likes, but he’d never do the same and I’d never do the same for me. I’m also at fault because I was too scared to speak up so I let a lot of disrespect slide. Why did my ocd do that? Why does ocd make me people please even when I don’t want to? Why does OCD make me care so much about things that will never effect me (like wanting validation from a random person on the street and hoping they’ll think I’m pretty enough to look at), but then when it comes to my future or positive wellbeing (like focusing on college/doing well in classes/personal hygiene/health), forces me to not care/neglect myself and those needs? I don’t understand it. Ocd makes me think everything’s a setup or a trap. I can never believe that I am fine right where I want to be. Why am I so hard on myself? Why do I even think this much? I care and feel so deeply but it becomes unhealthy so fast because ocd makes me fixate and I stay there for a while. For some reason I let this breakup define my self worth. I let it topple into the ocd fear that I will never make it in life - that I won’t be successful, I’ll never get the career I want, the love I want, or the life I want. My OCD’s version of “logic” isn’t even logical. Yes, I understand how the breakup means feelings of low self worth which will then topple into feeling bad about other things. But why has my brain been wired to think this way? Why does it seem so easy for everyone else to function normally with life but not me? Honestly this is the first time in my life where I’m dedicated to focusing on myself and learning more about myself instead of others in my life and it’s a very odd and bizarre feeling. I’m excited of course, but I’m also scared. My ocd makes me ruminate like “what if I will never make the most of this life I’ve been given”, “what if I truly have no worth and the most I will ever be in other people’s lives is a background character”, “why do I care if I’m a background character or not? I should feel guilty and ignorant for assuming everyone will automatically like me”, “are people lying to me when they call me pretty, smart or kind?”, “I need to look and sound perfect in both pictures, videos and in real life. I will never be satisfied for accepting who I am now”, and a bunch of other annoying questions. But sometimes it’s like I just can’t take the reality for what it is but at the same time, but I also acknowledge that I know this is ocd talking. This is so, so difficult. Do I make any sense with what I’m saying? Can anyone help?