NEED INSIGHT: Ok so today as some people know is ash wed. I’m not a very religious person anymore but I do believe in God, just not so much the formalities of religion. My Mom wants me to go get my ashes today and was guilt tripping me by saying all that God has done and I believe her but now I have a lot of Guilt induced OCD. If I go get my ashes it’s going to be partially because I want to but mainly because of OCD induced guilt of my mind telling me how if I don’t get ashes I’m a bad person and will upset God and it would almost be like a compulsion if I go. I’m not sure what to do here... Any insight would be much appreciated.

That's quite the pickle actually. You need to challenge the feeiling of guilt. Think of it this way, if you do it out of guilt then it kinda defeats the purpose. I aggre with Axolotl (fantastic username btw).

For me, when I feel that sense of anxious urgency, it’s a sure sign that OCD is involved...and I should probably stop or fight the compulsion. That said, it sounds like there’s also a personal relationship w your mom that’s complicating things, so I get why you’re feeling torn. If I were you, I’d take a deep breath and try to center myself. Ask: What do I want to do - and what do I feel compelled to do? Try to push back against the compulsion if that’s possible for you right now (not sure whether your mom understands the OCD situation). Whatever you decide, the fact that you’re so self-aware of your OCD tendencies is a really good thing!

Thanks so much for your responses and especially your advice axo...getting other people’s perspectives def helps.

God wouldn’t want you to go out of guilt or compulsion but only out of love and freedom. So choose what you freely want to do with no coercion from anyone else. If your love for God and/or tradition pulls you to Ash Wednesday, great! Go! But if it’s based on fear, why give way to that? God understands you have OCD and if you don’t go bc you don’t want to perform what feels like a compulsion, I think God will respect that 100%. But if you don’t go and then just feel that emptiness in your heart like you are missing out on community and connection and a special time with God, well then you’ll know to not skip out on the next opportunity. Sorry this is long input, but I’ve been there 1000s of time and this is how I finally found spiritual peace about religious compulsions.

Katla this is very helpful also, thanks so much for responding!

^ MikeG, you’re very welcome! Thanks for the feedback.

I’ve had the same thing happen to me with Ash Wednesday.