- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
That is great!! So do you feel like your anxiety has gone down as well?
- Date posted
- 3y
That's good! I'm glad you're feeling better. :)
- Date posted
- 3y
YAYYY
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
Iâve been thinking a lot about how OCD changes the way we see ourselves, but I recently realized that I am not my thoughts. Just because a thought pops up doesnât mean itâs true or that it defines me. Iâve started learning how to see OCD for what it isâjust a disorder trying to trick meâand Iâve become stronger in dealing with it. Has anyone else here had a similar realization? How do you handle these thoughts when they show up?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 16w
I used to get caught in a loop with existential thoughts very frequently. Every question made my stomach drop: (TW: existential questions) ⌠⌠... "Why does anything exist at all? What will death be like? Is anything even real? Is there any meaning to this? Is the universe infinitely big, and if not, what's beyond it? Are there multiverses? Has the universe been around forever? Will the universe end for good, or will it keep going forever? What is forever like? What even IS reality?" It would get so overwhelming that I remember lying on the floor in a fetal position for hours because I felt like there was no escape. I spent most of my days reading articles and watching videos about theoretical astrophysics and philosophy in a desperate attempt to "figure it all out." Of course that only made me more anxious, raised more questions, and kept me trapped in the cycle. Things started to improve once I learned to turn TOWARD reality, rather than away from it, and ERP really helped me do that. I learned that these questions weren't the problem. I learned that I can actually handle the anxiety that arises when exposed to these ideas and concepts. I don't have to figure anything out to make the anxiety go away; it arises and passes away on its own. Ironically, bringing myself into the present moment and becoming more aware of reality helped me escape the cycle of existential dread. Because of that, this topic no longer takes over my life. If I'm triggered by something I see, hear, or think, I may still feel a little twang of anxiety, but then it just goes away. "Maybe, maybe not" has been the single most useful phrase of my life. Do you ever get trapped in a cycle of existential questions? Are you worried that the ERP approach would be too scary to handle? If so, I'm happy to give my advice.
- Date posted
- 6w
I keep thinking about life and death and all that stuff and itâs making me so upset. I keep thinking about how one day im probably going to be old and on my death bed or something and my whole life will be nothing but a memory and im so scared for that day. i wont have my parents and my younger siblings wont have any of us. time feels like its moving too fast like i feel every second pass and think about how i can never get that moment back and i cant slow down time or go back or even just pause it because its always going and theres nothing i can do about it. And then i start thinking about whats after death and get even more scared because if heaven is real then what is eternity? wont i get bored of doing the same things⌠forever? and if its not real then what happens is it just nothing? because thats even more scary i donât want to be nothing because that also means the people i love will be nothing and i wont be able to be with them. And if itâs not that then is it reincarnation? will i have to do this all over again? will the souls of the people i love be with me in their new forms? is the sun âGodâ because the planets revolve around it and the stars are all of the passed souls? what does it feel like to be a star? will i even just know i died? i have so many questions and the fact that none have an answer and i just have to wait to find out drives me insane. i try to remind myself everyone before me and everyone after me will experience death and loss at one point in their life and that Iâm not alone but it doesnât help. nothing helps. ive had âepisodesâ like this before when i was around 10-14 about once a year always around May-June which is the month my great grandmother died and June is my birth month which i hate because yk⌠time passing and aging which i assume is why i always get worse around that time. i was able to kind of ignore or turn it off the past like 3 years but this month its just too much i cant even deal with it. maybe because Iâm turning 18? idk but its been bothering me so much and its all i can think about. Even when i seem fine the thoughts are always in there somewhere and some days theyâre easier to ignore and others it feels impossible. I just wish I was like those people who can just turn their thoughts off if they donât like them. My mom says she can do that if she thinks about how her mom died or something she can tell herself she doesnât want to think about that and just⌠turn it off?? and thats so shocking to me because iâve begged a god I donât even know if I believe in to stop my thoughts and she can just turn them off herself? I donât have another therapy appointment until next week I wish I could talk to them everyday so it could work faster but instead iâm on here. So if anyone has any advice PLEASE give it to me. Iâm so tired itâs making me not enjoy anything in life because it makes me feel like theres no point in anything but I want to feel normal and I want to enjoy things. Sorry for writing so much just had to get this out there. Also iâm not trying to seek reassurance btw I just wanna know how other people coped with this or similar issuesđ
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