So a new rocd thought is “wouldn’t you rather be enjoying your 20s” and so now I’m all hot and nervous feeling and I feel like that means it’s true. I am so stuck in this cycle and I’m convinced I’m just in denial.

Thank you! It’s hard to accept uncertainty but someone told me that you aren’t really accepting uncertainty of whether it’s true or not true, but accepting the uncertainty that I am currently feeling because of ocd. Which makes it seem less scary

@Anonymous6 Your ocd brain makes you “feel” uncertain from thoughts. It’s just a feeling. That feeling has no basis in reality other than it’s a feeling that has sensations and the sensations are unpleasant. The reason you react to the feeling isn’t because you want the “truth.” It’s because you want the feeling to go away. If the feeling left you, all those thoughts would be just thoughts. Nothing else.

@Sasha That makes more sense! I’ve been struggling with concept of uncertainty because my ocd has always been blown off as anxiety by pretty much everyone in my family and every doctor because they’re like “well you don’t really clean that much or wash your hands a lot” and I’m like okay clearly you aren’t well versed here 😂

@Anonymous6 Hey, I get it!! This was my exact history. Every therapist just said the same thing: “You have anxiety, trying breathing methods, and telling yourself everything is fine.” When I finally discovered it myself, it all clicked. And I wanted to learn everything I could about it. And the recovery is so powerful when you finally start understanding the “ocd brain “. You should be proud of yourself. You know what’s going on. Trust the process and keep training!

@Sasha Thank you! I was always telling my parents “I know this is unreasonable and not something I actually believe but it’s convincing me it might be true” they just thought I was paranoid. But I’ve been trying to educate them

@Anonymous6 That’s really wonderful that you’ve been trying to educate themselves. I do the same with my parents. My dad suffers with it as well, but he doesn’t really understand it or even really want to. But sometimes he asks me questions. I think the beauty of it, is that the more we recover, the more those around us are healed to. Even if your parents don’t have OCD, I’m sure they have something else. All humans do. And If they see their child learn to have self compassion, and mindfulness, they too might follow by your example.