Its #flooffriday ! :) miss gyps and I hope to see today flooded with your floofs 😊 On an off note, if anyone is reading this and has experience with it...can someone give me some tips on how to deal with narcissistic abuse? I am THIS close to just cutting my dad out of my life lol

Aww so cute!

Happy weekend to you and the gorgeous model cat girl 👋🏻😍🍹🌯🥳

Happy #flooffriday! ☺️

I never thought much about it before, but I can relate to that sudden "dying" feeling and doom drop in the pit of your stomach that you're talking about. I just had that feeling earlier a little bit, I still feel like I'm giving into seeking reassurance from my wife too much though in order to deal with feeling that way, but I'm really working on trying not to give into seeking reassurance too much, I'm hoping as I continue doing ERP I'll get better at not seeking reassurance. :) but yeah, I'm trying to welcome the thoughts to some extent, but I don't want to think of the intrusive thoughts all the time because I feel like I won't be able to focus on being happy or having any fun if I just sit there feeling anxious the whole time. I'm still trying to figure that part out completely because I don't know how I'm supposed to handle that part of it. A lot of the time I'm able to push past the intrusive thoughts, so if I'm watching a show and I have an intrusive thought but it doesn't give me a lot of stress and I'm able to move past it, am I supposed to purposefully make myself feel stressed about it while I'm watching the show even if it isn't giving me stress? Or am I overthinking all of this? I'm glad I can be sweet and encouraging. :) I'm just sorry I haven't been on here as much, I just can't keep up with it too much without feeling stressed, so I'm trying to to keep a good balance of taking care of myself and still being here for my friends on here as well. :) I'm happy I'm finding that balance too, and I'm glad that you're honest with yourself as well and you realized that you just simply can't help everyone, because none of us can, there will always be someone else who needs help but we can't put pressure on ourselves to take care of all of them. This may sound like a dumb question, but what is DP/DR? does DP mean depression? But yeah, the numbing effects of Zoloft are scary, that's why I'm glad I won't be taking a high dosage if and when I start taking it again. :) I'm glad you've been doing better recently, I'm trying to learn to feel comfortable with my emotions too, but also work on the way I react to certain things in my life because I don't always like the way I feel in certain situations. I feel like a different person somewhat now that I'm not on my medication anymore, but I don't like everything about who I was when I took medication, but I also don't like everything about who I am without my medication either. It's a weird and complicated feeling, it kind of reminds me of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, lol. I hope you're having an awesome day Alexis! :) remember to smile, it really does make a difference! 😀

Yes, OCD definitely takes any and everything that we care about and tries to turn it against us... I'm struggling with that right now actually. It's really frustrating and stressful... I'm glad I could help and give you some encouragement. :) I'm sorry that one of your themes has been getting you down lately though, I will be in prayer for you that you'll find peace through this. :) And yeah, I agree that being wrong definitely leads to personal growth and helps us to learn from our mistakes. :) I was really just joking by saying that "I wish I was never wrong". And yeah, boundaries can be tough especially when you don't completely know what your boundaries are. I guess that's another thing we learn as we make our way through life. I feel like I kind of absorb other people's pain from time to time, but it's mixed with my own stress and pain so I think my stress that I'm having is what takes more root and bothers me more in those times. But yes there was a time awhile back where I just felt like I had to be here on this app for hours and hours a day just helping people, and it definitely did burn me out. So im trying to have a healthy balance of taking care of myself and caring for my family and for others around me too. :) I used to take Zoloft for like 9 years basically, I'm actually thinking of taking it again but yeah that was my problem with it too. It helped me have less anxiety but it made me sad and numb to things, but I also took a really high dosage at the time, I don't think I need to take that high of a dosage again this time because my anxiety isn't anything like it used to be. I've never taken anything else other than Zoloft, but I'm open to trying other medication too, I'm just kind of nervous about all of it though. Yes, I want to continue having feelings and emotions, I just don't want to have extreme anxiety about everything. I hope you'll find a medication that works for you and that you can have your emotions and feelings back. And you're welcome, I'm glad I could help! 😊

I'll recommend that supporting others with OCD support group to her to go to. I'm glad that your family found it valuable, I bet it would be helpful for her too. :) I feel like she currently handles my OCD pretty well though, I think I just make it difficult with all of my reassurance seeking a lot. I'm just so glad that my wife supports me, I'm so blessed to have her in my life. 😊 My therapist told me I should force myself to have the thoughts, but not right away after I have just gotten past them, but later in the day at another time to try and bring on the anxiety, unless I'm misunderstanding him somehow. But yeah, I see what you're saying, to basically mock the OCD to give it less power. At times aren't we supposed to try to agree with the OCD though? Isn't that a form of ERP too? Like "yeah OCD, maybe your right, maybe I do want to do that" or am I misunderstanding how that works? But no, I'm not trying to push the thoughts away, at least not most of the time, I just mean if at times I find that I'm able to get past the anxiety without doing a compulsion, and I don't think about whatever was making me anxious again. Is that avoidance and arguing with them? Or did I just work past them somehow? I'm probably still overthinking it, I don't know why, I just get confused by all of this stuff... Yeah, I don't want to experience stress from the app, so I won't get on if it's causing me stress. Because you're right, everyone will still be here. I think I just worry that people will feel like I suddenly don't care about them anymore if I stop replying to them as often. I'm sorry but I haven't looked up DP/DR yet. I've just been busy with work and everything else too lately. Also ERP is going to be hard to fit into my daily schedule too. My therapist said I should be doing ERP for atleast one hour everyday, which doesn't sound like much, but it's going to be hard I think because not only do I get anxiety from doing it, but I have less time for everything else that I would normally do to. I'm probably being over dramatic, it just felt like I didn't have enough time for everything even before having to add ERP into my schedule. Plus I want to spend time with my wife at night when she gets home from work, and thats really important to me. And yeah, I want to process and handle my feelings better, I feel like my mind is just a tornadoe of thoughts a lot of the time, but not all the time, their are other moments when it really settles down. I'm not sure exactly what always triggers it, I'm sure OCD plays a big part in that though. But yeah, I do just want to be myself, I feel like I'm not always sure of everything about who I am though, I'm still trying to figure out how to be me. The fact that I don't take medication anymore has made all of it feel different too because now I have a lot of emotions that I don't remember having as much over all the years that I took Zoloft. I've been good, thank you. :) I'm glad that you've been smiling more and that your progress with ERP is going well! 😀 I hope it'll continue to go well and that you'll have a great day Alexis!

Yeah, I really do want to understand and handle OCD better, and I know my wife does too. I'm glad I give you hope that there are good guys still out there Alexis, lol. I hope and pray you will find love and happiness my friend. :) Oh, I never thought of setting an alarm. Do you set it for the same time each day? Or is it just random? And oh, I didn't realize an hour was too much for someone just starting out, I just figured I was letting myself get overly stressed about it. I feel like I have to incorporate it into my schedule and I just feel overwhelmed by everything I have to do each day. I was already overwhelmed even before that, I just never feel like I have enough time every day for everything. I'm sorry... but what exactly do you mean by "agree with them but don't like...AGREE with them"? I'm trying to understand what you mean, but I'm just not sure I do completely. But I have a difficult time with that, basically I feel like I don't know how to do ERP/exposures in my mind about an obsession without ruminating about it in the process, plus I feel like I lose focus during ERP sometimes and find myself getting back into asking all these questions to myself and I start feeling panicked and anxious, but it doesn't feel like I'm getting the anxiety in the right way that I'm supposed to be feeling it. I also feel like I don't know how to agree with the OCD without dismissing it because every time I agree with it it feels so forced and it doesn't feel like it really helped anything, but the thought does get dismissed for a little bit but then it returns after awhile. I don't want to unknowingly do a compulsion, it sounds like it's so easy for something to become a compulsion, even something that is supposed to be helpful it seems. :( I don't know how to fit ERP into my day comfortably yet... I barely feel like I know how to fit it into my day uncomfortably, lol. But no I don't want to let it take over my life or be a compulsion, and I don't want it to get in the way of other valuable aspects of my life. I want to live the life God has for me and feel peaceful. I can relate to having felt like a robot before when I took Zoloft. I felt depression but i couldn't cry back then, or it was very rare when I cried anyway. I'm sorry that you're struggling to feel emotions right now... just know you're not alone in having to deal with that, I may not be dealing with it anymore at the moment, but I know others are struggling with that too and I know it's really difficult. I hope and pray you'll find the right medication for you that will help you and allow you to have your feelings and emotions back. I hope your perspective change will go well. :) I'm doing okay. You're welcome Alexis! I hope you're doing well today too! 😀