I need tips on how to really accept the uncertainty the ocd causes, even if it feels so bad like I might get in trouble for something , do I wanna be okay with that?
Hi there, I understand your struggle, I’ve felt that same feeling too. It’s part of the OCD, it’s very clever, trying to make you think you’ll get in trouble. When I get that clever thought, I utilize ERP again: I just don’t know for sure if I’ll get in trouble. Maybe yes, maybe no. I hope this helps. You’re not alone here. Thanks for reaching out about this, helps me too ❤️
I know it’s really hard. The best thing to do is just acknowledge that you will not know what will happen until that moment comes, and just because it’s a Possibility, doesn’t mean it will automatically happen.
Watch nathan perterson on YouTube ocd-anxiety, nocd YouTube channel,iocdf YouTube channel there is one webinar where they talk about doing ERP and accepting uncertainty. The core concept is ocd is the doubting disorder and even those it demands 100% certainty about x it will never accept the answer you give it ,that's why you accept uncertainty, your fear may or may not happen, also watch ocd Bravely there is a video on accepting uncertainty
This was a great question, thanks for posting 🙏 For me, it can be very difficult to accept uncertainty even if I am aware that the feelings are disproportionate to reality. It may *feel* like my life will catastrophically fail, and I know it won’t…but it still *feels* like it will catastrophically fail regardless. That feeling alone can be paralyzing for me at times. Sometimes, if I struggle to accept uncertainty, I do my best to act as if I had. This means taking small, deliberate baby steps in my regular life. Similar to “I need to go outside. I’ll put on my socks. Ok. Socks done. I’ll put on one shoe. Ok. One more. I’ll open door. Ok. I’ll step outside. Done!” This has helped me remain functional on high symptom days despite freezing up. I do my best to accept the uncertainty as I take these steps, too — that way my actions aren’t avoidance, just practical. There are hard days, and sometimes I have to accept that I’ll only be doing the bare minimum, and that is ok. You’re not alone, let’s keep learning to lean into the uncertainty! 💜
@j vv I like the analogy of baby steps. So true 💟
This might contain triggering content, but I'm also wondering if others have dealt with this similar thought, and if so, how to deal with it? Overall, I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm able to eat again, which I hadn't been able to do because of how much anxiety I'd been experiencing. I'm spending time around loved ones and not just rotting in my room, and I've been able to wake up without immediately being bombarded by intrusive thoughts. When things first got really bad, I'd wake my mom up every night for reassurance, but I haven't done that in a while either. I'm really proud of myself, but there's still this nagging thought in my mind... While looking through others posts on here, hoping to find advice that'd fit my situation, I ended up making things worse. Someone mentioned how they had a fear that they'd purposely search for illegal content (related to POCD). I panicked, and "what ifs" flooded my thoughts. "What if the intrusive thoughts affect who I am as a person, and I do that?" I'm terrified that I'll search for those things, which I know means I wouldn't do it. But then, another person on here said they'd actually looked for those things, and that freaked me out even more. Does that mean it's possible for that to happen to me? I don't want to do that, but I keep having intrusive thoughts surrounding it. I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm just... stuck. I don't know what to do. I've spoken with other people who have the same fears, but how do I manage this? It's not something I've even thought about before seeing those posts. I've been practicing accepting the uncertainty, but I'm really struggling with this one. I hate this. This morning, I woke up, and the intrusive thoughts were back. It's just disheartening.
whats up guys what are some tips dealing with ocd and what to do when a thought makes u anxious ??
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.
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