I ruminated too much this morning and got distressing mental images (and confirmation) which sent me spiraling again. How do I stop thinking about this and how do I get back to myself? I feel destroyed.
Here is the best advice I can give. Go do something. Go for a walk. Watch a movie. Read a book. Play a game. Run an errand. Clean something. Literally anything. Your mind will make up 100 reasons to not do those things, but ignore them. Tell it you can think about that stuff later (that's a lie, but it might help to trick your mind) and then go do something. Don't try and fight the thoughts. Don't analyze them. Don't do anything about them. They are there. They are just thoughts. Let them be there. They'll go away eventually. But you've got things to do. Go do them. Do not stay still. Do not research or post or scroll or think about it. Right now, you should act.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had to navigate this at the start of your day. I wish I could say I also had the answer to help stop the thoughts and make sure they never come back. But unfortunately I don’t. What I will say is that you will have to get to a place where the discomfort no longer overwhelms and that’s incredibly difficult because it takes time. You have to learn to sit with the discomfort and be okay with the uncertainty. If you’re not already in the process of connecting with a therapist about ERP, then I highly highly recommend it. There will be days ahead where it’s harder than others and there will be days where the distressing images will be fleeting thoughts. A prevention rip I’ve learned alongside my NOCD therapist is “Discomfort is not danger.” It get better,it truly does
I don’t know either. It feels like all I do all day is ruminate, and I have no idea how to stop because I’ve been doing it my whole life.
I should,,,,it’s hard. I’ve torn my thoughts apart and it feels like I’ve torn myself apart
I have really started to take control of my compulsions and im starting to string together better days! Still not great days or even good, but they are better!!! I have controlled my outward compulsions (googling, research, reassurance, checking) the past couple of days and felt the positive impact of that. But unfortunately, I am realizing that the rumination is still constant. My sexuality and relationship are the only two things constantly on my brain, and if they aren’t I freak out and wonder why im not thinking about them! Anyone have any advice on how to deal with the rumination. Sometimes I don’t even notice im doing it, but it’s taking up 90% of my day. Once I start to tackle this I think I may make some real big progress! Hope everyone is fighting today! ❤️
I've been doing well the past month in cutting down on compulsions and have been feeling better however, last night I had a set back that carried on into today. I had gotten very poor sleep (4ish hours) and then something triggered my memory. I think with the sudden anxiety spike and lack of sleep I didn't have the strength to ignore my compulsions. Last night and today I've realised I've gone back into rumination and mentally reviewing the event excessively again and comparing my situation to other people's, but most of the times that I start going down these rabbit holes I don't even realise I'm doing it? Also been fixating a bit on the fear that I've ruined my progress and that I will fall back into the deep end of it all again, that I have done so much work getting myself out of, although trying my best to not be too discouraged. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with rumination more specifically?
So my therapist told me to start telling myself every time I have an intrusive thought just say oh there’s that thought again, and don’t try to figure it out or do mental compulsions. Well our usual tactic of “there’s that thought/feeling again” is not working at all this morning. This morning I was having really bad anxiety, it hits hardest in the morning when I am lying in bed with my son and I know the thoughts could come at any minute. Well they did, and I immediately was like no please just think of anything else. Well in pushing away the thoughts, I had this really weird feeling like I couldn’t decipher between reality and images. I was just getting flashes of images that felt so real. Even though I could physically feel my body and know I wasnt engaging in the thought or acting on it. It was like a flash of anxiety that hit and I couldn’t tell what was real and wasn’t. So of course my mind starts trying to figure that feeling out and if what I was thinking about just happened. And no matter how many times I’ve tried to say there’s that thought/feeling again, I can’t let it go. I was physically conscious and could feel my body but mentally I couldn’t. It’s so weird and hard to explain. But I’ve been doubting and second guessing that moment all morning and I’m in a bad spiral, again. 😭 it’s like every time I think I’m moving forward I get sucked back in and feel like I can’t practice my tools anymore. I don’t know what I should do 😩
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