Did you know that OCD tends to latch onto the things that are most important to you...like your care for others, your passion for your kids, the safety of your family, your personal health, your faith, etc. It makes it seem super scary and urgent...and totally irresponsible to let it go!
But...here's the awesome news...you can flip the script by using those exact same values as motivation to live into your treatment and fight the OCD. Sometimes OCD makes us question our values. Often, I look at the things OCD has latched onto and twisted, and I try to remember that these are typically the things most important to me. By remembering this, I can use these exact same things as motivation to fight the OCD bully!
For instance, my OCD loves to latch onto my relationship with my students...because I deeply care about them. I can flip the script by reminding myself that in order to continue to support my students in a meaningful way, I need to fight my OCD (and they need me to fight my OCD!). Let's do it together during OCD Awareness Week!!!
Written by
OCDAdvocateKatie
IOCDF Advocate
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Hey Katie, hope you are doing well! It has been so cool to see you on here as an advocate and witness all the amazing things you are doing for this community. I saw this post and it resonated with me because lately values are a big part of what I have been struggling with. For the past week or so my OCD has been so loud and the thoughts have been sticky and hard to get away from. As I dive further into my twenties I've been thinking a lot more about what I want for my life and the goals I have for myself, personally and professionally (getting married, starting a family, etc). The problem is that there seems to be this nagging dark cloud over my head that does a pretty darn good job at convincing me I don't deserve anything good in life. I struggle because my moral compass tells me that if I did any of the terrible things/intrusive thoughts OCD has suggested over the last few years than I don't deserve anything good in life. And since we can never be 100% certain about anything how can I allow for good things to happen to me if I might be bad? It's almost like there is this really thick invisible barrier that stops me from actually taking action or allowing myself to dream too much about my future because I feel like such a fraud all the time. I care so much about the world and what is right and wrong and the idea of my intrusive thoughts being even a tiny bit true is terrifying. So on one hand I know that OCD only goes after the things I care the most about BUT on the other hand just in case I am a bad or evil person than I need to create distance between myself and things I value. I don't know if I'm making sense or just rambling at this point but it feels good type it out either way. I think maybe what I'm experiencing is a little bit of imposter syndrome due to OCD? I'm sure a lot of us have felt this way before. It's pretty sucky to feel so undeserving and unworthy! I keep reminding myself that feelings are only temporary and don't last forever and maybe one day I can do cool advocacy work like you and sharing more of my struggles openly will help. Anyways, thanks for reading.
Hi Catherine - It's so great to hear from you, and thank you for your kind words. Thank you so much for sharing your struggles. I'm so sorry it has been so challenging. I can TOTALLY relate! One of my biggest struggles (even in the last week!) has been feeling like I can't move forward with a beautiful, value-driven life without knowing "for sure" that I'm a good person. I think this is just another trap of OCD, but it feels SO REAL and SO URGENT. I know it can make living into your values really tough. We have an IOCDF live-stream on living into your values tonight. Do you mind if I ask this question?
Wow, this was an amazing read for me. You could have been my daughter writing this, and it breaks my heart to know that she, or you, ever feel this way about yourselves, when it is so abundantly clear the goodness that resides in you. Sending you a huge shout out for your honesty and courage, and for helping those of us who love a person with OCD to understand.
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