New to the chat!!!!

[Piratejr4]

hello everyone I’m new here and I’ve been a long time sufferer of ocd and anxiety. Lately my everyday life has been effected by these conditions and I would love to here from others who are just like me and how they deal with the feelings and emotions they experience on a day to day basis. How to overcome the stacking odds and ways to block out the negative thoughts. Thank you all looking forward to any replies.

[bulldog71]

Welcome. I’m glad you found this forum. I think it will be quite beneficial.

[Lesliehome]

Welcome to the chat! I have also been having trouble with my OCD and anxiety daily. I try to eat as healthily as I can, drink lots of water, get at least a little exercise every day, meditate a little every day, and read as much as I can about OCD. We are lucky to be living in a time where there is so much information about the condition. Also, The OCD Stories podcast has been very helpful for me.

[Piratejr4 in reply to Lesliehome]

how do you deal with the thoughts all the time? I can seem to stop constantly having bad stuff on my mind.

[Lesliehome in reply to Piratejr4]

Honestly, I struggle with that every day lately. I just try to follow the advice that the OCD professionals give--don't try to fight the thoughts, just let them be there and wait for them to pass while doing other things. It is really, really hard and scary, but eventually they usually pass on.

[SCC1]

Hi. I feel the same way. Just know, you are not alone in this.

I hope you can feel better soon. There is a lot of sound advice given by people here, so ask anything you want.

Take care

[FirstResponder23]

hello,

I’m sorry to hear that you are going through this as well. I’m 29 and have been diagnosed since I was 18 (but noticed I had tendencies as far back as a kid I can remember) my first helpful words I can offer are try not to “block out” the thoughts. After many sessions in therapy, and books I’ve read, the more we try to push out thoughts, the more they stick around. If you have done or plan on doing therapy, they will give you tools to address this in a controlled manner.

Again, this is all easier said than done. Knowing this, I still struggle doing this daily. I am currently going through my ocd “being noisy” and find it hard many days to lean into uncertainty. It’s almost a natural reaction to fall for ocd tricks. But I try to first, give myself grace if I do have natural reactions, and then two, try to make fun of what ocd is saying.

I hope this helps. Just also know there are many of us out there that are all experiencing this at many different levels, and we are all, always changing. People will have days where ocd is loud, and says where it’s not so loud. Find comfort knowing there are so many others out there who understand you and how you feel and what’s going on. God Bless.