Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas

May all your wishes come true this Christmas.

Whilst wishes and dreams may not come true for all of us, I want you all to be kind to yourself when the OCD rears its damn ugly head over the next week. At Christmas we are often faced with having to interact with friends and family when sometimes our OCD may not want that, so please be kind to yourself, don’t be afraid or feel guilty for taking 10-15 minutes for yourself if it gets too much.

2013 will bring new challenges, personal ones for each of us, and professional ones also, but it will also bring new opportunities to explore our own personal strengths in our fight to overcome our OCD. As we make progress with our OCD, it will bring new possibilities in life, exciting and fun possibilities too!

Whilst the new opportunities that life without OCD may bring in 2013, the challenges that may first lay ahead of you we can face together, to help and support each other, and cheer each other on through the good and bad times. If we do meet and share those challenges together, we might find life a little less challenging then facing our struggles alone. So Christmas is the perfect opportunity to put old differences to one side, and work together for the good of each other, for new friendships and for our wider OCD community, together, we can, and will make a difference.

Working for the benefit of other people is something my volunteers do daily, and I want to thank them on behalf of all of us for their tireless hard work. I sometimes forget they suffer with OCD too, so giving so much of themselves to help others in distress is noble, and I thank them, from the forum mods and volunteers to those that work for the charity behind the scenes, these guys don't get enough recognition so please accept my festive wishes and gratitude for a year's amazing noble work.

Thank you to you guys too, for those that support the charity financially, or through your commitment to support our ideas and projects by getting involved in some capacity, by Tweeting our awareness messages, to helping others on the forums and for generally showing respect for the work of the charity. I thank you all for your kindness of heart and support of pocket.

Finally, Christmas for some can be lonely and isolating, so please spare a moment for someone who might need a little Christmas cheer, who might be feeling alone this Christmas, be that a friend, an elderly neighbour, or just someone from the forum. Even a simple hello over the fence, a simple text message can make the world of difference for someone on their own this Christmas, say hello to someone, for them it might be the best Christmas present of all.

Whatever you are doing, wherever you may be in the world, I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas, and a peaceful, healthy and OCD free 2013.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

Ashley (from OCD-UK)