sillykitten

Hey @howard Thank you for all your help & sharing this information with me. Much appreciated!

Thank you so much @Caramoole for your guidance & I definitely hear what you are saying. It is important to protect myself BUT I have OCD & I desperately want to get better which means I must live with the risk. I will think really hard about what you have said. I really appreciate your support

Okay @howard thank you for your advice & support I will bear in mind everything you said @Caramoole thank you too for your thoughts on risk & I will take it into consideration Thank you @northpaul for the link I will definitely check it out I have a lot to think about & way things up. I appreciate everyones imput!

Hello @howard Do you really think I should be doing that? Even though the numbers are low & the government have never said to clean or put groceries aside? I only ask because I feel super confused I'm so scared of getting sick because of my OCD & I find it very difficult to know what is sensible protection or when it's my OCD doing it's thing. I don't want to get covid but I also need to get well Also may I ask where this information is please?

Hahaha well it's funny you say that @Caramoole because I have definitely gone up a dress size already! So I will be suing you both for compensation Now I want cheesecake! Haha

Thank you @snowbear for your advice That's so helpful thank you, I will definitely use this as a guide. It's just what I needed

Thank you @Caramoole for your support I think I am going to have to have a good think & figure out how I want to move forward with everything. I appreciate everyones help very much

Thank you @PolarBear Okay, I will treat the need to figure out if it's safe or not as a compulsion & work on not answering it & letting it go. I don't know how I will continue to take the risk with things now though because I having been using the fact that things are safe really. But I don't think I have been doing this right, I probably should be taking the risk & not trying to know deep down that it's safe.

Thank you @Handy Thanks for the information, sorry if I didn't put it well, I do understand how it works. I just ment it will help me feel better because if I caught covid then hopefully it would be milder as you say

Thank you @howard I agree with what you said & getting a vaccine will definitely help me feel more protected. That's the trouble I don't know what I want to do, or what I should do & I feel like I need to decide before I can do any more exposures.

Thank you @Caramoole What you said is what I wanted my mum to say, just go for it! But at the same time I am unvaccinated... omg this is honestly driving me nuts I'm just going around in circles. Is this a compulsion? To decide if it's safe or not? Or is it reasonable

Hello @Summer9173 I'm so sorry that your family are not being understanding & supporting you in the way you need right now You are not letting anyone down & you are not useless or pathetic. All this negative self talk is harmful to you, please try & be kind to yourself. Also, comparing yourself to others is unfair on yourself because you have OCD. You are working very hard on yourself & if it's not the right time & it's something to high up on your hierarchy it could set you back. You know what's best for you so try & be confident in your choice & if your family can't understand that well that's on them. I know it hurts & feels unfair but look after you, you don't owe anyone anything. Try & focus back onto the things that are important to you & getting well. You deserve all the wonderful things life has to offer. So keep going Summer & you will get there!

Hello @Busy Fool thank you for your reply Yes my mum said that too that the dettol wipes are a habit now. I find this confusing though because like you said look at what other people are doing and it's all kinds of things Thank you so much Well done to you aswell for getting to the point where you can have a take away It took me 3 years & 7 months years haha.

So I'm trying to get it into my head that I can & should put my groceries straight into my cupboard and don't bother putting it aside for decontamination. I asked my mum was this safe to do, not so much for reassurance but advice because OCD makes things hard to judge & she said well I would wait till you are vaccinated because you are medically vulnerable. So now I feel even more confused and panicky because I just had a takeaway What if she is right? I know I need to live with the risk but should I wait like she said? FYI my mum uses a dettol wipes on her stuff, I don't I just put it aside for 6 days.

Thank you @taurean I'm sorry to hear you have had a bad episode. Well done for getting control and making things more normal again it isn't easy. I too must work on being present, I read that meditation can help with that and was thinking of giving it a go as my mind is everywhere but the hear and now. Thanks for the reminder to work on that