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Sharing Some Words of Wisdom


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Yesterday after a few really great days, my therapist said something which stuck with me: 'look at all you've done while battling OCD.'

And it's true, sometimes we're so busy focusing on the OCD we forget to congratulate ourselves for all the things we've done along the way WHILE coping with OCD. 

I found today a particularly hard day with a lot of bad intrusive thoughts but this evening I've been reflecting on all the accomplishments I've done and everyone else should be proud of the big and small things they do while juggling the OCD bully :a1_cheesygrin:

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

True. But when OCD gets severe often you can't even do something else.

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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16 hours ago, greentop said:

Yesterday after a few really great days, my therapist said something which stuck with me: 'look at all you've done while battling OCD.'

And it's true, sometimes we're so busy focusing on the OCD we forget to congratulate ourselves for all the things we've done along the way WHILE coping with OCD. 

I found today a particularly hard day with a lot of bad intrusive thoughts but this evening I've been reflecting on all the accomplishments I've done and everyone else should be proud of the big and small things they do while juggling the OCD bully :a1_cheesygrin:

That's great greentop! Yes we really need to give ourselves a pat on the back for moving along in life with the disorder.

I do find that my OCD has really put limits on what I can do and when I get focussed on that it can get me down and it just makes things worse, so it's super helpful to focus in on the successes! I was just telling some friends of mine that they would be surprised at just how challenging some really mundane things are for me...so even the littlest things we should be happy about!

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This is such a nice way of looking at it. Life doesn’t stop just because of OCD and yet we manage to live our lives and have achievements, even when the whole world seems to be falling apart. 

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Let me share with you a helpful technique in this respect, that my therapist got me working on to take focus away from OCD. 

It's called ACE, the acronym standing for achievement, closeness to others and enjoyment. 

The idea is that, whilst going about our day, we look to achieve things, get close to others and also find some enjoyment. 

She asked me to, until this became an autonomous way of living, keep a daily log, rating my ability to achieve these goals out of 5.

So, if I had a poor score on closeness to others one day, I would look to improve this the next. 

It's a great technique. We find ourselves focusing on how to achieve more of each discipline, and this takes our mind away from obsessing and compulsing. 

This really made a big difference for me. 

Roy 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Another thing I want to say on the matter. Adjusting ones life because of OCD is not the solution. I am actually against going down in workhours or getting help from the university to make it easier to handle. Because OCD will only eat up that extra time.

I want to hear from you guys but was it ( that when you entered adulthood, wasn't it then the really bad started? Because school is wonderful in so many ways, it pushes people to get a routine. People in general are not good at knowing what is good for us.

 

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1 hour ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Another thing I want to say on the matter. Adjusting ones life because of OCD is not the solution. I am actually against going down in workhours or getting help from the university to make it easier to handle. Because OCD will only eat up that extra time.

I want to hear from you guys but was it ( that when you entered adulthood, wasn't it then the really bad started? Because school is wonderful in so many ways, it pushes people to get a routine. People in general are not good at knowing what is good for us.

 

I didn't find with mine that routine or keeping busy helped. Mine came on badly in the middle of a lovely job that I enjoyed and I was in a good routine and kept busy.

I did have to quit my job in the end because no matter how I tried I could not keep it as the ocd took over. So I quit, and started on the cbt route.

I try to keep to a routine now but it is very light with lots of down time, as I find when I add too  much stuff in my ocd starts up again pretty bad.

So not sure--yes will be interesting to hear others experience. Though as greentop says, I think it's really about taking some pride in what we manage to do, big or small, in the midst of our condition.

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I am with OCDhavenobrain with this, routine helps. But it depends upon the nature of the routine. The fierce routine imposed in an unregulated factory producing clothes or electronic products is not healthy. The facts speak for themselves. In every single nation of the earth the rich live longer than the poor. The more senior the job you had when working the longer you live. Occupational stress surveys across the world testify to that. Not only does money help. It gives you choices. You have autonomy. The more self governing you are the longer healthy years you have. I always tried to get jobs that had at least some autonomy.

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Stress is found at the bottom of the hierarchy where you have no control. The occupational stress surveys reveal this. It is not just the individual it is also the situation. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain
20 minutes ago, Angst said:

I am with OCDhavenobrain with this, routine helps. But it depends upon the nature of the routine. The fierce routine imposed in an unregulated factory producing clothes or electronic products is not healthy. The facts speak for themselves. In every single nation of the earth the rich live longer than the poor. The more senior the job you had when working the longer you live. Occupational stress surveys across the world testify to that. Not only does money help. It gives you choices. You have autonomy. The more self governing you are the longer healthy years you have. I always tried to get jobs that had at least some autonomy.

No but against OCD it works magical. Because we are forced to concentrate on other things

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OCD likes a vacuum and will fill it. 

So keeping nicely occupied on other things and ignoring intrusive thoughts if they come calling is the way forward. 

And when we take our rest, a good book or interesting absorbing TV programmes are good. 

Plus meditation helps us keep beneficially focused. 

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Nice use of the adverb ‘nicely’ -so nicely occupied - and the adverbial phrase ‘when we take our rest’. I agree. OCDhavenobrain was talking about externally imposed motivators such as provided by universities. Students have great autonomy so self motivation provides a crucial role. Often future centred, in the degree classification.

Edited by Angst
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I think routine definitely helps and keeping busy can do wonders. However, I noticed with myself that routine and work became an avoidance tactic for me. I would feel bad and then go to work and feel better, but never faced the actual problem. I think it got to a point where I needed to be busy to feel okay, having too much free time was too stressful. I am now trying to learn to have more free time and not to run away from my anxiety, but to really allow myself to sit with it when there isn't much else going on. 

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