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I have just walked out of the kitchen and it doesn’t feel like I’ve done it right. I feel like the ritual was all wrong because I think a strand of my hair brushed against my face after I’d finished, but what if it had been there while I was doing the ritual?

I am not going to go back and repeat this. I am telling myself that it does not matter if a hair was touching my face, that doesn’t matter and the ritual I was trying to do doesn’t matter either. 

I am worried that I am always going to feel the need to correct this, like I will never forget it, that when I am dying, my last thought will be that I was lazy and didn’t do this right and I took the ‘easy option’ by not carrying out the ritual correctly. I am telling myself that, seeing as I can’t remember the names of people I went to school with, it is unlikely that this particular thing will stay in my memory, indeed, the more I dwell on it and give it air time, the bigger it becomes and the more likely I am to remember it for longer. 
 

Typing my thoughts seems to give me the opportunity to ‘reset’ myself I think - hence this post…just needed to get it out…thank you xxx

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I'm glad that typing it out helped to give you some perspective. Sometimes we do need a wake-up call on just how unimportant, ridiculous and meaningless the things we've obsessed over actually are. :) 

23 hours ago, Gingham said:

I am not going to go back and repeat this. I am telling myself that it does not matter if a hair was touching my face, that doesn’t matter and the ritual I was trying to do doesn’t matter either. 

Well done! This is way of thinking is how you counter the irrational thinking and compulsive urges of OCD. :)

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Thanks @snowbear…I have just walked out of the kitchen and feel it was wrong again. I am going to apply the same method as yesterday - I am not going to go back and redo it. There is no need to. It means nothing and is completely trivial.

I feel like the move to the house is getting closer and that after next week, I won’t be able to correct it. I am telling myself that there is nothing to correct, it doesn’t matter if my jumper went too close to the door frame. 

I know that the only way this is going to get any easier is by continually telling myself how meaningless all these rituals are and I have to be consistent with the messages I give myself. 

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This isn’t working as well tonight - I have gone back and done the compulsion again but I still can’t get it to feel right. Why did I manage last night and not now?

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1 hour ago, Gingham said:

This isn’t working as well tonight - I have gone back and done the compulsion again but I still can’t get it to feel right. Why did I manage last night and not now?

Conclusion: compulsions don't work.

From a cognitive aspect, there is no reason for it to feel right anyway.

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26 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

there is no reason for it to feel right anyway.

Yesss!  :yes:  This is true, and is a great way to fight against that 'but it ought to feel right'  :ohmy: thought.

A lot of 'just right' OCD comes from the ought to/ should thinking distortion, and from the belief that 'there is a right and a wrong way' (there isn't.)

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