Every single day people on tumblr say "what if the shit moral OCD tells you was true and living by it was the only way to be a real progressive"
Coming home from acceptance therapy to see some shit that says "not reblogging is a moral failure" "even if you forgive yourself you should still keep thinking about it" I dont like getting kicked in the head anymore guys
a lot of people are resonating with this so i want to share one of my biggest coping techniques that helps me a lot with moral, false memory, relationship, and harm OCD. disclaimer that i am not a psychiatrist, i am not fully recovered, and i still struggle every day so your mileage may vary as to if this is helpful.
when i struggle with obsessions about not being a good enough person, i have two steps i follow. first, i try to envision the kind of person i want to be. maybe i want to be more earnest. maybe i want to be more helpful. maybe i want to be kinder. maybe i want to be more assertive. i try to imagine a self that is calm, gentle, and confident. then i think of the simplest and most constructive steps to get there. i cannot put myself down. i cannot beat myself up. the steps have to be polite and reasonable advice i could give to someone without OCD.
tomorrow i won't ask my family if they love me, i will simply enjoy their company. i won't make that mean joke anymore. the next time i see my friends i'll ask for their opinion on something small and i will share my honest opinion as well. i will pick up a book and read for 20 minutes instead of avoiding what is a fun activity because i feel "dumb."
i repeat one of my favorite simpsons quotes a lot: "you can't keep blaming yourself, blame yourself once and move on." you have to move forward and just take the steps to be the person you want to be and do the things you want to do using advice that you would give to any person other than yourself. part of being obsessive-compulsive is being rigidly self-critical and scrutinizing yourself far more than you would any other person. it's hard to beat these feelings, but the reality is that self punishment doesn't make anything better. things only get better when you move forward. you have to treat yourself like a human being.
it can be really hard to follow through with this advice sometimes. other times it's shockingly easy to start doing the things i want to do. there'll always be ups and downs and lefts and rights when living with OCD, and medication, therapy, and stress management are really helpful. still, even if it's hard, i have to move forward. i have to construct a healthy self instead of destroying an unhealthy self.























