friendly reminder that sometimes our brains are our worst enemies.
sometimes when i get really stressed or anxious, my brain makes me feel like i have an ant crawling on my arm or leg or eyelid or all of the above.
there is no ant. i feel the ant crawling. i check my leg or arm and rub at my eyes. there never is any ant. but it feels like there is.
i used to freak out and just believe there was an ant, until one day i had scratched at my skin enough and wondered if maybe my brain was tricking me. that led me to the idea that maybe i just needed to trick my brain like my brain was tricking me.
my brain kept wanting me to doubt and to check. and checking made me do it more. so what if i told myself there was no ant enough times until i believed it?
Well the sensation remains, until i tell myself “it’s okay, i don’t need to check, there is no ant there” and then start looking after i tell myself instead of before. it makes it easier, because i’m not checking something because im doubting myself anymore, i’m confirming something i already know is true.
“there is no ant.”














