english major brain: words can evolve and develop as a society goes on. the way a word is used is its definition. it's pointless to hold onto the idea of right vs wrong words
human brain: THAT IS NOT WHAT LARP MEANS!!!!!
[brian limond: I’m gonna say something to you right now that I’ve never said to another living soul in my life
brian limond: *thick accent, high pitched gibberish* myugyan gyanHAyeten unyahehhhh dUNYON]
per my tags on the post (that wasn't originally about OCD): yes Avoidance can be an OCD ritual/compulsion.
if you don't know, OCD compulsions exist as stress release valves. those of us with OCD struggle with extreme (see: life-altering/ruining) anxiety brought on by intrusive thoughts. we enact/participate in (or: surrender to) compulsions which temporarily relieve this anxiety.
this could be as simple as:
intrusive thought: i forgot to lock the door before going to bed
compulsion: getting up to check the door is locked
sounds simple and easily managed, until you're getting up every hour. every ten minutes. until as soon as you let go of the doorknob, the intrusive thought is already demanding you check again. until it's 5 AM, you haven't slept, and you're in tears still holding the doorknob.
in these ways, the compulsions which are supposed to relieve our anxiety take over our lives.
which is why, as much as many people just beginning to understand their OCD don't want to hear it, the only proven way to successfully treat & overcome OCD is to disobey the compulsions & rituals. ideally with gentle buildup over time, but which does sometimes mean going through every stage of a panic attack that feels life-ending simply because you're forcing yourself to stay in bed and not check the door.
anyway. One of my fav OCD education nonprofits, Made of Millions, defines avoidance: Avoiding objects, places and people that are related to the nature of your intrusive thoughts.
Avoidance is especially common among people with more 'taboo' intrusive thoughts, often violent or sexual intrusive thoughts.
Say your intrusive thought isn't about what you've failed to do (i.e. locking a door), but what you might do (i.e. cause harm). If you're up somewhere high, what if you jump to your death? What if you push someone else to their death? If you drive, what if you crash—accidentally, intentionally? If you hold a baby, what if you accidentally drop it? What if you experience a fit of uncharacteristic madness and throw the baby at a wall? If you spend a lot of time around your pet cat, what if you develop an attraction to the cat? Every time you pet your cat, you focus very hard on your body to see whether it's 'responding' inappropriately to the touch.
Avoidance becomes the ritual which your OCD promises will keep you safe from these and other catastrophes. You can't jump or push someone if you never go anywhere up high. You can't crash if you don't drive. You can't harm a child if you're never near one. You can't realize in horror you're attracted to your pet cat if you never pet it.
Quickly, your world shrinks. No more sitting out on your friend's apartment balcony on a nice summer evening. Don't go anywhere you might encounter—and thus harm—a child. Parks, museums, grocery stores, move theatres, walking down your own street are now off limits. Not that you can get any of those places. You don't drive anymore, remember? And you can't take the bus; there's kids there. You can't hold a job anymore either, by the way—no way to get there. Home is no comfort either. You miss snuggling your cat while you watch movies. But you keep her in other rooms, to protect her from you.
This is what avoidance looks like. And it starts small. You think you'll just cut one little thing out of your life—a sacrifice you can accept—and slowly but surely you lose the whole world.
This is why OCD recovery advocates are against embracing avoidance-based coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, many people don't realize avoidance is an OCD compulsion.
ERP (exposure response prevention) for these compulsions would look like standing on a deck. Kissing your cat on its head. Going to read at a bench by a playground. Driving to the store. Etc.
Just some things to consider if you're starting to think about (or already working on) overcoming OCD! It is possible.
STOP: This post is not for people without OCD to Morality Posture about violent and sexual intrusive thoughts. If you don't know the difference between intrusive thoughts and genuine desires, that's not my problem. Read up on OCD and its more 'taboo' themes on your own time, and stay out of the comments.
Common symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder include frequent and unwanted intrusive thoughts, avoidance behaviors, and anxiety-induced
one time i was making potato soup and i needed broth for it but i was out of broth. but in my dog food cabinet there was a carton of chicken broth that i had bought for my dog. now the box did say HUMAN GRADE and the ingredients were just bog standard chicken broth. it did say something about joint health for dogs on there. but the ingredients were normal. i even compared the ingredients list to some normal person broth and they were the same. so i did put dog broth in that soup and it did taste completely normal. but i did use the dog broth.
When I say "godspeed" (I say it a lot) I like to imagine I'm a member of a futurism religion that worships velocity above all else. Like its the standard well-wishing in my culture. Speedliness is next to godliness. Someday we'll catch him! And the closer we get the more he loves us
every day i walk into work and my manager says “here is the rule you must enforce” and i go “got it bossman” and i spend a couple days enforcing the rule and then my manager comes up to me and says “why are you enforcing the rule? we changed the rule yesterday and didn’t tell you” and i go “ok bossman new rule it is” and then a customer comes in asking to break the new rule and i say “sorry you can’t it’s the rule” and they say “but you don’t understand the rule doesn’t apply to me” and then my manager comes out and says “they’re right the rule doesn’t apply to them” and i ask why and my manager says “it just doesn’t.” and then the next day we get rid of the rule entirely and no one remembered it existed in the first place.
anyway this sounds like a metaphor for neurodivergence or something but it’s not this is just my fucking life
in case anyone is looking through the notes trying to find the original artist it’s will mcphail !! feel free to check out his site but also here are some other things he made too !!
for the lovely lovely deafies out there who want to get involved in direct action you absolutely 100% cannot ever bring a hearing aid or cochlear implant with bluetooth to any direct action. bluetooth devices all carry a unique signal that can be used to identify you if it's picked up at a direct action. go with a [more] hearing buddy and communicate in sign language. if you don't mutually know a sign language then come up with gestures. do not risk your freedom because you want to have your hearing aid/cochlear implant at the action. it's not worth it.
flock cameras are also now tracking bluetooth device signatures when you pass them. if you drive past a flock camera with your bluetooth-enabled hearing aid or cochlear implant, the flock camera knows you passed through
This kind of shit is why my writing is about disability AND surveillance. This is the newest way disability is being used to surveil and target people, but the trend has been around for a lot longer than any of us.
having audio processing issues is so humiliating like yeah i heard you and yeah i was actively listening but the problem is i dont know what the fuck you sayed
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
