I started my journey to self-help about 2 years ago. Growing up I always had an awareness that I was a bit “off” in comparison to everyone else around me. I couldn’t understand why certain things just felt different and why my mind seemed so cluttered with random thoughts and phrases all of the time.
It wasn’t until high school when I stumbled upon the term “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” and suddenly a lot of those odd tendencies made sense. That’s when I knew that this was something I could no longer ignore, so I decided it was important to figure out how to care for myself in order to live my life more fully.
Having very little understanding on what OCD really meant or looked like for me, at first, finding good resources was enough for me to move forward with knowledge and self-care practices. Then came the hard part - trying out different tools in order to figure out which ones worked best for my unique needs and situation.
For example, during times when intrusive thoughts become overwhelming, deep breathing helps me recenter myself while trying various mindfulness practices helps distract from the obsessive thinking. In other situations when things start spiraling, writing down what is going on has been an incredibly helpful way of getting a handle on my emotions before they get too intense or out of control.
I’m still learning every day about how to better cope with OCD but what has become clear is that self-care is key! My main priority is always taking hints from my body as it knows best what will help keep me healthy mentally and physically!