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Sherri3
"It's time for me to take a leap of faith."
My URL: http://www.ocdtribe.com/sherri3





Mood: Full of life
Date: Sep. 20, 2008
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I know CBT works and I have been trying to motivate myself to follow the program in one of my books - but the whole process always feels so daunting and I always find a million excuses why it's not a good time to start doing it.  With a little inspiration from Jonathon's (9-7-08 OCD Cure) forum post, I realized that if I didn't just start "today", I would always find a reason not to. This was almost a week ago.

I began to take responsibility for my own ability to try to cure myself, or my choice to let myself sink deeper into my ocd.   But instead of thinking of starting a CBT program and "intentionally" exposing myself to things that trigger me, I thought , " why not try today to resist my ocd responses to triggers as I experience them through-out my day."  God knows there are plenty of them, why create more?!    So I tried on things that I knew would be easier to confront, and it worked!  So I tried again...and again building confidence to keep going. 

In just a few days, I had made significant progress!    I was forcing myself to live with uncertainty and feel the anxiety - instead of running.  And I began to feel powerful - which is not a feeling I have been familiar with for  a long time.   With every little victory, it is getting easier because my brain is being retrained to react differently.  I still have quite a way to go before I can completely tackle some of my most difficult fears but  I am actually moving forward!!!   I have learned that I can be happy making small steps forward and  it's ok when I slip because I can turn myself around and start again - because I finally  know the way - and more importantly,  I trust it!    I wrote this in the hopes that thinking about CBT like this might help someone else too.

Love to all....Sherri






VIEWING 1 - 5 OUT OF 5 COMMENTS

From: tziel
September 27, 2008, 1:53 am

Thanks for sharing your uplifting experience



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Friendship and support
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From: sherri3
September 20, 2008, 9:37 pm

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments :)    I always thought that I couldn't be happy living with ocd - any ocd.  It was very black and white  to me and I wanted it to all go away!!!   But now I see that I am happy and empowered with every small step I make today - which has given me hope for tomorrow!  Sherri



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It's time for me to take a leap of faith.
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From: jonathan
September 20, 2008, 11:01 am

 

 Your confidence inspires me to be more confident.  : )

 The next time you feel down....remember Sept.20, 2008 when you felt so full of life and remember that you are the reason you felt that way.  And since you are the reason you felt that way....you can feel that way again and again, whenever you want.  



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Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. - Amelia Earhart
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September 20, 2008, 6:53 am

Sherri-

Good for you! Great post!

Blue

 

 



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'Never....Give Up!'
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From: elsie99
September 20, 2008, 1:02 am

Yes!  Thinking before automatically doing - nice way of looking at things, Sherri!  Right, instead of deliberately exposing yourself to nasty stuff, the next time it happens, control your responses.  I'd forgotten about that - thanks for reminding me.

Lately, my OCD has been a real beast - you know, the stress and nasty folks will bring that out even more so.  But after reading what you wrote, I am wanting to find my way back again to resisting those blasted impulses.

Inspiring, that's you!



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