Quick Tip: Be Wary of OCD Trying to Ruin Fun Moments

This tip shares a common theme with many of my others in that it is primarily focuses on awareness. With these types of tips I am trying to help prepare people with OCD for possible situations where OCD might attack. And while it would be basically impossible to list every potential scenario, I like to zero in on the ones that are especially difficult and that people might not expect.

OCD, because it is a jerk, often attempts to ruin events that you might be looking forward to. Say a trip to Disney World, seeing your significant other after a long absence, or having dinner with your friends. You want these occasions to be fun and OCD-free, so naturally OCD will try to step in. For me, this just made every action before I got to the fun moment much harder. If for example, I was taking a flight to go see friends in another state, my OCD would seemingly sense my anticipation and excitement and would come on really strong during the Uber ride, my time at the airport, the flight, and any other brief stops (before my final destination). Contrast this with a business trip where despite the details of the journey being nearly identical, my OCD was relatively low as I wasn’t as excited about reaching my business destination.

So being aware that OCD will try to disrupt your enjoyment of a future moment or event is definitely the first step to not letting OCD actually ruin said event. I also learned to do exposures where I went over everything (I could think of) that might go wrong not only throughout each portion of my journey but also at the fun event itself. This helped me to head off whatever horrible thoughts OCD would try to come at me with (concerning these events) as I had already brought it up myself. And while OCD might still potentially have an impact on the event you are excited for, you can mitigate its impact by understanding what it will do and beating it to the punch on your own terms.