This is absolutely incredible - I know how hard it is each time to get through an ROCD spiral and the fact that you did it over and over again to get to where you are is brave and beautiful. I am 6 months and dozens of intense ROCD moments into my relationship with my wonderful boyfriend, who speaks to me in the way you say your partner does - telling me each time that I’ve gotten through it before and I will again so it doesn’t scare him. I hope I can make it a long time with mine as well. You should be so proud of yourself - thank you for sharing this, it gives me so much hope.
I also totally relate to special occasions being especially terrifying. What’s the deal with that??
This comment made me cry!! I can’t thank you enough for your kind words, they mean the world to me. ROCD is a special kind of hell, and although I’m devastated to hear you’re going through it too, I’m also really glad to hear that you have been able to identify it as OCD, and not a reflection on what sounds like a wonderful relationship.
I know how awful and scary and debilitating it is - I’m always here if you want to message about it! 🩷
And omg I know… special occasions are the ultimate triggers!!
Aw of course! I rarely comment on things online but this post meant a lot to me. Thank you so much for your support - I also subscribed to awaken to love so I’m interested to see if that helps :) and I might take u up on messaging about it about how that goes! Sending love and strength and gratitude right back 🩷
Hi Emma, thank you so much for mentioning our work at Awaken into Love. We’re so glad it’s been helpful for you, it means a lot to us. What a beautiful post! Thanks for being brave and sharing your story with the world, you’re helping so many by doing so! Sending so much love!
Thank YOU ❤️ your work has been so important to me and so many others, and I’m so grateful for it being a resource that exists. Thank you for giving me the courage to share my story!
Thank you for sharing this. When I was diagnosed, I had a wonderful therapist. He never addressed subtypes though, and at one point I certainly had this with my wife. (As well as a couple of other subtypes mentioned in the article.) Maybe it would have been helpful to identify it that way, maybe it wouldn’t have really mattered. I’m proud of you, for pushing through, clawing your way through this. You deserve happiness.
Therapists absolutely make or break things, and I’m so glad you had a good therapist. I think subtypes were something I learnt about throughout time passing and my own research to be honest, but I’m so glad I did do that research!
Thank you so much ❤️ we both deserve that happiness!
Go you 👏 Glad you feel you have it under control or at least understand it, and understand when it’s nudging you. It’s a brave article as it challenges stigma against mental health struggles and is painfully personal / close to home.
It made me feel a bit better to imagine a huge % of the population also have intrusive thoughts.
There’s a zen teaching which goes something like: Your thoughts are like the waters flowing in a river. Your self is the river’s bottom. It will be obscured by the racing water, but it will always remain. Your self is not your thoughts. It is what they flow over. And they always pass.
Thank you so, so much on your kind words. It means so much to me that you took the time to not only read this, but reply with such a thoughtful comment.
Also thank you so much for the link! I always love reading new resources, so I’ll 1000% read it after responding to you.
We share a common enemy and I'm TIRED. Both happy for and jealous of you at the same time. I wish I knew sooner, wouldn't have let ROCD torture me for over a year. This was such a lovely (and scarily accurate) read. Subbed and looking forward to more of your work!
Gosh what a lovely read, I'm glad I stumbled onto this article. 17 year old me in her first relationship fighting with ROCD and not knowing it would've benefited greatly from stories like yours (and 26 year old me appreciates them too!) and yes!! TikTok/the internet's attitude towards relationships makes it that much harder to filter out the rumination and intrusive thoughts from how you actually feel. Thank you for sharing <3
Thank you so much for sharing this! I don't have ROCD, but I definitely relate to falling into the social media relationship spiral. The online opinions about relationships are incredibly toxic, and while everyone deserves a good and happy relationship, relationships do require compromise and understanding because no one is perfect! I'm glad you were able to find help for your ROCD, and that you're here sharing a totally different perspective on relationships because of it!
This is absolutely incredible - I know how hard it is each time to get through an ROCD spiral and the fact that you did it over and over again to get to where you are is brave and beautiful. I am 6 months and dozens of intense ROCD moments into my relationship with my wonderful boyfriend, who speaks to me in the way you say your partner does - telling me each time that I’ve gotten through it before and I will again so it doesn’t scare him. I hope I can make it a long time with mine as well. You should be so proud of yourself - thank you for sharing this, it gives me so much hope.
I also totally relate to special occasions being especially terrifying. What’s the deal with that??
This comment made me cry!! I can’t thank you enough for your kind words, they mean the world to me. ROCD is a special kind of hell, and although I’m devastated to hear you’re going through it too, I’m also really glad to hear that you have been able to identify it as OCD, and not a reflection on what sounds like a wonderful relationship.
I know how awful and scary and debilitating it is - I’m always here if you want to message about it! 🩷
And omg I know… special occasions are the ultimate triggers!!
Sending so much love, strength and hope to you 💜
Aw of course! I rarely comment on things online but this post meant a lot to me. Thank you so much for your support - I also subscribed to awaken to love so I’m interested to see if that helps :) and I might take u up on messaging about it about how that goes! Sending love and strength and gratitude right back 🩷
I am wishing you all the best, and I feel so honoured that you chose to comment on this post! My DMs are always open 💜
Hi Emma, thank you so much for mentioning our work at Awaken into Love. We’re so glad it’s been helpful for you, it means a lot to us. What a beautiful post! Thanks for being brave and sharing your story with the world, you’re helping so many by doing so! Sending so much love!
Thank YOU ❤️ your work has been so important to me and so many others, and I’m so grateful for it being a resource that exists. Thank you for giving me the courage to share my story!
Thank you for sharing this. When I was diagnosed, I had a wonderful therapist. He never addressed subtypes though, and at one point I certainly had this with my wife. (As well as a couple of other subtypes mentioned in the article.) Maybe it would have been helpful to identify it that way, maybe it wouldn’t have really mattered. I’m proud of you, for pushing through, clawing your way through this. You deserve happiness.
Therapists absolutely make or break things, and I’m so glad you had a good therapist. I think subtypes were something I learnt about throughout time passing and my own research to be honest, but I’m so glad I did do that research!
Thank you so much ❤️ we both deserve that happiness!
Go you 👏 Glad you feel you have it under control or at least understand it, and understand when it’s nudging you. It’s a brave article as it challenges stigma against mental health struggles and is painfully personal / close to home.
Not sure if this helps at all but I had some issues with compulsions / intrusive thoughts many years ago and my therapist sent me this: https://www.octc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ocdonlineappendicesapril20th.pdf
It made me feel a bit better to imagine a huge % of the population also have intrusive thoughts.
There’s a zen teaching which goes something like: Your thoughts are like the waters flowing in a river. Your self is the river’s bottom. It will be obscured by the racing water, but it will always remain. Your self is not your thoughts. It is what they flow over. And they always pass.
Thank you so, so much on your kind words. It means so much to me that you took the time to not only read this, but reply with such a thoughtful comment.
Also thank you so much for the link! I always love reading new resources, so I’ll 1000% read it after responding to you.
We share a common enemy and I'm TIRED. Both happy for and jealous of you at the same time. I wish I knew sooner, wouldn't have let ROCD torture me for over a year. This was such a lovely (and scarily accurate) read. Subbed and looking forward to more of your work!
Gosh what a lovely read, I'm glad I stumbled onto this article. 17 year old me in her first relationship fighting with ROCD and not knowing it would've benefited greatly from stories like yours (and 26 year old me appreciates them too!) and yes!! TikTok/the internet's attitude towards relationships makes it that much harder to filter out the rumination and intrusive thoughts from how you actually feel. Thank you for sharing <3
Thank you so much for sharing this! I don't have ROCD, but I definitely relate to falling into the social media relationship spiral. The online opinions about relationships are incredibly toxic, and while everyone deserves a good and happy relationship, relationships do require compromise and understanding because no one is perfect! I'm glad you were able to find help for your ROCD, and that you're here sharing a totally different perspective on relationships because of it!