Improving Your Life - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Message Board

Ric9 · 05-11-2004, 04:31 AM

I know all OCDs want to improve their life. But what do you do when feeling the need to start at the perfect time to improve your life prevents you from improving when you really want to. I tell myself that I have to wait at the beginning of the month to improve my life. I'm going to wait until June. But I've already come up for reasons for sabotaging June. I tell myself because I sabotaged May, then I have to have a month in between where I'm doing nothing wrong so that I can improve the next month. Like say I mess up May, if I do well in June, then I can start in July. But I've already come up with reasons for why that wouldn't work. It used to not be a problem. It used to be, I start improving my life at the beginning of the month and that's it, no problem. Not that even that every really worked. Now I'm coming up with reasons for why that isn't even good enough. It's like I'm afraid that if I look back to when I started improving my life, I'll feel like it wasn't at the right time and those thoughts will haunt me. How do I get over this?

Ric9 · 05-12-2004, 10:29 AM

Let me rephrase that. I want to improve my life. I'm finding stupid reasons not to. How do I get over it?

BostonGirl44 · 05-12-2004, 10:53 AM

I wish I could give you the answer you want but I just wanted to tell you that I am in the same boat as you. I wait until the beginning of every month to all of a sudden stop giving in to my OCD. I'm just delaying the inevitable---it never works. I guess the key is to work on it one step at a time. It's overwhelming at first, but it's starting to work for me. I hope you get the answer you're looking for.

Ric9 · 05-12-2004, 11:28 AM

So now that you're improving your life, have you let go of feelings that when you started improving wasn't the right time?

BostonGirl44 · 05-12-2004, 12:17 PM

Yes, I have. Any time is a good time to start improving. I don't know if picking the first of every month is some kind of compulsion in itself, but it made things more rigid and my OCD more precise. My OCD consists of organizing things in certain ways and then checking and rechecking numerous times a day to make sure everything is still in its place. By trying to work through these issues myself, I'm down to checking one time per day and then I tell myself it's done and I have to let it go. Usually, it works. I do get this intense feeling that I have to keep checking but I tell myself I have no time or use for it and focus on other things. I now don't think that starting to improve at certain times rather than others is important. What's important is taking your life back from OCD.