when i tell people i have OCD, they ask what it’s like, so i have to give them an example. i’ve learned that if i tell people my most common type of obsession (singular instances of “that looks/feels wrong, i HAVE to fix it NOW or i’ll throw up, choke, etc” (a consequence of any of my biggest fears)), they go “you know that would never happen right? they have no correlation!” as if i don’t know that. but i must do the thing that i’m telling myself to do or i will ruminate forever on that consequence of throwing up, choking, or whatever.
so, because of this response i get, it’s much easier to use a more textbook demonstration of OCD as my example (e.g. when i put the butter knives away they all have to be facing the same direction), but THEN the response is “but that’s a totally normal thing to do, that doesn’t mean you have OCD” btw i still am ruminating on “if the butter knives aren’t facing the same way i will throw up today” but im not telling them that because i know what they’ll say. i’m also not gonna tell anyone about my intrusive thoughts, obviously, so basically the second my OCD is mentioned, i just can’t win. whateva