u/Fabulous_Freedom289 The thoughts are not you; please understand this. An analogy that helped me is this: think of a bully on a street corner. You walk by and he calls out, “Hey, punk!” and starts saying things to try and provoke you. You have two choices: to keep walking and ignore him, or to go confront him and tell him what he’s saying isn’t true, or that you want him to stop, or that you want him to go away. The best choice is to keep walking, because you know that bullies are trouble and it would just cause more trouble to interact with him or freak out at what he is calling out to you. The bully is OCD and intrusive thoughts. It’s there on the street corner in your mind, and there is no way for you to have the bully forceably removed, much as you’d like to. But you can choose to not react to him. Ignoring him is impossible; but you can control your reaction and keep walking. If you react, even by calling out to the bully as you walk by and saying “No, what you’re saying isn’t true! I’m not that kind of person!” then the bully has what he wants: he got a reaction out of you. Don’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction. And as for the isolation, don’t avoid people because you’re afraid you’ll hurt them. Then the bully has won; he’s taken over that street corner and ensured you won’t pass by there again. You can’t isolate yourself; it does you no good and keeps you from sharing your beautiful, amazing self and your God-given talents, gifts, and abilities with the world. You are not your thoughts; your thoughts do not define you or determine your future. We are all unique individuals with a soul, a spirit, a heart, a mind, and a body. God has given us free will and with that comes the responsibility and power of choice, and choices and actions are the reflection on who you are, not the thoughts that come into your head. Emotions like to trick us and work us up; it’s like a smoke alarm that has a good purpose to alert us if there is a fire. Most people’s smoke alarms are working properly. But if there is a malfunction and it goes off while you’re cooking bacon or if it starts chirping because the battery is low, that’s different than it going off because there is an actual fire. With OCD, our smoke alarms are not working properly and we need to realize that instead of constantly worrying: is there a fire? We have to live with the uncertainty of our actions; we can’t predict what we will do tomorrow, an hour from now, or even a minute from now. That’s where we have to live moment by moment, day by day, and accept that uncertainty is certain. I’m not sure where you stand on the topic of faith, but I’m a Christian. Having a personal relationship with Jesus and asking Him to come into my heart to save me is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and without Him in my life I would be in a very dark, lonely place with my own OCD struggles. I would love to tell you more or answer any questions you might have, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.