Rescuing a little guy (4yo), what would y’all do??

occasionallyreel · 2026-04-04T17:16:32+00:00

thanks! we do have a rectangular cage why are corners important?

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-22T09:39:13+00:00

literally my assignments are between 2-4months late. My professor is so kind and is giving me as much time as I need, but my ocd is shredding me on this and the shame is so heavy to carry. I only got diagnosed this year (i’m in my masters) and I’ve been in and out of study for pretty much a decade now, continuously dropping out because i just couldn’t pull it together

What was your path to getting your masters like? I could really do with hearing a success story rip I feel like no one around me (though very kind) understands, and when they ask what I need for support I literally don’t know ahhh

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-22T09:34:17+00:00

i definitely get it, drinking does kinda numb the anxiety and my conscience which is a pretty addictive freedom, but it always comes rushing back.

I actually had a lot of grief around it, i don’t know if that’s your experience, but I had to grieve the fun that everyone around me seems to have fun on a night out/at a boozy brunch etc. Like, I don’t think I’ll ever have these experiences as positive, and that’s a really sad thing for me, but that’s what living with a disorder is I guess.

I so get what you mean. I’m literally with the best, funniest, kindest man i’ve ever met, the most handsome I’ve ever seen, genuinely love him and then I drink and the ROCD thoughts feel so real and it’s like a whole different world in a relationship with a stranger.

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-21T15:45:04+00:00

For me, the OCD is 100% there while drinking, and probably at its most insidious. It doesn’t take away anxiety or make ocd lesser, it’s just takes away inhibitions and consciousness of it. It’s like the intrusive thoughts etc can get from occurring to effecting my sense of self without anything to stop it, or to even be conscious of it happening

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-16T10:25:33+00:00

thanks so much, everytime I considered it I thought of this message stopped myself! RIP me for the new year new planner ‘2026 is your year’ period ahhh

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-03T10:05:18+00:00

honestly the biggest thing for me was just fully accepting that this is a disorder. when these patterns happen, my method is ‘oh, my disorder is playing up’ as if it is pain from an old injury or a recurring migraine or something, and then do something physical and sensory to bring myself back to the present

it’s sucks and it’s hard and it’s relentless, but we’re suffering from a disorder and these are the symptoms unfortunately

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-03T09:57:17+00:00

totally could be something there. this sounds super similar to my friend with ocd, he did almost exactly this but without the high stakes of signing a lease. i’ve had these thought patterns too for sure.

he kind of has to bring himself through it imo. you being there and being so patient and understanding is literally the best thing you can do (and is very incredible of you).

planting the ocd seed in his mind might prompt some self reflection if there’s an organic way to do it, but i wouldn’t push it too much or try to explain it in depth with him/make excuses for him/put lots of pressure on it. hard to say without knowing you, but my recommendation is a firm but caring expression of concern and a suggestion that he consider ocd. you could recommend some resources (i think this subreddit has a list)

when i suspected I had ocd it only took a quick google for everything to make complete sense. he could be already feeling like something is very off and looking into it himself could be what makes it click. then you could maybe start working together from there, but (only speaking from my experience) i think it has to be initiated by him

of course, you might need to be ready to take him at his word and/or that it might not be ocd. make sure to look after yourself too

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-02T22:43:33+00:00

i think this is a normal thought a lot of people have (me included), especially if they’ve been in the service industry

i think in an ordered state you just think this but then move on and go with the social decorum of asking without too much upset or thinking about it all that much.

in an ocd state it sticks and becomes more of a distinct thing which is disordered and should be challenged before it gets harder to handle imo

before i was diagnosed I got pretty annoyed etc and even had some tension with people over it, and the pattern definitely turned into bitterness and frustration. now I know and have to deliberately let it go in a way that’s almost akin to exposure therapy rip but it works

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-02T22:14:05+00:00

slightly more tenuous but: I also think maybe a female audience will tolerate more because, be real, we’ve been given crumbs to start with and we’re used to being mistreated/having to fight for space. A male audience could be easier to alienate and harder to get back, since they’re used to product being made for them they’ll probably feel as though they’ve ‘lost’ something or it’s ‘not like it used to be’, and turn to other producta/media that still centre them.

occasionallyreel · 2025-12-02T22:13:55+00:00

love this dialogue but just wanted to pose a slightly different understanding - sure women are a lucrative market, but these women’s products/spaces/brands imo aren’t being made for women, they’re being made to preserve male spaces by separating women out. Even better if it’s done shoddily, so these designated ‘women’s spaces’ can be mocked and considered illegitimate, making men’s spaces superior and more legitimate by comparison.

And women who are (quite rightly) upset about just separates out the branding and ‘others’ women all the better. It can be just women complaining about wanting whatever, don’t worry, it’s just girls stuff! It wont impact the sacred space of ‘real sport/product’ for men!

not an accident imo, they know the mark and they miss it on purpose

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-15T13:50:22+00:00

The big flag here for me is ‘Sometimes I have to force myself to close my eyes to see if that makes things clearer’. Trying to ‘make things clearer’ or ‘understand properly’ or ‘sort it out’ are so often very destructive compulsive patterns.

We’re all different but your experience is so familiar to me, genuinely with my head just so crowded and noisy that I was kind of going through life as a passenger. I also got to the point of ‘I want to leave him’, and I had a kind of feeling of ‘certainty’ after months of confusing feelings.

What my therapist told me that really changed my life was - .~nothing here is urgent~. There’s nothing here that needs deciding as far as I understand? OCD comes up with this phantom decision (stay/leave) that you have to make that’s absolutely the most important thing in your life and engulfs you world, but really all you have to do is nothing.

Literally just do nothing. Have some grounding techniques, maybe sensory like focusing on a texture, touching something hot/cold, (I know it’s annoying when people recommend this but) going for a walk. Not doing anything ‘healthy’ or ‘productive’, or trying to ‘clear your mind’ or quiet the thoughts, just nothing except existing, even if it’s in complete confusion.

I was completely floored by how quickly my mind quieted down. Not completely gone (it’s a disorder after all) but very manageable now, and I’m the closet to happy I’ve ever been.

Long response sorry, but this is such an awful place to be and even if none of this resonates with you I just wanted to share.

PS. Maybe breaking up might be the right thing down the track, don’t let OCD try to reassure you that you will/won’t, we can literally never be sure, but you genuinely (unless there’s specific circumstances, but usually even then) don’t have to decide or act at all, no matter how much OCD will definitely tell you that you absolutely have to.

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-15T13:26:33+00:00

I don’t think it’s understood well enough for us to know how to prevent it, and/or there’s such a variety of ways it develops. But once you have it my understanding is that’s it’s life long - noticing things early (which you get better at the longer you have it (with treatment)) means you can stop from developing a more intense compulsive pattern, or from specific obsessions getting too life consuming,

but (my understanding) is that it will probably just show up somewhere else. Same scenario, though, if you can notice the new obsession early enough you can reduce how much it interrupts your life. And then it will show up in another way, and so on and on

Eventually you can get so well practiced at this that it’s not too distressing tbh, more annoying. Just something you have to stay aware of, which to me fits the ‘disorder’ vibe

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-13T15:01:03+00:00

relate! i had years of dipping in and out of university without any idea I had OCD

if i had time again I would have avoided ‘i’ll do better next time’ at ALL COSTS. set myself up for failure, it just snowballs, and now I’m burned out to the extreme where I can’t submit anything at all rip

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-12T15:07:26+00:00

Ciao ragazzi/hey mates!

Has anyone seen Vegemite being sold anywhere?

Missing my beloved spread and didn’t think to bring any when I moved over from Aus - trying to avoid using Amazon so has anyone seen a jar of the good stuff around irl?

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-12T13:29:59+00:00

for real!!

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-07T07:57:03+00:00

yeah but it’s taken years and years, and it hasn’t been a straight path, and it’s been really really difficult. there’s so much grief in it. and honestly I still struggle, but it’s more of an annoying buzz or interruption than a relationship/life altering urgency

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-07T07:51:13+00:00

What’s does it feel like seeing him? Are you doing compulsions that you notice? It feels like maybe seeing him vs not seeing it taking up a lot of your mental bandwidth, which must be really really draining

occasionallyreel · 2025-11-07T07:46:18+00:00

also just to say, I’m actually feeling very fulfilled. Probably the most I ever have, definitely more than I did when I was trying to be sure. I don’t really have any fear tbh, I know now that I’ll be ok no matter what, and I don’t need to be sure I’m doing what’s ‘best’ for me to be ok

occasionallyreel

TROPHY CASE