So I’ve been doing some thinking, and it’s possible that a chunk of my anxiety actually stems from OCD... For instance, whenever I'm feeling down, a certain song usually cheers me up. But then, it’s like this intrusive thought takes hold—this conviction that the song *has* to work for me every single time I listen to it. Even when the track has become totally played out and loses its effect, I feel this crushing obligation to play it anyway. If I don't listen to it every day—say, right before heading to high school—I get this overwhelming certainty that my entire day is going to be a total disaster. Naturally, the worry and the panic start creeping in... This happens with all sorts of trivial things, too. It feels like pure superstition, completely senseless. Sometimes I realize how ridiculous I'm being. I’ll tell myself, for example, that my performance at school can't possibly depend on whether I'm standing or sitting on the subway 😁 However, I still feel that pull to do it. I mean, I know I should be able to control it, but I honestly don't know if it's even possible to just stop thinking about it and ignore the accompanying dread...
People say OCD can be triggered by stress or depression, but that hasn't been my experience. I remember doing strange little rituals even as a toddler, back when I was only three. I had those same types of rules and habits, and those constant "undoing" compulsions. I don't do the undoing stuff nearly as much now. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect something happened during my childhood, around the time I started stuttering. I think that might be the root cause of all my diagnoses 😁 Thank God it’s all stayed relatively manageable 🙂
Jason Booth25 said:That is almost certainly OCD. On the bright side, it seems like the specific type you deal with is easier to manage than most. Just keep an eye on your stress levels and your overall quality of life so things don't escalate—though that isn't a guarantee, and I truly hope it stays manageable.
The stress is hitting hard :/ Setting OCD aside, my anxiety is also through the roof... What kind are we even talking about? What are the different types out there? Honestly, I didn't even realize I had OCD until about six months ago when I started wondering if that was what was happening. My thought is that it might be better to just stop overanalyzing it entirely, because dwelling on it just creates more problems... 😁
casualmoose14 said:I’m actually fascinated by how self-aware you are about all this. You clearly realize that being penalized just because you washed your face three times instead of four—or refusing to wear a jacket simply because it isn't your season—is completely irrational. That part is honestly the best bit to me...😂
Please don't take this as me making fun of you, but if you're truly aware that these things aren't normal, why do you still go through with them?....We all have our little quirks and useless rituals....Personally, I find myself counting tiles on the floor or cars in a parking lot, whatever catches my eye...but once I hit ten, I usually just lose interest...🙂
That’s exactly the point. You see everything clearly, yet you find yourself stuck in this endless loop of pointless, repetitive actions. It's like some invisible force in your brain is just pulling the strings... I could probably get my act together if I really tried—it's not like my life is a total disaster—but then I watch a few videos on YouTube and it's just devastating...
I’ve been doing some reading and watching stuff on YouTube lately, and yeah, this is definitely OCD 😁 Looking at what other people deal with, my own struggles don't seem quite as extreme :/ Are there any other OCD sufferers on this forum? I heard from someone that it can escalate to the point where, say, a mother gets these intrusive thoughts about killing her children with a knife, leading her to throw every sharp object out of the house... For me, it happens often when I'm near a window holding something valuable—I get this sudden urge to hurl it through the glass. It's like my hand just twitches on its own. Then I feel absolutely horrified by the thought, and I somehow manage to force myself to control it 😛 Or when I'm washing my face with soap, I frequently find myself opening my eyes, just because of this senseless, irrational compulsion. And then I end up stinging my eyes, suffering for fifteen minutes straight because of one stupid impulse... I’m trying to figure out if others with OCD experience this too—this specific sensation. You perform the same action repeatedly, but you aren't satisfied. So you keep doing it over and over again (whether it's snapping your fingers or flipping a light switch, doesn't matter) until suddenly, there's this feeling... that specific feeling that tells you the urge has finally been met. Personally, what bugs me most is when I mispronounce a word. I have to repeat it endlessly until that sense of satisfaction kicks in. 😁 It's just like in the movie The Aviator, where Leonardo DiCaprio keeps repeating words. It's fascinating in a weird way, though I have no idea where it all comes from lol... With me, the thing is that I can stay completely composed around other people. I'm the type who is always hyper-aware of how others perceive me, so I simply won't allow myself to look like a lunatic in front of anyone 😁
Sarah Wood8 said:Can someone please explain the massive paradox at the heart of our society? We’ve collectively decided that violence and crime—things that are actually illegal—are perfectly fine entertainment for TV, where kids and adults alike sit around watching them together. Yet, when it comes to sex, which is not only natural but beautiful and essential for continuing the species, it's treated like something taboo. It basically boils down to this: taking a life = good creating life = bad
I see all these moral crusaders acting outraged because ten-year-olds are joining Facebook groups or communities centered around "loving sex." Of course they are! They have those urges, even if they haven't actually acted on them yet. It's a natural instinct, yet we stare at them like they're some kind of freak. What would be better, though? Should we let them develop a murderous instinct instead of a sexual one? Would that be acceptable? In a society where you can watch dozens, even hundreds, of lives being violently snatched away through murder and torture on TV every single day, I don't see why kids wouldn't just start an online group called "I love killing" . Sure, obviously that wouldn't be okay, but if killing isn't normal, then why is watching violence considered fine? Humanity treats violence as the ultimate mass entertainment. Go ahead, let the kids watch Ram mow down hundreds of people with a machine gun; heaven forbid they catch a glimpse of a man or woman's anatomy, let alone anything intimate. If they do, suddenly everyone starts shouting about morality. The busybodies run to the police or the courts, and religious types start rambling on about hell, damnation, and eternal punishment.
Just imagine a different scenario. Suppose we grew up in a society that didn't view the human body as shameful—where people weren't embarrassed to swim naked in the ocean or walk to the corner store without clothes when it gets hot, simply because they live in a culture that doesn't treat genitals as something sinister. Imagine a world where you might watch a movie with intimacy at 8 PM, or see people being affectionate in soap operas during the day, because sex isn't a taboo. In such a world, sex is seen as what it actually is: a way to create life, something beautiful, fun, healthy, and universally enjoyed. Then, out of nowhere, some idiot decides to make a movie about brutal murder. That's a fundamentally stupid idea because killing is wrong; it's evil; it involves someone stripping a human being of their life in the most disgusting way possible. In that hypothetical world, a society raised on intimacy would suddenly be faced with graphic violence for the first time. How do you think they'd react? People would be traumatized, psychiatric wards would overflow, and children wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Of course they would react that way, because witnessing something that is inherently evil and traumatic would be a normal response. But in our current world, we've been conditioned to accept violence as if we were told from birth that eating garbage every day is perfectly fine. On the flip side, what is actually wrong with sex?
Where did this mindless, idiotic invention come from—this idea that people should be ashamed of their bodies, or that sex should be portrayed in a way that children hitting puberty at eleven or twelve shouldn't see? So, it's "NORMAL" for kids to watch slaughter, but "NOT NORMAL" for them to see a completely natural and acceptable act like basic intercourse that every person on this planet has the right to experience? That makes no sense.
That specific brand of social hypocrisy is honestly what I find most disgusting about everything. We have murder, which is a crime, and we're allowed to watch it. We have sex, which isn't a crime, and we aren't allowed to watch it. And really, if a twelve-year-old isn't allowed to see intimacy, why on earth are they allowed to watch a massacre? Isn't our society just a little bit... retarded!?
Growing up, I honestly assumed everyone else operated the same way. It’s almost impossible for me to wrap my head around how other people just handle all those little things spontaneously 😛 ...
I’ve never actually said this to anyone before. Honestly, I’d rather just hear what you all think... Ever since I was a kid, I’ve felt like a slave to my own set of rules and rituals. I’ve always had these rigid principles about how things have to be done. Even today, if I’m making a sandwich, there has to be an exact, symmetrical number of slices of turkey and cheese laid out perfectly. It’s the same with brushing my teeth. There’s a specific sequence I follow—exactly how many times I wash my face, how many times I spit out the water and toothpaste, and so on. If I accidentally break one of these rules, I feel compelled to invent some kind of penance. For instance, if I wash my face four times instead of three, I have to pour water over the sink faucet twice. If I fail to follow my own internal logic, I get incredibly frustrated. That’s why I invented these little "punishments"... they’re meant to restore balance to my rules. I know, it sounds bizarre. 🙂 And then there’s the talking to myself. It happens constantly. Sometimes, while I’m talking, I’ll feel like I didn’t pronounce a word quite right, so I’ll repeat that same word over and over until it feels "correct." When I’m thinking about something, too, I often find I can't control the direction of my thoughts. For example, if I visualize a man running, eventually he’s going to take off sprinting. No matter how hard I try with my mind, I can’t force him back down to the ground. It happens with any thought—a bicycle, a plane, anything at all... When I’m watching a movie, I’ll sometimes get the nagging feeling that I missed a tiny, insignificant detail. So, I end up rewinding the film just so I can be absolutely certain I saw and heard everything. Or when a song comes on, I have to listen to it until the very end, even if I’m in a rush or supposed to be somewhere else. I have these other patterns too, like which months I need to trim my hair or when I start wearing a jacket. Sometimes I’ll walk outside without a coat and freeze my ass off because it's freezing, simply because my "jacket season" doesn't officially start until next month.😁 I am obsessively focused on details. When I clean a shirt or my sneakers, there can't be a single speck of dust left on them. I won't miss a single stray thread. I wipe down my computer mouse every single time someone else uses it. When I write a text or an email, I check it multiple times to ensure it's written perfectly... There's so much more, really. I can't even remember all the different rules and habits I have... there are just too many. I often wonder how interesting it would be if the whole world operated by my rules. I don't see this as a problem within myself. Besides, nobody else sees it anyway; it’s all just happening inside my head. Could this be some kind of OCD or something similar? I don't know. What do you guys think?
I have a brother who developed schizophrenia because of LSD. He spent an entire year seeing a psychiatrist, and he’s still on medication to this day. Thankfully, things are looking up now—his symptoms are almost unnoticeable. I think I might go watch Genius Mind...
Your Brain is 60 % Female The reality is that your mind maintains a balanced blend of masculine and feminine traits It makes you someone who can be incredibly empathetic yet strategically sharp You’re generally logical and detailed, preferring to stay grounded when things get messy But let's be honest... you still have those moments where emotions take the wheel 😁
frozennomad0 said:I’m officially joining the ranks of the film enthusiasts! 👋 Watching it, I had this sudden, irrational urge to just leap right through the screen into that gorgeous monastery of theirs... though I suppose that wouldn't exactly be very Zen 🙂 On a different note, I happened to read somewhere that Zen philosophy finds its expression in Japanese architecture—specifically, that certain cities feature a sense of "empty space" at their core. Does anyone here happen to know much more about that concept?
Actually, yes. Even the furniture is kept minimal and organized to maximize Zen within the home. And at the center, they usually have a room featuring an artistic Zen garden designed specifically for meditation.
I caught a documentary on The Zen Mind earlier today, and I have to say, it actually resonated with me. Maybe every spiritual discipline has its own specific roadmap to enlightenment, but they all seem to converge on the same point: maintaining constant awareness and presence, no matter where you are or what you're doing...
Exactly! It’s something we all carry within us, regardless of how much you think you know about it. You can't grasp this through logic alone; it requires something far beyond the limits of the rational mind. But honestly, there’s still value in reading a mountain of books every now and then... because you might just stumble upon a single insight that actually points you in the right direction. 😉
Adam Grant50 said:Isn't that a bit much for a beginner? Wouldn't it be better to start with something else first?
It doesn't matter if you're a beginner. The harder you push, the harder you get results. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. You just have to put in the work alongside it...
Adam Grant50 said:Alright people, please... anyone who actually knows their way around proteins and supplements, help me out here. I need recommendations on what to pick up from the local shops if I want to put on some serious mass—assuming my training and diet are already dialed in.
http://www.gnc.com
Everything you can find at a standard US retailer is listed right here.
Thanks in advance!
MuscleTech: Post-Workout Anabolic Muscle Mass Activator
If you’re actually hitting the gym, you need to be consuming two to three times your body weight in protein. Period. That means if you weigh, say, 175 pounds, you better be aiming for 350 to 525 grams of protein every single day if you want to pack on muscle like I did... 😉