I haven’t been diagnosed with existential ocd but I have every single one of the symptoms. Death/afterlife and the meaning of life is 90% of what I think about day after day. I really hate it. I wish I could go back to the days when I never thought about death. I really just want it to stop. The worst part is know that no matter what it’s inevitable and nobody can stop it😞 any suggestions on how to feel better??
What's up my friend, greetings from New York. Here is my perspective, from also experiencing what you're experiencing: "what's the point, meaning of life, death, etc..." I have a ferret named Love. He is my best friend. I have honestly never experienced this strong of a love/connection to another living being in my entire life, or one that I can remember. Hence his name, love. With that said, he is on the "older" side of the ferret life span, and I also might have to travel soon and not be with him. I can not even imagine not having him with me, or around me, or when he passes. He literally makes me so happy. When I think about him passing, or me having to leave me, it kills me. I cry, and say things like "please don't take him", etc... Lately its making me realize exactly this: I'm right, I don't have much time with him (compared to the entirety of MY life). When I really think about this, although it killed me at first and still does sometimes, it makes me appreciate every single moment I do have with him. And if I know that I did the best I could to love him, play with him, etc... then when it is time for him to pass / me leave, I will know that i appreciated each moment as best as i could. It will still suck, i know that, but maybe I can soak up enough Love that it'll make it a bit easier. The point is, you're right man. We are gonna die. So we might as well live life now so then we we do die, we atleast had a good time. Which leads to "what is the meaning of life". Well, just that! The purpose of life is life itself. Almost like a super Mario game: we can either yell at the TV or we can do our best to play the game and enjoy it. I do not personally think their is an inherent meaning to life, aside from the meaning you give it and that is deep within your soul. What brings you peace, what brings you joy? That is the meaning of life. As a hockey player and business owner, I will also say that if you want to get good at something, or create something that really sticks with you or with people, then it will be challenging. Super Mario level 20 is not that easy, my friend... until you get better and stronger. Kind of going off on a rant but I hope you see my point. These thoughts are thoughts and feelings every single human being experiences, so you're not different from most. If you could create any kind of life you want, and knew it was possible no matter how crazy it may seem, what would you do? How would you get there? Now just start taking small steps, and enjoy the process. oh, and, don't forget about LOVE. Appreciate every moment. You got this.
@Anonymous Do u believe in the afterlife?
hello! I have been struggling really badly with with exact same thing lately and i suggest looking up ERP for existential OCD and using those tactics the best you can. I also recently got a suggestion from a therapist to turn all of these thoughts and feelings into a separate “being”. give it a name, talk to it, write letters to it, befriend it. You would never tell someone you just met “go away, i don’t like you” so don’t do that to these thoughts and feelings. On days that I wake up feeling these feelings or times during the day when I am experiencing these heavily I will say something like, “I see you, i accept that you are here, I see that you are coming on strong right now but I need you to just be along side me and not overwhelming me”. It sounds very silly but it honestly has helped me. You cannot be scared of something if you are bored of it and ERP helps you get there. I completely understanding feeling like life will never go back to normal but eventually it will if you put in the work. It’s scary and hard but it can be accomplished!
hey there, i'm really feeling for you right now. that constant loop of existential thoughts can be so exhausting, and i totally get the yearning to return to a time when those thoughts weren't dominating your life. although my obsessions with pure o are different, the struggle is so relatable. just know, i'm here to listen and you're not alone in this. i've got something that might be up your alley. my therapist pointed me to a free ai ocd therapy tool called "unstuck" (here's the link: www.AIOCDtool.com). given how much you're dealing with those heavy existential thoughts, this could be a game-changer for you. it's like having a bit of a therapist in your pocket, guiding you through those overwhelming moments. you just type in what's bugging you and the ai takes it from there, giving you step-by-step support like a pro. i promise i'm not into pushing apps, but this one's been a lifesaver for me, and i genuinely think it could offer you some relief too. if you've got any questions or wanna chat about it, i'm all ears. 🌟🙂
Does anyone else think about life so deeply all the time, i have always been a deep thinker since i was young and ive had ocd my whole life so that has made me think 10x deeper. I always think and worry how we are all here and nobody knows why and the fact that we all die also terrifies me and we dont know what happens after we do die. Im terrified of the people i love dying . but i also have suicide ocd, i dont want to hurt myself ever but i worry that if i become so depressed that i will or something like that and that turned into an ocd for me, i really dont want to ever hurt myself but feeling depressed scares me. For years now it has been an ocd thing for me about the people i love dying and i have to do mental complusions every single day , although it comes in phases where its worse than others. It has gotten worse because my dad just turned 50 and i turn 19 in 6 days, life is changing and everyone is getting older and its been making me depressed and anxious and theres nothing i can do about it because it is life. I just want to know if other people feel the same also. Its christmas eve and im just depressed and i dont know why.
For the past week-ish I have been having a really scary existential crisis that feels like it is stemming from ocd. It started with me being freaking out that i’m going to die one day, then it merge into me being freaked out about what was going to happen after I die (mostly the thought of nothingness). I found some very brief relief in some spiritual beliefs and watching psychic medium readings but then I started think about even bigger and harder to answer questions such as, “if there is a God, who created God?”, “Is the afterlife scary?”, “Could the afterlife end one day?” “What is the point of anything at all?”, “Will the sun exploding destroy whatever afterlife exist?” Really ridiculous questions. I truly believe that there is something after death and something that exists as a life force science cannot explain, but the fact that my mind can’t comprehend or figure it out is really really scary. I feel as if I am going crazy. I have been thinking about nothing but the universe and the meaning behind it all and where it all came from. I can’t enjoy anything anymore. I just want to lay in bed all day and even that is hard. I have been non-stop watching videos about people’s beliefs about this topic trying desperately to find some sort of answer and I am starting to think that may be a compulsion. I am trying my best to remind myself that I when I die I will have all the answers to these questions and I don’t need to worry about this right now because it truly doesn’t affect anything or change anything in my life but it is really hard. I feel as if I have “uncovered” something and my life will never return to normal again. I am terrified that I am going to go crazy or start having hallucinations and that I’ve ruined my life by researching into something so complex and not understandable at all. Any kind of suggestions or anything would be helpful, I hate dealing with this and feeling so crazy and hopeless.
Ever since my mom had a recent health scare, I've been obsessing over the inevitability of death, of the people around me, of my loved ones, and of my own. Looking at historical figures, hearing about dead people triggers a lot of these obsessions. Combined with the fact that I'm agnostic, and do not necessarily believe in an afterlife, so a thought that constantly appears and distresses me is the fact that when someone dies, they don't exist anymore, and they wouldn't know they existed. I've been struggling with these thoughts for a few months now, everytime I'm laughing or having fun with someone, an intrusive thought such as "They're going to die one day, and none of this would matter" would pop up, and it prevents me from grounding myself and enjoying the moment with loved ones. It makes me feel alone, and scared. I don't tell anyone about my thoughts, and I do not seek reassurance from them because I know it doesn't help. Some days it's okay, some days it isn't. On really bad days, I secretly wish that I would pass away before anyone that I cherish does so I won't have to bear the pain of losing them. I'm only 19 years old. And I know that my entire life is ahead of me, but with these thoughts, it's hard to visualize my life, and that it's worth living for sometimes. Ever since these thoughts appeared, I lost the ability to make long term plans, and visualize a future that I want because the thoughts tell me that none of it will matter. I know deep inside that what I do matters, and that I matter as well. But these thoughts cloud my judgement, and it takes a toll on me because of how persistent they can be. It's really hard to deal with these thoughts because death is a real concept, something that *will* happen. And because of these obsessions, I've become nihilistic, and I slowly lose the drive to accomplish anything. But I do try to live my life as normal as possible. Do the things I want to do, despite the heavy burden that I carry with me each day.
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