Life AFTER OCD | What does it look like

Recovery of OCD

We talk so much about what to do when you’re in your OCD. But what about when you’re not in your OCD? What is life look like after OCD treatment? You finally feel like you’ve overcome a lot of your OCD symptoms. So what now?
 
 Now it’s time for you to live life. To enjoy the things that OCD has robbed you of. While I want anybody going through treatment to focus their efforts on enjoying life. Many may see this as an all or nothing approach. I cannot enjoy life until OCD is gone.  Stay away from this kind of thinking. There are moments where higher symptoms may come in moments where symptoms will be gone. You can live life and enjoy regardless.
 
 What I find is that individuals who are at the end of treatment and are not feeling many symptoms describe it as kind of a strange feeling. There almost not sure what to do because the anxiety has been there guiding light for years. This told and what to do, how to think, and how to behave. All of a sudden individuals are now set free and needing to learn to live life without these anxiety prompts.
 
 Life after OCD means learning to live in trust in yourself. Trust that anxiety was a liar this entire time. OCD completely lied and had no value. Often individuals need to learn who they are without their OCD.  It feels uncomfortable.  It actually takes a lot of effort to understand yourself without OCD. Just like doing and exposure individuals learn to tolerate this feeling without their OCD. It’s almost like losing a buddy that’s been with them for so long. Even though it’s wreaked havoc on their life some may feel lost without it. This is where trusting in your self goes a long way.
 
Individuals learn to live life again. Do things they never done before. Enjoy life and follow your value system.   It is absolutely okay to feel uncomfortable after  OCD treatment. This feeling will pass the more you start living and enjoying life. Ultimately you are living  your life the way you want to, not the way OCD wants you to. You might start identifying goals that you want to achieve, what you want to get out of your life.
 
 You may need to start working on self compassion. It is not your fault that you have OCD. We don’t focus on  the time lost were missed because of your OCD. We focus on what you’re going to gain.  Start working on any residual depression that comes your way.
 
We also know  if you have OCD then you have OCD. So life after OCD treatment turns into maintaining the progress that you have made.  Meaning, you are willing to do treatment strategies and exposure and response prevention anytime you have an intrusive thought. Anytime you feel like OCD is rearing its ugly head.  So life after OCD really means life.  Feeling relief, gratitude, excitement. But not forgetting about what treatment looks like and maintaining progress.
 
 If I wanted to get really fit, I started exercising and eating healthier. I get to a point where I’m happy and content. I’m living my life. Do I stop exercising? Do I stop eating healthy? If I do I may end up in the unhappy rut  I was in before. Where I might not have to try as hard to stay in this happy zone, I still need to do something to maintain the progress.
 
This is just like your OCD. Remember where you come and what you’ve done. Enjoy life. Have some self compassion, talk about all the successes that you’ve done and where you’re going. Focus a lot of your time on gratitude. The things that you are grateful for every single day.

Freedom from OCD

After OCD