How to Not Obey OCD: 5 Powerful Tools to Break Free

The OCD and Anxiety Podcast by Robert James Coaching. Music.

Hello and welcome to the OCD and Anxiety Podcast where we explore how to have a more positive relationship with anxiety disorders taking back control so that you can start living the life you choose and not the one chosen by your fears. Music.

Hello and welcome to episode 451 Today we're talking about how to not obey OCD Now you know the feeling when OCD says jump and you find yourself responding with how high now this is really frustrating when it when it happens because of course you don't want to be doing that you want to be calling the shots yourself and today's episode is all about giving you some tips on how you can actually do that so i'll be sharing five powerful hacks to help you take back

control stand your ground and show ocd who is actually in charge these are practical no-nonsense strategies that can make a real difference in your daily life and if you want even more tips and insights please do check out my youtube channel at robert james coaching where i post regular videos to help you manage ocd and anxiety so many thanks guys if you have any questions at all about anything i speak about today do please let me know and if you would like to get a free session with

me you can by heading over to my website robertjamescoaching.com and there you can book in directly for that free session or you can send me a message and let me know about what you're struggling with.

Many thanks and off we go.

Let's start with how OCD convinces you it's the one in charge you've been there yourself an intrusive thought pops up and suddenly it's like a drill sergeant yelling orders check that again double check it triple check it and it feels so urgent so real that you're stuck scrambling to keep up. I used to feel like OCD had my brain on a leash dragging me wherever it wanted. One moment I'd be obsessing over a thought and the next I was compulsively trying to fix it all.

While OCD was yelling faster, more and the harder I tried to keep up the more tangled I became in its web. And this is how OCD works and here's what I realized about it. OCD thrives on urgency and fear. It wants you to feel like you have no choice but to obey but you do and we're going to dive in today in how you can actually do that even when OCD demands certainty and you kind of feel overwhelmed by the situation. So let's talk about the first tool in your arsenal.

The power to walk away from a compulsion, even if you're halfway through it. So picture this, you're in the middle of checking the door lock for the third time and OCD is screaming, one more time, just check it, just make sure. And it feels impossible in this situation to stop. But what happens if you do?

Well, what happens is that you walk away and you begin to realize that actually you can do this, that you aren't a prisoner to the OCD that if you do walk away right in the middle then yeah it is going to be uncomfortable and maybe you are going to struggle with that in the short term but you prove to yourself and you prove to your to your brain that actually in these situations you're stronger than the OCD that you

don't have to play its game and sure OCD will push back it might throw a tantrum, yell louder and make you feel like you've made a terrible mistake. But over time, the more you practice walking away, the quieter OCD will become. Tip two is to call OCD out for what it actually is. Here's the thing about OCD. It's sneaky. It loves to disguise itself as a rational thought, making you believe its demands are logical.

So one of the best ways to fight back is to call it out for what it is, a trickster. For example, when OCD says, what if you've left the stove on? You can respond with, oh, great. Here's OCD again, trying to ruin my day.

Naming it helps you to create a little bit of distance between you and the ocd because remember these are just thoughts they do not represent you and they will pass in time and if you want to take it a step further add some humor imagine ocd is a cartoon villain with a big cape and a twirly mustache when it starts barking orders you can picture it flailing dramatically like you must obey it and then you know you laugh because seriously why are

you taking life advice from a moustached cartoon and humor might seem like a small thing it might also think feel like the last thing that you want to do in that situation but if you can it takes away some of OCD's seriousness and allows us to have a bit more of a light-hearted view of it. Tip three at jump but don't land and And this one's all about flipping OCD's demands on their head. When OCD says jump, you don't have to fight it directly.

Instead, mentally say, fine, I'll jump, but I'm not landing where you want me to. So, for example, let's say OCD is urging you to wash your hands again and again and again. And instead of washing, you could do something else like make a cup of tea or even doing something playful, I don't know, like spinning in a circle for no good reason. The idea here is to acknowledge the urge without giving into it.

And it's like telling OCD, sure, I'll entertain your thought, but I'm doing it on my own terms here, not yours. And over time this approach takes away OCD's power because it shows you're not afraid to sit with the discomfort of it.

Tip four bring your values to the table so when we think about the bigger picture of life it can really help us with OCD because rather than just doing you know what the OCD is telling us to do to avoid our fears you know if we're able to instead you know think Think about what's most important to us in a given situation. For example, what's most important right now? It might be avoiding this fear or being present, for example, with your family.

And when you act according to your values rather than OCD's demands, you're reclaiming your power. You're saying, OCD doesn't get to decide what I do. My values do. And that's a huge difference. Tip number five, break OCD script and have some fun with this because OCD has a very negative script. It wants us to do very predictable things. And if we're able to disrupt that, well, we can really begin to take back some control from the OCD.

For example, if OCD always has you check the door lock three times, try walking up to the door, pretending to check and then walking away without even touching it. Or if OCD wants you to ruminate on a thought, try singing it out loud instead. And disrupting OCD's script reminds you that you're the one in control, not the thought and definitely not the OCD.

So let's wrap this up with a reminder. OCD is not your boss. It might bark orders, throw tantrums and try to convince you that it's in charge, but you don't have to listen. Today we've talked about five tools to help you stand your ground and take back control. The next time OCD says jump, I want you to pause, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you don't work for OCD.

Just a quick reminder that if you want to get a free session, all you need to do to get that is to head over to my website www.robertjamescoaching.com and there you can leave me a message and we can arrange the free session and now just a quick reminder of my disclaimer any information that you view on my website instagram page facebook group or anywhere else online or any information that you listen to on the podcast is for informational purposes

only and is not intended to be a substitute for actual medical or mental health advice from a doctor, psychologist, or any other medical or mental health. Music.