ANewDayNYC

I was watching this BBC TV show one time about teens who had really bad OCD and they went to this camp. They each had different compulsions and fears (although all would fall under the general umbrella of anxiety). One girl had a fear that if she ate M&Ms that something bad would happen to her family.

During the show, they had one segment where the counselor sat by the campfire and gave them all temporary tattoos in the shape of a question mark. He then asked them regarding whatever they feared "What if it was true?".

Asking myself this question has been a blessing. By seeing someone with an irrational fear of M&Ms, it allowed me to see that accepting the thought doesn't make it true. However, by accepting the thought you allow the fear to go away. For me, anxiety (along with my calming rituals) was just trying to control a situation that was out of my control.

Plure

This is good info. Facing and accepting (for what it is) the issue(s) causing anxiety can be very liberating. I'm trying to do this more myself.

Thanks for sharing!

advbike

I agree. It is the fear itself which is so devastating. I used to have a strong and somewhat irrational fear of contracting various diseases until my psychologist pointed out that my fear brought far more "dis-ease" on me than the actual disease would. It's also good to remember that we can handle what comes our way, so best not to worry too much about unknowns.