A new year, with new challenges and goals to set and move towards. And in the true spirit of ‘new year, new me’ I am seizing this opportunity to reintroduce myself to you!
If you have been following my channel for some time now, you’ll understand that my main areas of interests are body positivity, self care and fashion. I am an active and proud ally to all things equal rights, a member of the queer community and an advocate for mental health and wellbeing.
If you are new.. then I welcome you! Hey!
Anyway, with that said, I feel like I haven’t been truly embracing all of myself recently, well as much as I could be and I think I am finally ready to share this side of myself with you all.
It’s been an ongoing journey with my mental health. I really want to share my experiences and stories with you in hope to reach and build a community of people experiencing the same things I go through. I have put it off for years and hid it away, due to fear of social stigma, but I don’t want to hide anymore and honestly don’t give a flying f**k what people think of me!
So...let’s go....
At 19 years old, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Honestly, the name sounds more daunting than it actually is, as society has stereotyped it that way and used it as an adjective to describe someone as being “too clean” or a person who is a “germ freak”.
OCD is a mental health condition which affects as many as 12 in every 1000 people (1.2% of the population).
OCD is an anxiety disorder where the person feels they must carry out tasks to alleviate their anxiety. These are known as rituals and can take the form of anything from repetitive thoughts (Pure O OCD), questioning things, to more physical compulsions like counting or excessively washing hands.
There are also many subtypes of OCD, including Relationship OCD, Symmetrical OCD, Pure OCD. And they all have the same thought / response cycle and treatment method. Click here to download my free digital leaflet on Relationship OCD:
I have struggled with many of these different forms over the years, some which I can look back and smile at and some I am still battling with today.
I hope in the upcoming months to share more with you about OCD, my personal experiences with Relationship OCD and potentially build this conversation to support and hopefully connect with a community of people who can relate, or have a relative or close loved one who is going through this.
If you’re interested in updates and regular posts (which I hope to be doing this year) you know what to do... subscribe to my blog for email updates or if it’s easier follow my Instagram channel so I can keep you in the loop!
I look forward to this new year and sharing my story with you!
If you feel like you or someone you love may be experiencing or dealing with OCD, here are some resources to help you. If the symptoms persist and are truly affecting yours/their wellbeing, there are helplines you can contact or you can speak to you GP for more advice.
Resources:
Helplines:
Mind Charity has listed more useful contacts here:
Looking forward to reading more of your posts <3 - Chloe