Reply To: Wannabefree’s Friday night Blog…

[wannabefreeParticipantParticipant]

Hi everyone… Well… We’ve made it to the weekend again, Haven’t we?

One of the things that made me vulnerable to OCD was having a ‘caring’ nature. It can be seen as being ‘soft’, but it really isn’t soft. I feel it comes from seeing life, maybe a little too seriously for our own good. Things like trying to prevent anyone becoming the slightest bit ill, for instance.

Are we born with this? Maybe, but I reckon it has a lot to do with our lives as children. When we took on other peoples comments, that weren’t always constructive, to try and grow up the only way we knew how…

During this week, I have had to go for hospital tests… And in so doing, met a few other people around me. When I needed to sign a form of consent for treatment, the clinician referred to me ‘also being left-handed’ when I write. I always have been, despite attempting to use both hands, but the best was always with the left hand.

At school it caused problems… Myself and the clinician chatted for a while as part of my test. We had that in common…

Are you left handed? If so, Were you ever called ‘Cack-handed’ as a child? Nowadays that would be child cruelty, actual psychological abuse. Because if you google it, it has a far more dark meaning than we would have realized as children.

I’ll leave you to google ‘Cack-handed’ whenever you have time. But never refer it to yourself, ever again…

The massive positive of being ‘left handed’, is that the left hand side of the body, is governed by the ‘Right hand’ side of the brain… The creative side. And that is a massive bonus. I would suggest that, many of the world’s great writers are left handed. They might not be published, but they can still be great writers. It is something to have a go at…  One classic writer I believe said, that actually writing the book is the good bit, cos you get to ‘Make it up as you go along’. And I wholeheartedly agree.

Many of us Ocd’ers will have been bullied throughout our lives… Even into adulthood. And yet… We are amazing people!

I have a jersey that has an embroidered badge on it that reads; ‘Growing old is inevitable, But Growing-up, is optional’!

So… We have a lot to offer those around us. If we are ‘Givers’, rather than ‘Takers’, we need to achieve something in return, or we’ll burn-out, like so often happens to caring people.

I love the craft of writing… I went to an evening class to learn more about creative writing, but the way I felt led to do. It is amazing the number of books regarding famous people, are not actually written by them, but for them. They have no ownership of the time that has gone into putting the book together.

We could all write about what it is like to have OCD, we are, by experience, clued up on the subject. All of it. How it affects our daily lives, and also others of course. But it is so difficult to explain to a non sufferer. How many other illness cause a set of circumstances where, The more you check something is correct, the stronger the urge to just ‘Check once more to be sure’ actually becomes? It can be a living nightmare.

Tomorrow, our grandchildren visit… It will be delightful chaos for perhaps three hours! But I love it. It keeps me on my toes, so to speak, and keeps my natural giggly sense of humour going strong. If someone says anything the slightest bit funny, I’m there, and giggling happily. They say that laughter is good for the soul… It is, And for everything else as well.

So… For this week, and going forward, I’m only going to use positive statements when referring to myself, or something I have done. Sure, Things will still slightly amiss, but at at least with a positive attitude (Positive outlook on life), it becomes a lot easier to cope. We have enough on coping with other people ‘putting us down’, than actually doing the same to ourselves 24 hours a day. We can be our own worst enemies at times. Let’s be our own supporters, praise ourselves for every achievement, however small. Let’s be kind to ourselves, and when somebody praises us, accept it with grace, after all;

We are all worth it.

Until next Friday then,  09/02/2024, at about the same time, 6pm UK time, right here.

Wannabe