Note Taking and Ignoring Thoughts

I feel I have done really good with managing my OCD symptoms and symptoms of my overall disorder, but If feel like anytime I choose not to pay attention to a distressing thought/memory, act on a compulsion or take the obsession seriously, that I am ignoring something important. My body feels like it is trying to push away from something and it doesn't feel natural.

The second part to this is, I take notes of everything (funny things people said, songs on the radio, memories, general thoughts) and sometimes I make duplicate notes. I know this is another form of OCD, but I feel like I have had so many obsessions. Within the last year I was collecting trash off the side of the road, I was checking everything (e.g. making sure the toilet flushed just right), would spit out candy or food if I didn't know what it looked like. I still do some of these because I feel there are too many.

So how do I stop having so many obsessions?
How do I stop feeling like I am neglecting something important when I choose not to pursue them?
How do I stop with my constant note taking?

Thanks so much.

Hey! I know exactly what you mean -- I have such a hard time ignoring thoughts because I feel like I'll forget/not address something important. This may not work with you because of your obsession with notes, but that's the main way I've been coping. I've found that journaling, texting myself ideas that I feel like I just CAN'T forget, or writing down things on a To-Do list app has allowed me to let go of the thoughts so they're not just stuck clogging up my mind. Of course, this doesn't always work, but it's allowed me to minimize the amount of time I spend trying to focus on everything that crosses my mind.

There's this one book, the Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy (if you have a spare $13 dollars, I highly recommend buying it off Amazon). I've been using it and it's fantastic (written by someone with OCD, not just a psychiatrist studying it). The opening chapter has some of the best descriptions of OCD that I've ever seen, and one of the topics they focus on is this idea that because a thought is louder than the others, that doesn't mean it's more important. The general idea of mindfulness-based treatment is that you don't avoid having these harmful thoughts, and that they will feel natural and right and ignoring them will make you feel anxious, but that's okay. Essentially, it's allowing you to say "This thought is overwhelming me and I'm worried that if I don't constantly think about it I'll be ignoring something important, but I that's just my OCD."

I'd also suggest trying to "wean off" of your compulsions or putting them off. For example, I have a compulsion to self-harm whenever I have certain intrusive thoughts. I was able to get to the point where I did it once a day, and each time the intrusive thoughts came I'd be able to mitigate the anxiety by knowing I'd do the compulsion later, but it gave me good practice of being uncomfortable and wanting to give into the compulsion but being okay with that. Then it was once every three days, then once every five, now once a week.

Basically, my response is yes, you'll feel like you're neglecting something important when you choose not to pursue it. You will feel like you have too many obsessions to stop them all. But the OCD gets stronger when you engage in the compulsion, but when you say "I'm aware that I'm feeling uncomfortable and I'm okay with that and fully present in my body" (even if it's just for an hour, or 10 minutes, or 30 seconds), you'll slowly make progress toward not feeling like you're neglecting something EVERY time you don't pursue it.

(Sorry if this answer was a little confusing -- it's 2:20AM here but I knew when I saw your question I needed to answer. If it doesn't make sense or you want to ask further questions you can ask here or PM me!)