Question about Exposure therapy for OCD + affirmations??????

Hello. I have severe anxiety and OCD which I have just recently reached out for help. I am seeing an OCD specialist who REALLY knows what he's talking about. I've only been twice and he's told me about Exposure and Response technique, but we haven't done it yet.

Basically, from my understanding, is this: with Exposure technique, you actually say what you fear as if its happening and change your response to it... However, I am big in psychology and I am well aware of the use of affirmations and the subconscious mind, "What you think you become" etc.


My question is this... Where is the line drawn on using Exposure techniques, while also using positive affirmations and self talk? For example, if I'm going to the market and know I will feel extremely anxious, is it better to say


1.) "I know I am going to feel incredibly anxious, and that is okay" - exposure

or

2.) "I am going to feel incredibly confident and relaxed" - positive self talk/affirmation

Where is the line drawn between these two? I hope I've worded this to where it makes sense. Let me know what you guys think.