Natalie's Recovery Story I ROCD Recovery

I was really struggling. My now husband at the time, fiance, was the best guy ever. And I just. Every time I looked at him, every time I was around him, I was just overcome with anxiety, stress, intrusive thoughts. It was very painful, and it was very lonely, too, because I felt like I couldn't talk to anybody about it. Even my therapist didn't really understand what I was saying. She was very empathetic, but it wasn't like she could very well.

Relate to what I was going through. And it was also really difficult to find people who could even point me in a direction where I felt like I wasn't alone in what I was going through.

There's a lot of ways that the Heal youl Rocd program changed my life and my relationship. I.

Think the most important thing is I just learned to appreciate my husband in a way that I didn't realize was possible before. There was a lot of things in our relationship. They weren't bad, but were unrealistic. I'd spend expectations like that we would always be infatuated with each other and that things are always going to be easy. And if it's not easy, then it's bad. And I learned that it's really important to take the good with the bad and just kind of ride the wave. And, you know, when you have a bad day, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean that, you know, your relationship is going to hell in a handbasket. It just means you're having a bad day or, you know. I also learned how to be more open about what I was going through. I was always very open. I always told my husband what was going on, but it was in a way that was just like mouth vomit. Rather than actually being able to explain my feelings, being able to empathize with what he might feel about what I was feeling. And I'd also say, just in general.

I just learned how to be a better partner. Like, I learned how to appreciate his flaws. And when I notice his flaws realized, it's not that big of a deal. Everybody has flaws. It doesn't mean anything.

And I learned that, you know, healthy relationships look several different ways and that you can work through pretty much anything if you're both willing to do it. One of the most important things I learned is what my brain was doing. I learned about, like, compulsions and reassurance seeking and reassuring rumination. And I learned what that actually meant in the context of ocd, because a relationship ocd, because pretty much every therapist book, whatever, that I talked to about OCD would point immediately to, like, the stereotypic OCD things of washing your hands and cleaning up and all that. I didn't have any of those. So, you know, a lot of my therapists were like, oh, you don't have compulsions, then. You just have puro. But I started realizing I had the ruminations and I had the asking for reassurance all the time, and it helped me get a clearer picture of what was going on so that I could get better. And it also helped me translate that to my therapist in a way that made sense and that we were able to work on in a therapeutic setting using what I was actually doing, rather than trying to go through the stereotypic list of what people with OCD do.

I think primarily is just that community with the other girls that were in the program with me. It's so nice to know that you're not alone and be able to talk to other people who are going through the same thing. Michelle, one of the other girls in the program, was almost exactly in the same situation as me. And it was funny because we would meet every week and it would be like, oh, I'm going through that too. Oh, I had that exact same experience. Oh, da, da, da. And it was just so nice to know that somebody else was struggling just as much as I was, in very similar ways to what I was feeling. Getting to meet people that are going through the same thing and understand where you're coming from, it's just. It's pretty much priceless.

OCD program to anybody who is struggling with relationship ocd. I think that in a lot of ways, it was one of the best things I possibly did besides getting back on medication, because it helped me understand what was going on with my brain, and it helped me realize I wasn't alone. There wasn't anything that I was doing wrong. I just had gotten into a loop and really needed support. And I think most people who struggle with relationship OCD really just need to understand that they're not alone, what's going on with their brain, and how to get help in a way that's appropriate. So I definitely recommend it. It's probably one of the best things that you can do if you're struggling with relationship ocd. And I don't really think that you can get much better than that. So, yeah.

My experience working with Danielle on one. On one coaching was awesome. The first one, I was a mess, and I cried pretty much the entire phone call. And it was just nice to you meet because Danielle was very.

Calm and compassionate. And was the first person that I actually talked to who understood what relationship OCD was. And it made me feel very seen and heard. And I started feeling better almost right away because I was like, oh my gosh, somebody else has gone through what I'm going through and is healthy and happy and is making great decisions and is living this great life. The second session we actually like came up with some things that I can do and we talked through some of my biggest fears and how to kind of tackle them and, you know, it helped me get on a path that was very helpful and I definitely thought it was worth it. I think it's a really good investment in yourself, especially if you're not, if you, if you're not sure what's going on with your brain. You really need somebody that understands what relationship OCD is. I think that that is the best thing that you can do to start you down the path of.