Dear Danielle:

Yes, often enough posts don’t submit correctly and the name of the last person posting doesn’t show on the list of threads. When that happens to me, after I just posted, I add a new post with one line: “didn’t submit correctly…”. Following that, my name shows as the last person posting on the thread.

Now, to the content of your last post: I am very familiar with OCD ruining life experience, raining on one’s parade. Anxiety does it. OCD is a product of/ a complication growing out of of anxiety.

Anxiety does not help in any way. It never does. It only harms.

It is only recently that I understood this point. All along, somehow, I believed that my anxiety was useful and that is why I gave it my time and attention. I wrongly believed that there was some benefit in it for me, as if there was protection in it, or the possibility of protection from danger.

But there is no protection in anxiety. As a matter of fact, there is danger in anxiety. Whatever we fear, when anxious about it, we add danger. For example: when you worry today about the trip to Mexico, not only the anxiety will not help your future experience in Mexico, but you are more likely to drive, or cross the street inattentively today and get hurt today, because you are anxious today.

Once you deeply understand and believe that there is no benefit to anxiety, none whatsoever, and only harm, it gives you a point of view about anxiety that can make a difference in your thinking, behaving and consequently, over time, in how you feel.

Your thoughts/ feelings?

anita