Let It Go!

Now that the overly cliché title of a song from a certain frigid movie has gotten everyone's attention, I'd like to chat about letting things go. As a spectrumite with comorbid OCD, it's not an easy task do so when something is bothering me! This used to happen to me while in school A LOT. To the point where I'd worry about seemingly trivial things for a week at a time.

Take something as simple as a friend doing something out of character. Something they always said they wouldn't be caught dead doing, such as wearing a type of clothing they previously wouldn't have, or becoming interested in something they never cared for. One day, they come to school, wearing said clothing. Now, clothes are superficial, and really don't matter. However, it's the principle of the situation. All of a sudden your friend is acting different in even a subtle way. You jump to conclusions and worry that they're going to totally change on you, and obsess about it for the rest of that week. You try to do your homework, and thoughts keep hindering you. You sit in class, and find your mind drifting to that situation. You can't help but try to analyze it, to make sense of it. It doesn't seem rational to you. This causes you distress. Finally, after either time to process it has passed, or something reassures you that everything is going to be okay, you can let it go. It just isn't always easy. It might take you asking said friend a million questions to get that little switch in your mind to flip that lets you know everything is going to be ok. In the process, you may drive people crazy! I'm pretty sure I've done my share of that :)

The main thing is figuring out what you can do to be able to let go of your worries. Whether time or reassurance is your method of operation, find out what is, become familiar with it, and just do it! You will save yourself LOTS of stress and wasted time. It took me a long time to be able to move on from my worries, and I still get stuck on thoughts from time to time, but I've gotten a lot better at it. Does anyone else find themselves stuck in this rut?