Even if the year has been totally terrible up until now, you still have 92% of the year ahead. This doesn’t erase or balance out the pain, but it does remind me that good things can happen in bad years.Īs I write this, we’re not even 8% into 2022. To stop myself from engaging in this rational thought, I try to remember the highlights of my most difficult years.Įven during the most terrible years of my life, I’ve had some incredible, joyful moments. The way 2022 has gone so far isn’t proof that it’ll always be this way.
But remember that this, too, is an irrational thought. If you have anxiety around this, you’re not alone. Whether it’s because of Betty White’s passing, upsetting political events, or personal experiences, many of us have already declared 2022 a write-off because it hasn’t gone perfectly. Here’s a common form of magical thinking that many people with OCD engage in: The idea that we could have “already” ruined the year ahead. Simply being aware of the irrationality of your thoughts is a great first step in addressing them. If my beliefs are irrational, I sit with those feelings and try to understand where they come from. In other words, I ask myself whether my fears or perceptions are rooted in reality. This wasn’t intuitive or easy for me, but therapy has helped me learn to “reality check.” In other words, I focused on the rational reasons why a new year can be great without entertaining irrational thoughts. I allowed myself to mark the end of the year with journaling, setting resolutions, and staying up until midnight, but I didn’t pin all my hopes for 2022 on doing New Year’s Eve “correctly.” I allowed myself to set positive goals for the year ahead, but when I caught myself imagining rituals that I could do to make it all happen, I stopped. I allowed myself to imagine all the positive things 2022 could have in store for me, but I didn’t entertain the idea that I was jinxing it by being optimistic - that’s an irrational thought. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know what worked for me: I decided to allow myself to be optimistic, but not irrational. How do we embrace the beauty of a new year and a fresh start without engaging in unhealthy thought patterns? These irrational thinking patterns are called cognitive distortions, and they can be common in people with OCD and other mental illnesses.Įngaging in rituals without developing compulsions It also doesn’t do anything to soothe the distress or stop the thoughts. Of course, I know that twisting my hands doesn’t actually have any influence on whether my thoughts become reality. In my head, twisting my hands will somehow reduce the chance my thoughts become true. Here’s an example of how magical thinking factors into my OCD symptoms: I often have upsetting intrusive thoughts (obsessions) where I hurt people I love, accidentally or on purpose.įor some reason, when that happens, I feel the need to twist my hands a certain number of times (compulsion). With us, magical thinking often factors into our obsessions and compulsions. People living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), like me, are especially prone to magical thinking. Magical thinking isn’t always an issue, but some of us struggle with it more than others. Many of us are superstitious, for example. Most of us engage in magical thinking from time to time. An example of magical thinking is knocking on wood for luck. Magical thinking is the idea that you can influence the outcome of an event by doing something that has no rational connection to that outcome.
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