My name is Elly. I’m a senior undergraduate English major living in DFW, Texas. It’s summer and I’m trying to keep my mind active. I love writing, but for the past few years, it seems that all I have done is write essays for school. It’s time for me to branch out, so I’m getting into blogging.
* * * *
This blog chronicles my journey through therapy for OCD. The content is extremely personal, so please be respectful. This isn’t easy.
The OCD Chronicles is a place for people with OCD to connect with each other and share experiences and support, as well as shedding light on an often misunderstood disorder. I hope that The OCD Chronicles offers a new perspective to those who are unfamiliar with OCD.
Head over to the Best Of page if you need a place to start. It includes links to posts with background information about me, my OCD and OCD in general.
* * * *
If you have a question, but don’t want to leave it in a comment, email me at ocdjourneyblog@gmail.com. If you do leave a comment and you have a blog, please leave a link! I always try to return visits and comments!
If you link to my blog on yours, let me know and I’ll add you to my blogroll.
Hi Elly~
Thank you for your blog and your candor. I know from experience, (I too, have OCD) it isn’t easy to share this stuff. I’ve been struggling for a long time about starting a blog, often obsessing and hitting a state of paralysis over the fear that it wouldn’t be good enough. Thanks to bloggers like you, I’m finally taking the plunge. You and others have been an inspiration to me. I thank you for that. Here is the link to my blog: http://ocdodyssey.blogspot.com/. I’d love for you to visit and would love to hear from you and your followers.
I’m not yet ready to reveal my real identity, so in that vain, I’m keeping the blog anonymous right now and using a pen-name: Aurora.
Thank you also for the opportunity to link my blog on here. I appreciate it.
Hang in there
~Aurora
Yay! Congrats on starting a blog! I think you will be glad that you started it. Blogging about OCD has been so rewarding for me.
I will check it out as soon as I can. I can’t promise it will be super soon because I barely have time to keep up with things around here right now, much less all of the other wonderful blogs I like to read. But I will add it to my list and look forward to reading it!
I don’t blame you for using a pen-name. I don’t use my real name either, mostly because I don’t want this blog to keep me from getting a job in the future.
Thank you, Elly! I’m still figuring out how to “do it” (setting everything up, the nuts and bolts kind of stuff). I hope folks will bear with me. I hope I get folks! That’s one thing I’m not clear on, is how to get readers to the blog.
I hope things start going better for you with school. I understand how undermining OCD can be. It’s cost me a lot. It cost me a job, damaged relationships with family and some “friends”…and much more. I’ll be writing about that soon. Hang in there and keep fighting. That’s all we can do…keep fighting.
~Aurora
If you have any questions about blogging or OCD blogging or just want to chat, send me an email – ocdjourneyblog@gmail.com. I’d love to help.
I came across your blog while conducting some research for my own. I just wanted to tell you that I admire your bravery in talking about this publicly. I have OCD, as well, and because of past experiences with people who don’t understand, I am terrified to share too much. OCD has been both a blessing and a curse in my life. Learning to deal with my anxiety has taught me valuable lessons about life which I probably wouldn’t have learned otherwise. I feel like I’m a more well-rounded, rational person because I have the disease. And I love that you’re spreading that sentiment in your own way. Keep it up!
(My blog includes some discussion of OCD, but mostly focuses on the positive changes that have come into my life because of the OCD. Life Lessons of an OCD Housewife ocdhousewife.blogspot.com)
Hello Elly,
Thank you for sharing your blog with the world.
It takes an enormous amount of courage to speak openly and candidly about suffering from OCD. I know this from personal experience as I have only recently told my close family and friends about my condition and how it affects my life on a day to day basis. It was exceptionally hard to find the words but I have done it.
I too have been inspired write a blog concerning my particular struggles with the condition as I look to start undergoing psychotherapy treatment. I wrote my first post some few hours ago at the following address: http://experiencingocd.blogspot.com/
I have tried to add your site to my following list which I think was successful, although I am not completely sure – Spot the newbie to the world of blogging ay?! I hope it is okay contacting you and by all means feel free to contact me.
I look forward to reading about your progress and wish you every possible success for the future.
Best wishes,
OCD Anonymous (<—– Not my real name!)
Thanks for the kind words! I will definitely plan on reading your blog as soon as I can. Unfortunately, right now, grad school reading is taking up all of my blog reading time.
It is definitely ok to contact me! In fact, when you get my email notifying you of this comment, feel free to email me at that address whenever. I never mind talking about this kind of stuff!
And Elly is not my real name either, so don’t worry. A lot of us like to retain some amount of anonymity on the web.
To be honest I only have one post so far as an introductory piece so there is no great urgency to read my blog just yet
But thank you for responding so quickly and pleasantly – It’s really nice to meet people and chat about it.
Do you find blog writing a good form of therapy? I enjoy writing, not specifically about OCD, and have quite enjoyed my short time in front of the computer today and have found writing about it stops me thinking too much about it!
Thanks for inviting me to contact you via email
You are more than welcome to write to me too.
Enjoy your reading!
Blogging is absolutely a good form of therapy for me. I have been a major slacker lately, but when I started this in May or June 2010, I wrote a couple of times a week sometimes, especially after therapy appointments. Writing about therapy really helped me process the things I had learned that day in therapy.
Plus, I think (and hope) you will find that speaking/writing about things like this to be a very positive experience. I tried to hide my OCD for 10 years before finally realizing last year how stupid that is. My life has greatly improved now that everyone in my life knows what I’m fighting. Receiving support via the blogosphere also makes it worth it. I can’t even begin to tell you how much moral support and encouragement I have gotten from people I’ve never met.
It’s important to connect to other people fighting similar battles. Networking online like this is the easiest way to accomplish that these days. I have a support group that I have not attended in months because I never seem to have time. I miss it a lot, but connecting with other OCDers online really helps. Especially because OCD makes it sufferers feel so crazy and stupid, it can be wonderful to talk with people who don’t think you’re crazy and stupid when you can’t walk away from the sink or something. It really helps me stay grounded and more in tune with reality.