I have multiple types of OCD, but one that’s commonly prevalent is real event OCD. In my life this manifests as developing intrusive thoughts based on news articles, personal traumatic encounters, global conflicts, etc. Like many, the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war was a low point in my life due to the crippling anxiety and avoidance to do anything but hide in my basement for weeks as my mind curated images of a bright flash of light and the whole world shaking, over and over again. When a particular mass shooting rattled this country last year as well, all I could picture was being shot off guard doing a mundane task, just as they were in that instance. My intrusive thoughts have always existed, even when I was a naive and sheltered kid. But I’d take intrusive thoughts about being suffocated to death by carbon monoxide poisoning or burning my hand off in the kitchen everyday over these current ones. Because even though for both you have to sit with uncertainty for both, you can do everything right, try and avoid the articles and radio stations to going to school or leaving the house, but somewhere in the rationale of my mind I know those situations are still happening, and it’s just not fair that these intrusive thoughts could in theory be nonexistent, but can’t.