Hey there, trusty gutters! You know that feeling in your stomach that tells you when something's off? Well, what if that feeling wasn't so trustworthy after all? What if it had been infiltrated by a parasite that's been messing with your decision-making skills?

Allow me to introduce you to the notorious hijacker of guts, the one and only OCD. This pesky bug has a knack for taking over your thoughts and making you question everything you once knew to be true. It's like having a backseat driver who never shuts up and always tells you which way to turn, even if you know the way.

So, when everyone else is telling you to "trust your gut," how can you trust it if you have OCD? It's like trying to follow a map with a compass that's pointing in the wrong direction. The truth is, it's tough to know what to trust when your gut is being hijacked by OCD. If you can relate to this, click the like on this video see you can see everyone else who is with you.

But fear not, my friends! There is hope. With the right treatment and support, you can learn to separate your thoughts from the pesky parasite and start to trust your instincts again and I'm going to show you how right now.

First off, one of the most important things is to identify and acknowledge that you have OCD. This one concept gets in the way. Many individuals start to question of what they're experiencing is real or not based off of the actually have OCD or not. If you haven't been diagnosed yet that would probably be important to know. Once you know understand how your OCD actually affects you.

You take what your OCD is wanting you to be scared about and keep this in mind when your "gut" is trying to tell you something. Individuals with OCD might have to cross the subject off on their list of things they pay attention to.

For instance, if I keep having the thought about something bad happening or I am worried about contracting some type of disease or maybe it's if I hit somebody with my car. and I'm having the same thought every single day, multiple times a day, multiple times a week, the GUT is NOT telling me something.

Our gut or instinct doesn't work this way. It doesn't consume us. It typically is a gentle nudge with the provided thought that ultimately we still question if it's true or not. It doesn't demand our attention right now to fix it and figured out.

Some may say, it seems way too risky to just cross off this worry or fear in my mind. To choose to never engage with it or figured out. How will I ever know? A lot of treatment is this. Choosing to stay uncertain on purpose and hoping for the best. The reason we use a lot of maybe maybe not statements is because it's the only true answer we have right now.

Our gut, just like our brain is learning by our reactions. If we continue to react every time we have a gut feeling guess what is going to do. Continue to give you the gut feeling because it knows and thinks it's important. People only react to things that are important. I'm to make sure I continue reading you this feeling until you are 100% certain about it.

So to correct this gut feeling we choose to use treatment. Exposure and response prevention is the way to go. We are exposing ourselves to uncertainty and choosing to respond as if we simply don't care. When the brain says figure it out, you need to know, maybe this means something. I'm gonna look to see if it's on my no-no list and if it is to give an answer with, thanks for the thought today. Sure maybe I had someone of my car. I guess I could get some disease because I'm not careful enough. Sure maybe I'll never know who are really am.

The brain and gut are going to say. This is important, trust me. But if you give it the same responses every single time it eventually tends to decrease, thus showing that it has no value. You're probably going to be doing this through anxiety which is totally okay. Because that component is the big piece as telling you this is important. You can imagine yourself swimming in a pool of anxiety and love it. Pull out your floaty's. Grab your drink. Enjoy your swim. Your body will get used to the temperature.

So if you are a little confused about when you can actually trust your gut here's my personal opinion. If your gut is telling you something and it's mixed with a lot of anxiety and a lot of intrusive thoughts, then it is not worth paying attention to. If however you have a gut feeling about something, and it feels more inquisitive and less demanding it might be a time you follow the feeling. It does not mean that the gut feeling was correct. It just means you chose to take action.

We are so good at making connections that are not always accurate. Just because I had a feeling or an idea about something actually happened doesn't mean that all of my feelings or thoughts are ones I need to pay attention to. How many times in our life do we say, "I knew I should have done (fill in the blank)" but guess what if you knew you should have done it you would have done it.

So this gut feeling that everyone says to follow, is a sham. Let's switch it to something more manageable. Do what you want to do. Follow your values and your morals. Things are not always going to work out. Sometimes they will. But we are living life today and we need to enjoy life today. Not what if's from the future.

To help you more with these responses that you're going to now give your OCD, go watch this video right here. Also let me know down the comments what your gut tends to trick you with.