So, I learned to accept it and think of it as an old friend who had kept me alive when I was a vulnerable child

One of the greatest lessons I learned concerning my debilitating, torturous obsessive thinking was from the first kind and wise therapist with whom I was blessed to work.

She taught me that my obsessive thinking was a maladaptive survival mechanism that I had developed to cope with severe stress, anxiety, and trauma as a child.

She also led me to realize that the harder I tried to will it away, the stronger it became.

So, I learned to accept it and think of it as an old friend who had kept me alive when I was a vulnerable child.

And also to use CBT and 12 Step work to keep it from making my life consistently miserable and unmanageable. One day at a time.