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In looking back on 2025, I was talking to the team just about what we've been doing and just so proud of the work that we've done and the people we've met with and what we filmed. And I was asking just about how things have been going. And they said there was this video that we had done that just really, really resonated so well with people. And it was really about, what are the things that you need to do in order to really get the most optimal results in OCD therapy. Or even just in living with OCD more in general. So why not revisit that a little bit? Because, well, if it did that well and it really resonated, I say nothing like a little reinforcement. Because here's the deal. The recommendations don't really change. Exposure and response prevention therapy is still the treatment of choice to do. If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, that recommendation remains proper medication dosages if you are on meds or if you choose to go that route. Also very, very helpful. For those with ocd, looking at things outside of therapy can be important, right? An active lifestyle, get some exercise, sleep. Well, all of these things are very good and restorative for the brain and the body. And why wouldn't you want yourself at optimal performance levels in order to help yourself get through life both physically and mentally? And I think there's another one, which is, how much are you going to value the life that you want to live versus valuing the life that OCD wants you to live? Right? How much are you willing to accept that OCD is going to throw things at you? But just because it does doesn't mean that you have to do anything about it. You may be surprised to hear this, but just because you think something doesn't make it true. And. And also doesn't mean that you have to believe it, and also doesn't mean that you have to do anything about it whatsoever. Sometimes a thought or an image or an urge can just be a thought or an image or an urge. And so I'm proud of the fact that this video that we did that really did seem to resonate with people was one that's really near and dear to me along the lines of, how do we help you support yourself to be the best that you can possibly be? Fat is so very important to make sure that you get the optimal experience out of treatment. I would hate for someone to approach therapy like you might approach musical lessons. If you're not interested in playing the instrument, do you. Do you Know anybody who's ever gone in for piano lessons and. But it was because a family member made them do it. They didn't really want to do it. And so they didn't practice. They played the piano for half an hour a week during the lesson, which means they only got half an hour better every week. Look at therapy in a similar way. Yes, we can go over some amazing things in the session, but the goal is to practice those things out of the session, to take them out of the session, to do them, to try them, to, to challenge things with them. Bring it back. Then next session, tweak it, get it back out there again. And continuing to do that over and over until we've hit this stride. Where now stressors that come into your life, man, we've got it. We know exactly what to do. We know how to face those things, and we know how to eliminate those safety behaviors. We know that the elimination of avoidance and reassurance seeking and distraction and substances and compulsions are so very important to the lives of people who are better. But if you want to stay stuck, you do the opposite. You avoid everything you're afraid of. You seek reassurance from everyone you know. You do tons of distraction, right? If those don't work, you use substances as a way to try to modulate the emotions you're experiencing. And finally, you do more compulsions. Well, we don't want people doing any of those things. We want people learning that you can handle whatever it is that pops into your head. You can handle a thought, you can handle an image, you can handle an urge. And there's a two component treatment for it. Number one, you can be exposed to whatever those thoughts, images, and urges are. But that's not enough. That's not the curative part of the experience. The curative part of the experience is really the response prevention. Because once exposed, you have a choice. Do you do a safety behavior or do you do response prevention? If you do a safety behavior, you stay stuck. If you do response prevention, you walk away from a life that's growing ocd, and you walk into a life that is subtracting the influence that OCD has upon you. It is through response prevention, the elimination of safety behaviors, the living in doubt, the living in uncertainty that OCD says is very bad, very dangerous, that you should never, never do. So we have you do it, and we have you learn. Oh, I've been lied to. OCD has not been truthful. OCD said that this would destroy me. And yet here I am, in doubt, in uncertainty, I will give you a hint. Right now, we all live in doubt and uncertainty. After I film this and I walk back upstairs and I'll come back down here later for webinar, I might fall down the stairs. It is a possibility. Since that is a possibility, should I not go upstairs at all? Should I just live in the basement for the rest of my life so that way I'll know that I'll ever. I'll never fall downstairs? I could, but I'd have to hire someone to deliver food to me. I'd probably have to have a kitchen built down here. And. And then I might start adding other worries, like what if I didn't cook the food well enough? And how do I know that the person who bought the food didn't poison it? Or, you know, we could just go on and on to levels and levels upon levels upon levels upon levels. Who doesn't live with doubt? Who doesn't live with uncertainty? I don't know. Anybody. The interesting thing is that people with OCD do live with doubt and uncertainty that OCD just doesn't even care about. OCD seems to hone in on one or two or just a couple of things and say, those other ones, whatever, they're fine. But these, these are so important. These are so absolute. These are the ones that must have an answer. And if you do not have an answer for these, you are in danger. Terrible, awful, horrible things could happen. And you better spend as much time as possible trying to answer this. It's a recipe, unfortunately, for growth in ocd, not in the subtraction of OCD from your life. So maybe great things do keep coming back to us, right? That early on advice of doing erp, if medications are part of treatment, combining that in for the right dosage, finding the values that you're searching for and living toward those, and not the values that OCD has. Making sure that you're sleeping well, making sure that you're eating well, making sure that you get exercise. All of these things contribute to a healthy mind, a healthy body, and a healthy you. And that's exactly what we want for you for this year, since OCD wants you to wait for therapy. And I like to, as I said, say, there's nothing like the present to get started. Today's the day. There are people waiting to talk to you right now at nocd. People who have been through treatment, who understand the life that OCD wants you to live and also know what it's like to walk away from that life and to live the life that they want to live? Do you want to be inspired? They will help. Do you want to be encouraged? They will help. And if you want to be, then linked to a person who's licensed and trained to help you make sure you get the treatment you need. We're here for you. Check us out@nocd.com that's n o c d com. And along the way, if you want some great inspiration, check out the get to Know OCD podcast as well. You can get that through subscribing to the NOCD YouTube channel. We hope to see you soon.