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Hi, everyone. Dr. Patrick McGrath, Chief Clinical Officer from NOCD. It's that time of year where we often see celebrations, friends get together, families get together. But there's also those times where, unfortunately, people might feel more alone. They might be away from family or friends, or there could be difficulties going on in people's lives. Maybe health wise, physical, mental, any of those things could be happening around this time of year. So I wanted to spend a few minutes with all of you just talking about ways to potentially approach the end of the year and to make sure that we do it in a very intentional way that won't allow for OCD to try to rain on the parade. So let's take a look at what could OCD do to people this time of year. Well, number one, it could say, what if I'm sick and I go to a party and I infect everybody else? Or what if somebody there is sick and they infect me? It could be either or, right? Because remember, contamination isn't just about me getting sick. It could be that I could cause that in others, too. And I'm going to encourage you to take risks, to get outside, to go and do things, and to make sure that you're not letting your fears of these what ifs stop you from living those lives that you want to live and having those fun times and those joys that you could be having around this time. There could also be checking that occurs this time of year. For those of you who live in parts of the world where it gets really slippery, do you go outside and keep checking the sidewalk to make sure that it's de iced well, and. And throwing salt out constantly to the point that you've got the Great Salt Lake in front of your home, Right? And there's more salt than anything else that's out there. Maybe taking a step back from that and taking a look at what are the neighbors doing and tempering your behaviors to be similar to what's going on there? Right. We don't have to go above and beyond what everybody else does. But I'm not asking you that. You have to be under everything that everybody else is doing. It's fine to take a look at what's happening in your area, fit that culture, and do those same types of behaviors. For those of you who have a religious bent this time of year, it could be where scrupulosity will try to set in. Are you being holy enough? Have you done enough donations? Have you been charitable enough? And in the answer for ocd, the answer is always no. In those Questions. So just recognize that that first automatic answer that OCD might give you of being no doesn't have to be the only answer. One of the things that I like to say to people is think about what could be your second thought. We know that OCD thoughts are going to be automatic. Those images are going to be boom, right there. Those urges are just going to happen. But just because they do doesn't mean that we have to go with those. We could go with the second thought or the second image or the second urge, which might be a little bit tamer, a little bit easier to deal with and maybe take that path instead of the first thing that pops into our head. OCD would love us to jump to those worst case scenarios and take the paths of those worst case scenarios want to bring us down, because those will probably give OCD the juiciest, most sumptuous compulsions that it possibly can. But that's not what we want to be feeding ocd. In fact, we'd like to starve OCD out. And we do that by not giving into those compulsions and doing the other safety behaviors that we may be inclined to do, like seeking reassurance or avoiding people or places, or maybe, maybe even using substances as a way to manage things, or even distracting ourselves. If you go to a party and you sit in the corner, just stay on your phone the entire time and say, well, I did go to the party, but I didn't engage in it whatsoever. It wasn't really doing something to help you be better and to move forward. It's something that you did that really, in the end, kept you stuck. And finally, those compulsions, too, are those things that we want to end. So in this season, keep a couple of things in mind. You don't have to be holier than everybody else. If you approach this from a religious point of view. You don't have to have sidewalks that are more de ice than the rest of the entire world. You can be like everybody else around you and it is okay to go out and to be around people, even though OCD may say it's not. I hope that and any other things that OCD might try to tell you are things you keep in mind that you don't need to follow its advice because it's kind of the Scrooge of the entire holiday community. And who wants to follow the things that Scrooge wants you to do? Let's do some other things instead. Right? You're a mean one, ocd. I want you to keep that in mind as you're approaching this holiday season. And if you're looking for help for OCD, check us out@nocd.com that's n o c d dot com, where we have expertly trained therapists waiting to meet with you to help you and to get you to live the life that you want to live and not the life that OCD wants you to live. We hope to hear from you.