welcome to the all the hard things blog

If you have OCD, anxiety, fear, or panic, chances are, you’re ruminating. For a mental compulsion and safety behavior that quite literally affects everyone with these conditions, it’s surprising to me that some people are still unaware of what rumination is. Rumination, to some professionals, more generally describes any kind of mental engagement with a thought. This can be a pretty broad application considering all the different ways in which a person with OCD/anxiety can engage with a thought. We can be pretty creative and stubborn like that!

If you like to think of it more generally, that’s great – you do you. But if you have a hard time applying that broad definition, or if you’re curious about the more specific ways one might be engaging in mental compulsions such as rumination, read on.