OCD about missing out - it is debilitating me

LegacyUser

Hi everyone,

I am a young lad, early 20's living at home and I cannot complain about life. I enjoy it and there is nothing wrong but my head is like a landmine and I cannot escape it even for a second no matter what because there are always a million and one things that are going through it. I have described it as OCD because there is no other word I can use to better describe it and it is like a feeling that I am always forgetting something - it drives me to make lists, review the lists, make more lists and drive myself crazy feeling like I am forgetting something without ever getting anything done because I get overwhelmed by the list of things I want to accomplish in life. This goes down to making sure I follow and like certain people and websites on Twitter and Facebook because I am afraid of missing out on information about things I am interested in.

I know this sounds crazy but it has actually become a large problem for me because I want to have even the smallest, most minute details of my life accounted for, I want to watch lots of documentaries, read lots of books, read blogs, listen to podcasts, know everything that is going on but there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything I want. I did have a job and I am looking for a job again but I know that once I have a job I will be debilitated and upset by the fear that I will not have time in the day to read and learn about my interests and new things. I love to learn and love reading books, watching documentaries and have so many goals - most of which revolve around travelling, learning, writing. I will be starting a masters in September in the area of S&C/Nutrition which I am excited about because that is the area that I want to pursue a career in going forward.

I have so many interests that I find it hard to make time for one, or a couple without my head being melted thinking that I am forgetting something else - I want to learn four different languages, I want to learn to play the guitar and I want to work in a career where I can help people achieve their physical and mental goals - being self employed or having a flexible work schedule will be very important to me.

I think I am overwhelmed by all the information available to me on the internet and just want to consume it all because I love to learn, I love to improve myself which isn't a bad thing but at the moment I am crippled by my mind because I cannot structure myself and it is affecting me detrimentally. I do believe it could be because I don't have a primary focus/work and I don't know what to do.

I was thinking about starting a personal blog/podcast/vlog to help me get things off my chest but I don't know what to write about, one minute I'm thinking bout football, the next about where I want to visit, the next about learning languages, the next about betting, the next about playing computer games.

Does anybody else have/had this problem and what would they recommend doing about it? I have thought about going to see a psychologist but I don't know how to go about that.

Thanks for your help everyone.

dudara

First of all, well done for having ambition and the desire to learn and improve.

But, you have to be careful that the excitement of new things doesn't become more important than the thing itself (I hope I said that OK). What I mean is that for some people, the allure of new things is the most exciting thing, but they never follow through.

I would recommend trying to sit down with a piece of paper and working out what you REALLY want to achieve in life. Your Masters sounds interesting, so perhaps you could ask yourself what else you could do that would supplement the Masters. Choose goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely). If a goal isn't SMART, then put it off to one side for now. It doesn't mean that it's unattainable, it just means that it's not most realistic right now.

LLMMML

I would be slightly similar. At some point you just have to realise that there is too much information/entertainment out there now and you will NEVER be able to keep up with all of it. You need to prioritise what you're interested in. Making lists is fine as long as you treat it as a reminder (things you might forget about it) and not something that needs to be completed.
I think getting involved with blogs/forums can be a bit of a nightmare as there's endless opinions on the internet. Read any thread on boards and you'll find that it might take you hours and you've just read the same opinion over and over again from different people. Rather than read entire forums or endless blogs, I find it better to pick a well established site and stick with that. For example, I get my video game and US tv info from IGN. If I delve into the boards games forum it's just to look at a specific game or else I'd be lost in there for hours.
As for entertainment content like tv shows, games and books, again you have to accept their is just too much content for you to get to. Even if you no longer needed to sleep and spent all your time watching tv, you would never see everything in your lifetime. Again you need to prioritise, maybe by making a priority list (though lists seem to give you anxiety). I tried to keep up with it all by doing many things in the same evening. For example if I had 3 hours free at night, I spent one hour reading a book, 1 watching a show, and 1 playing a game. This didn't work for me as you can get lost in a particularly exciting show/game/book, neglect the others and start feeling anxious about that. I've settled on doing one piece of content at a time. When I have time, I read a book. It is only when I'm finished that book that I can move onto a new book or a tv show or a game. It works for me.
Lastly id say this sounds a bit more serious than mine and counselling may not bad idea. Apparently, CBT is good for this kind of OCDish behaviour.

Rubberchikken

it's great to be so interested in so many things. but as others have said, you have to decide if it's just an interest or are you actually achieving.

set some practical goals. you want to learn a language - pick one and stick with it.
you want to write a blog - then start and decide on only a couple of topics to write about.

do you get exercise/fresh air/ socialise? these are important too. they're a great way of clearing the head. technology etc is brilliant, but sometimes it's the simplest thing that can refresh us - ready for the next goal:)

very best of luck with college, hope you do great:)