Some of the strategies I used long ago for this were to just do whatever I was going to do without worrying if something bad might happen if I did not do it. And nothing bad did ever happen if I did not do follow the ritual.
I tried that a bit today. I was following the line of thinking and then I said to myself, maybe In should think something good might happen instead, and it takes the pressure off a bit.
When I said long ago I meant early 1980's. That's when I used to just ignore what I was thinking and just did whatever it was I was going to do without thinking or I would do the opposite and ignore my silly urge to follow a pattern.
It was your suggestion about strategies that jogged my memory to think back to what I used to do to avoid being trapped in OCD.
So today, I did a bit of thinking something good might happen whatever I do. That way it puts a more positive thought into the equation instead of contant negative thoughts. Because the negative thoughts are really the root of the problem. If I continuously think something bad might happen if I don't do something a certain way, there's never a thought of something good. But now there is.
I hope this makes sense. :-)
On to the specific fears you asked about: The fears were things like losing my job, getting into an accident, becoming ill, some unknown bad news, etc.
Thanks
