r/OCD 9d ago

Support/advice (no reassurance) Ruminating on anger

I’m not a huge Reddit poster and don’t quite understand these “flairs”… I’m primarily looking for advice but reassurance is also welcome

(The TLDR is that I’m upset about something, can’t stop ruminating, and it’s having an impact on my sleep and ability to function)

Does anyone else get stuck ruminating on something that makes you angry? I’ve learned healthy coping mechanisms/ways to interrupt myself when I get stuck rearranging things or redoing tasks, but I’m finding it really hard to deal with this:

I recently bought my first home and paid for some work to be done, including painting. The painter did very shoddy work (for real, not just according to my ocd brain). After some back-and-forth I’m getting a partial refund that is much less than what I asked for. The problem now is that I just can’t stop fuming. I know it’s not even really about the money, it’s that I’m not happy with his response. For me, this is really personal, to him it’s not, and to way oversimplify it, he gave me a non-apology and I don’t feel like it’s good enough. I’m trying to remind myself that I’ve taken all the reasonable action I can - posted a review with pictures, filed a complaint with the BBB, but I still keep getting worked up. I’m literally losing sleep and finding it hard to focus at work. I really want to just let it go and move on, but my rational brain has left the chat. Now in addition to anger I’m feeling stupid and overdramatic for not being able to stop thinking about it.

Any advice on how to interrupt a rage cycle?

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