SEVILLE native Vanesa Sánchez chose to leave her sunny Andalusian home for the less than Mediterranean climate of Limerick for an Erasmus semester at the University of Limerick.
She says the adjustment to life on Shannonside was a challenge on account of her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a condition she was diagnosed a year ago.
One of the largest hurdles for Vanesa was dealing with intrusive thoughts brought on by the hectic change of culture and pace – a common trais for those living with OCS known as ‘obsessions’.
“I’ve always had obsessive thoughts, especially regarding death and cancer, since I was a kid – every day,” Vanesa explains. “I just get a scary image in my mind and I have to think of a way to get it out.”
Like others with OCD, Vanesa uses her ‘compulsions’ – repetitve behaviours such as counting – to help bring ease in anxious moments.
“My parents and other parents noticed some of my ‘weird’ or repetitive behaviours, but they would always say, ‘my kid had those things too and they just grew out of it’- I didn’t,” she quips.
“It wasn’t until I went to high school that I started studying OCD and thought, ‘yeah, it sounds like what I have’. I didn’t tell people, my friends had no idea, because I was so good at hiding it.”
Vanesa explains that the misconceptions around OCD can also be a challenge because “your immediate family just don’t really understand what is happening. I didn’t have support when I was younger. Now I do.”
She cites John Green’s novel, Turtles All the Way Down, as a particular source of comfort and understanding when coming to grips with her condition.
Vanesa said that gradually exposing herself to the anxiety of not performing her compulsions helped in breaking her habits, though the move to Limerick came with its fair share of triggers.
“When I was on Erasmus, a lot of my compulsions came back because it was a time of high levels of anxiety for me,” she shares.
She says kept seeing her psychologist in Seville digitally during her time in Limerick when stressors became too overwhelming.
The determined Psychology student says she used tools she learned with her doctors and in her studies to keep going.
Vanesa found that slowly tackling sources of anxiety helped her gradually come to terms with them. Looking back now, she says the experience showed her she could rise to the challenge of living in a new culture.
“I achieved it, I feel super proud about that,” she said.
This story is part of the Tell Your Own Story (TYOS) project. Published monthly, in collaboration with the Limerick Post, TYOS shares the stories of Limerick people of all backgrounds and abilities in the hopes of encouraging unity in diversity. For more information, visit tyos.ie.
