Crushes and limerence

I’ve been diagnosed with OCD since I was five. Limerence is something i’ve dealt with my entire life in often extreme forms. I’m older now and no longer fully fall for my OCD crush behavior because I know this pattern well. I know when it’s going on, I know it’s fueled by OCD/limerence. I’m very grateful I have gained the awareness and no longer fully lose myself in it thinking each instance of it must mean something significant or magical.

However, even with the awareness, therapy, ERP, I am still wondering what are some good methods to use when you recognize it’s happening?

I know my crushes or limerence is solely based on uncertainty which gives the perfect breeding ground for things to take off. Limited information or interactions with someone is why this happens. It sparks my creativity and yearning. I love mystery! So I know when and why it’s happening.

But it’s become something that makes me sigh and wish for release. I don’t enjoy wondering 24/7 what that last interaction meant to this person, wanting to analyze and review previous conversations, and fantasizing while driving about what could happen. I know this is how I build up expectations and projections about a person, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t go that way. Even when my crushes have become longterm partners, there’s always the massive letdown when they don’t follow the fantasy script in my head that was built before I knew them deeply.

I don’t want to participate in this cycle any more. What has helped you guys deal with the OCD crush dilemma?