This is part one of a series of things I have noticed about the way I carry on normal life that can be tracked back to OCD- but in a much less serious sense as other situations written about on this site. “It’s supposed to be just fun…”
• Imagine trying to pick the right 10 jelly beans from a jar of 1000. And that is all you know. Just that there are 10 that are correct. Yeah, OCD.
• Imagine sitting down to eat at a restaurant, and the entire time a strange person in the next booth is staring at you. Constantly, every second. And you know you cannot leave the restaurant (say it’s a business lunch), no one will move your seat (there are none unoccupied) or stop this strange person from staring. That strange person is a tiny1 stain on your shorts, and the restaurant is your brain. Yeah, OCD.
• When you forget your watch and you have to borrow a necklace, wrap it around the area where your watch would be, so as to not fixate on the missing watch and completely ruin an entire day out. Yeah, OCD.
• When you have fourteen towels, each with a specific usage, and a goal to have each one doubled in quantity so as to rotate them after washing. Yeah, OCD.
• When something is lost2 in your home- be it one of your ten fine-tipped pens, a pillow case, or one of your many screwdriver bits3– the only rationale that makes you feel even slightly okay is that the item was clearly stolen. Yeah, OCD.
1 The tinier, the worse.
2 There is a category of important things like your wallet, your keys, and your money which is never lost, as its being in its proper location is checked on every few hours.
3 It may just be my OCD, but I find comfort in having something in the neighborhood of thirty different types of screwdriver bits, of which I only ever use two to three.