Okay – this might be a controversial subject because yes, OCD is a horrible mental disorder that affects millions of people. However, being somebody diagnosed with this disorder and having dealt with it for most of my life I choose to find some humor in it. These are all things that I have done or do on a regular basis. Writing them down in an even numbered list (odd numbers are the devil to us OCD people) not only makes me feel good because I have OCD and I love making lists, but also allows me to see the humor in my disorder.
1) On more than 3 occasions you have left work or school and gone home to check on one or more of these things:
- Your straightener (you know you turned it off but still, it might have turned on by itself and be burning your house to the ground as we speak)
- Your door (you checked it at least 3 times and it’s locked, but you didn’t check it that 4th time like you usually do)
- Your iron (same reasoning as the hair straightener)
- Your toilet (it might still be running, even thought you jiggled the handle 4 times like always it might have started running again once you left the house)
2) You don’t think twice about writing, erasing, and rewriting your name 5 + times on anything you have to sign your name to.
3) Chopping vegetables or anything is difficult because they are never the exact same size.
4) You have taken a picture of your front door so that when you are lying in bed you can look and make sure it’s really locked. But then you didn’t trust the picture so back to the door you went to triple check.
5) You set more than 2 alarms each morning – what if the first one doesn’t go off?
6) Eating chicken wings is the most stressful experience in your life. It’s unorganized, messy and you never can have enough wet naps.
7) Having an odd number of ANYTHING causes you to freak out because it can’t stored properly.
8) You remove your nail polish the second you have even the tiniest chip. Painting over the chip? Who does that? It won’t be an even coat. We need to start fresh.
9) You have tidied up a friend’s bedroom while they weren’t looking – there is too much stuff on the floor!!!!
10) You hate looking at your underwear drawer, it’s so disorganized and there isn’t anything you can do to make it organized.
11) You have made everyone wait for you in the car while you did a 10 second tidy of your bedroom before leaving to go out for the night.
12) You have NEVER been late for anything. Typically you are 15-20 minutes early and even then you are worried you might be late.
13) Forever 21 stresses you out more than pretty much anything in the entire world and you typically don’t shop there because of the anxiety that comes along with being in that store.
14) You have rewritten your shopping list in alphabetical order – it’s just healthier that way.
15) You have gotten back in the shower not once but twice because you missed a spot while shaving.
16) While grocery shopping you have taken the time to put out of place items back in their respected place.
17) Seeing a crooked picture, open drawer or unfolded blanket sends you into full blown panic mode until it’s fixed properly.
18) You have touched or tapped something more than 10 times in a row, just because you needed to.
19) All this list is doing is making you anxious about all the things you need to check on.
20) You have asked somebody to confirm something completely obvious.
“I locked my door right?” – While you are looking at your door.
